10 Hypercars With Less Horsepower Than The New Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

The new Corvette ZR1 is not only the most powerful Corvette of all time, but it’s also one of the most powerful US cars ever produced. With 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque on tap thanks to its twin-turbo 5.5-liter LT7 V8, it’s going to achieve truly otherworldly numbers on the track, and the best part is it’s only going to cost a fraction of the price of the hypercars it’s now competing with. To illustrate just how insane this performance is, we wanted to take a look at 10 different hypercars that have less power than Chevy’s newest halo model.

Now we’ve gone over this in detail, but what truly defines a hypercar is a tad murky. Still, we feel we’ve compiled a list of cars that fit into the category quite well. Many of the cars on this list are out of production and have been for years, yet we think their inclusion is important. These cars represented the best of automotive engineering even just a decade ago, putting up numbers and statistics that altered the industry in ways we’re still feeling today, yet now we have a Corvette that outperforms many of them. Is the ZL1 worthy of being considered a hypercar? That’s for you to decide.

1 Porsche 918 Spyder

When Porsche was planning on creating a successor to the Carrera GT, it took its good old time doing so. The company wanted a model that took advantage of the growing electric technology at the brand’s disposal, while still being unmistakably a Porsche, and the result is one of the most incredible vehicles ever made.

Considered to be a part of the Holy Trinity of hypercars at the time (the other two are down below), the Porsche 918 Spyder quickly broke acceleration and lap records around the world, which makes it so interesting to see just how much power it is down on the new ZR1.

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2 Ferrari LaFerrari

Ferrari had never made a hybrid sports car before the LaFerrari, and for years prior it appeared like it was never going to happen as the brand committed itself to combustion. Still, there was no denying the performance enhancements that came with such technology, as evidenced by the Prancing Horses’ success in Formula 1 at the time.

Fortunately, a hybrid system also allowed the company to keep its iconic V12 naturally aspirated, so when the car arrived in 2013, it debuted with an advanced hybrid-electric engine system called HY-KERS that foreshadowed the brand’s models of today. Oh, it was also beautiful too, but it is a Ferrari, isn’t it?

3 McLaren P1

Rounding out the top three from the 2010s is the successor to the venerable McLaren F1, the P1. Another revolutionary hybrid monster, it was the car that underscored that McLaren was here to stay as a manufacturer. Featuring a blistering V8 coupled with a hybrid system, its performance wasn’t as staggering when compared to its rivals at the time, but it showed the world how seamless and drivable a hybrid hypercar could be. It showed the British could rival the best coming out of Germany or Italy. Yet despite all of that performance, the modern non-hybrid ZR1 will most assuredly give it a beatdown it won’t soon forget.

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4 Pagani Utopia

Pagani is in the business of creating rolling works of art as much as it’s in the business of creating hypercars. The Utopia is the brand’s newest creation. Yet, it hasn’t become as modern as many other hypercars, as the company likens its precision to a finely crafted watch: beautiful, elegant, and analog. The powerplant is the same 6.0-liter twin-turbo Mercedes-AMG V12 the company has been using for years, mated to a seven-speed manual transmission. Combined with RWD and a mid-engine design, we have no doubt the Utopia will be capable of impressive performance, but we know who we’d bet on if it went head-to-head with the ZR1.

5 Bugatti Veyron

Many consider the Bugatti Veyron to be the very first hypercar, mainly because it was the first production vehicle to eclipse 1,000 horsepower. Whether you consider a vehicle with a production number less than 500 a “production” vehicle is another story, but it’s impossible to dismiss the impact this revolutionary machine had on the industry. Not only did it put Bugatti back on the map as one of the world’s premier high-performance manufacturers, but it rewrote the script of what we should expect out of the most extreme vehicles. It opened the performance floodgates across the industry, eventually leading us to a 1,064 hp Corvette that would give a Veyron a run for its money in every respect except top speed.

6 McLaren Speedtail

The McLaren Speedtail was designed to do one thing better than anything else: go as fast as possible, as quickly as possible. Its 250 MPH top speed makes it the fastest McLaren ever built, and to achieve that, it produces 1,035 horsepower and has the sleekest, most futuristic look this side of the Solus GT. While the ZR1 may not have the long looks to match, it has its beat in the power department, even if it’s ever so slightly. Unfortunately, we doubt it will be much use against the Speedtail’s hybrid system, which helps it dispatch a 0-186 MPH time of 13 seconds.

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7 Ford GT Mark IV

We feel the fact that one of the big three decided to make a hypercar for the modern age often gets overlooked. Sure, this model may not have featured the big displacement V8s of its ancestors, but it still produced over 700 horsepower and put up incredible performance numbers in a gorgeous GT body. To settle the debate once and for all, the company decided to release a last, track-only version called the Ford GT Mark IV that produces even more power and features a whole host of performance upgrades like a new race transmission and Multimatic’s Adaptive Spool Valve suspension. It’s meant to put down unbelievable lap times, but we’d love to see it go head-to-head with the ZR1 to see how much that power deficit hurts it.

8 Mercedes-AMG One

The ZR1 wins this one, barely, but we imagine the Mercedes-AMG One would beat it out in just about every other respect thanks to its remarkable origin. The engine is based on the Mercedes-AMG F1 W06, which saw Mercedes win the constructors’ championship and Lewis Hamilton win his third drivers’ championship, featuring a DRS system, an advanced hybrid powertrain, and an automated manual transmission. It was truly an F1 car for the road, and it handily captured the production car lap record at the Nürburgring. The company says it will never create another vehicle like it again, and although our money would be on it in a race, at least the ZR1 can claim the horsepower crown.

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9 GMA T.50s Niki Lauda

We initially wanted to just include the T.50 in this list but felt that even though it’s an incredible car, it may be on the cusp of truly being considered a hypercar. Fortunately, the ultimate track-only variant of the car fits more firmly into the category, and if you disagree, you can make your list. Like the McLaren F1 before it, the T.50 was created as a road car first and foremost, but given its design, a race car variant wasn’t far behind. In the T.50s Niki Lauda, the powertrain has been completely unrestricted and tuned specifically for high-speed track driving, and the aero has been upgraded to produce 2,645 lbs of downforce. The suspension has been completely revised and a new six-speed paddle shift gearbox has been added. It will carve up a track quite nicely, but the ZR1 should still handily beat it in the straights.

10 Praga Bohema

Praga is one of the world’s oldest automakers, yet we still feel like its newest Bohema hypercar has flown under the radar. Meant to be a race car for the road, this hand-built vehicle weighs a mere 2,165 lbs and makes use of the twin-turbo V6 out of the Nissan GT-R. Unfortunately, the company only claims a 0-62 MPH sprint of 3.5 seconds, which is considerably slower than the GT-R which weighs well over 1,000 lbs more and produces less power. Still, the company says it produces more downforce at 155 MPH than the AMG One or McLaren Senna, so the track is most likely where it shines. We still think the ZR1 would have a field day with it.