To celebrate 75 years since its establishment in 1939, Mercury Marine opened a new museum in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, that features exhibits and interactive displays tracing the company's heritage decade by decade. But what does a boat engines manufacturer have in common with the iconic Chevrolet Corvette?
The answer to that question can be found if you pop the hood of the 1990 ZR-1 Corvette. Designed by Lotus Engineering for General Motors, this was the first production Corvette powered by a DOHC V8 powerplant with four overhead cams. In 1988, Mercury Marine was chosen to manufacture the LT-5 engine of the ZR-1. The end result came in the form of an all-aluminium 5.7-liter small block V8 featuring radical 32-valve dual overhead cam heads.
Hand-built by Mercury's MerCruiser division in Stillwater, Okla, the eight-cylinder mill generated 375 horsepower at first, with oomph bumped to 405 horsepower for the 1993 model year ZR-1 Corvette. Mercury Marine's LT-5 powerplant was the first GM engine to ever earn the prestigious GP3 Level 1 quality certification, eventually becoming the most celebrated Corvette engine of all time.
A bone stock Corvette ZR-1 broke no less than three world endurance records in 1991 at the Firestone test track in Fort Stockton, Texas. Tommy Morrison and a handful of other drivers travelled 4,221.26 miles at an average speed of 175.885 miles per hour, breaking the 24-hour endurance mark set in 1940 by almost 15 miles per hour. A couple of years later, a Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 powered by the MerCruiser LT-5 DOHC V8 took the checkered flag in the 24-hour World Challenge competition in Mosport, Canada, with another ZR-1 finishing second.
Until production of the LT-5 powerplant ended in 1994, Mercury Marine and Chevrolet built a total of 6,939 C4 Corvette ZR-1s. The 350 cubic inch motor could propel the special edition vehicle to 60 miles per hour in just 4.5 seconds, all the way to a top speed of over 180 mph, which are mind boggling numbers for that day and age.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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A bone stock Corvette ZR-1 broke no less than three world endurance records in 1991 at the Firestone test track in Fort Stockton, Texas. Tommy Morrison and a handful of other drivers travelled 4,221.26 miles at an average speed of 175.885 miles per hour, breaking the 24-hour endurance mark set in 1940 by almost 15 miles per hour. A couple of years later, a Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 powered by the MerCruiser LT-5 DOHC V8 took the checkered flag in the 24-hour World Challenge competition in Mosport, Canada, with another ZR-1 finishing second.
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