Throwback Review Puts Jeremy Clarkson Behind the Wheel of a Brand new C6 Corvette ZR1

It’s pretty amazing how quickly things can pass us by. In the automotive community, if we so much as blink, the next thing that we know, generations of our favorite rides have flown by in an instant. One example of a vehicle that has really made a lot of strides over the years is the Chevrolet Corvette. In fact, the car might fall into an entirely different class of vehicle these days with its change to a mid-engine configuration but that’s a chat for another time.

Today, we take a moment to recognize just how far technology has come over the years. With this one, we hop in our time machine and fly back to about a decade ago. The year is 2009 and the topic of discussion this time is none other than the C6 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 that found its way to Top Gear back before the Clarkson and company took off.

At the time, the Corvette was really defining its role as the best bang for your buck in terms of performance. In fact, Clarkson would even name the ZR1 the best car of 2008.

In this segment, we would watch that very car come to life. I’m sure that at the time, enthusiasts were wondering how Chevrolet could top this one with a better Corvette and while they certainly have come out with more lots of enticing options since, some enthusiasts consider the LS9 under the hood to be one of the best motors that General Motors has ever produced. Combine it with the rest of the engineering marvels spotted around the ZR1 and you have a combo that legends are made of.

On the opposite side of this equation, we find yet another vehicle that seemed to be an incredibly hot property for the time in the Audi R8. While the ZR1 certainly ended up stealing the show in the long run, the R8 is no slouch itself.

Down in the video below, we get the full scope of what the one and only Jeremy Clarkson thought of this group of cars and how that perspective holds up today, knowing exactly what we know about the way both of these brands have evolved.