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After years of rumors the Corvette ZR1 has finally arrived. As anticipated, the Mega-Vette's LS9 engine employs a positive-displacement blower and integral charge cooler. While the powerplant has yet to complete SAE dyno testing, GM is confident the final rating will be at least 620 hp with around 600 lb-ft of torque. Which makes this the most powerful engine ever offered in a factory Corvette, or in any American production car for that matter.

At 6.2 liters, the blower motor uses a smaller, 103.25mm bore diameter than the 7.0 liter LS7 (104.8mm) in order to stiffen the cylinder case to handle the additional combustion pressure. An Eaton R2300 2.3L supercharger with four-lobe, 160-degree twisted rotors runs at 10.5 psi, while the dual-pass charge cooler resides in the intake plenum. The aluminum block is standard LS3/Gen IV architecture, but with forged steel main caps, while the cylinder heads are new to the LS9, rotocast in A356T6 aluminum. The alternator and A/C compressor are driven by one serpentine belt, while a wider 11-rib belt on the outboard side drives the power steering, water pump, and supercharger. Pankl titanium connecting rods and forged 9.1:1 pistons with poly-coated skirts top off the list of trick pieces in Chevy's latest screamer.

The very limited-production powerplant will be virtually hand-assembled in GM's high-tech engine facility in Wixom, Michigan, just northwest of Detroit. When the new Corvette ZR1 equipped with the LS9 engine (six-speed manual transmission only, automatic unavailable) appears this coming summer, it will become the first supercharged production Corvette in history. The sticker price will be around $100,000.