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Imagine, for a second, that you wanted to buy a Corvette in 1990. Not just any Corvette. You wanted the best Corvette your local Chevy dealer had to offer, and you were willing to pay for it. Well, you had two choices: The ZR-1 and the Callaway Twin-Turbo.
Both versions were available to order from dealerships, and both offered similar performance, though in wildly different fashions. The ZR-1, with its high-revving twin-cam Lotus-built V-8, delivered 385 horsepower at 5800 RPM and 370 lb-ft of torque. The Callaway, on the other hand, made 390 horsepower thanks to a twin-turbo version of the base Corvette's 5.7-liter iron block V-8, and delivered all 570 lb-ft of torque down low in the rev range.
Despite the different approaches, 0-60 times for both cars were identical at 4.5 seconds, and quarter-mile times differed by just a few tenths. So really, it was all about looks and personal preference for the buyer. MotorWeek got their hands on both cars back when they were new, and found them both as exciting as anything with an exotic European badge on the nose.
Brian Silvestro is Hearst Autos' Lead Deputy Editor for rankings content. He spent over seven years as a staff writer for Road & Track Magazine, and still contributes regularly with car reviews, industry interviews, and more.
He also has a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing.
