Milford — President Donald Trump got an eyeful of Detroit firepower Monday.
Presidents are accustomed to booming displays of American military might. F-14 fighter jets on aircraft carriers. B-2 bombers over racetracks. Blackhawk helicopters on the National Mall. But never has a U.S. president come to General Motors Co.’s secretive Milford Proving Grounds to witness the full might of American V-8s.
FOOM! An all-wheel-drive, 1,250-horsepower, hybrid V-8/electric Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X, the most powerful American sportscar ever produced, exploded past the presidential viewing stand, defeating its mere supercar sibling, the rear-wheel-drive, 1,064-horsepower ZR1, by two car lengths in a drag race.
“I hit about 115 (mph) at the viewing stand,” said GM engineer and ZR1X driver Stefan Frick afterwards. “Then backed out of it at about 120.”
If he had kept going past the 1/8-mile makeshift dragway set up on Black Lake, the 67-acre asphalt skid pad at the north end of the Proving Ground’s 4,400 acres, the ZR1X would have hit 233 mph.
“That’s the largest piece of asphalt I’ve ever seen,” said Trump, a car buff with his own large collection, at a rally afterwards. Black Lake has been an engineering test ground for countless performance vehicles.
The sibling Corvette duel at the apex of American power was the highlight of multiple drag races put on for the presidential visit featuring GM’s most powerful vehicles. If the president were a betting man and put his money on the favorites, he would have won.
First up: Cadillac CTS-V Blackwing vs. Corvette Z06.
The 668-horsepower Blackwing is the fastest V-8-powered Cadillac sedan made, hitting 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds. But it was no match for the lighter, 670-horse Z06 and its tremendous, mid-engine rear grip. The Z06 hit 60 mph in 2.6 seconds and walked away from the Caddy as it blew by the president.
Round Two featured two GM heavyweights — the battery-powered GMC Hummer EV supertruck versus the V-8-powered Cadillac Escalade-V super-ute. The Escalade-V shares the Blackwing’s supercharged V-8 but was no match for the Hummer, which hit 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds and kept on humming past the viewing stand.
Trump shared the stand with GM brass including CEO Mary Barra and President Mark Reuss — American and GM flags draped behind them on Building 106.
“I like that Hummer,” said Trump afterwards. “I said ‘Mary, can you send me a couple of those?’”
After the ZR1X’s Corvette triumph, GM engineers Frick and Hummer driver Mike Kirbitz lined up for one last face-off: V-8 versus battery power.
The Hummer stayed close to 60 mph — its 2.8-second 0-60 launch impressive for a 4 ½-ton truck — but then the Corvette (which can hit 60 mph in a staggering 1.7 seconds) left it in the dust, its twin-turbo filling the lungs of the mighty 5.5-liter V-8. V-8 turning the hypercar’s rear wheels, an electric motor powering the fronts.
No contest. The ZR1 won in a landslide, a term that any president can appreciate.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: GM puts on high-powered drag races for Trump at Milford stop
Reporting by Henry Payne, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Henry Payne, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
