Chevrolet, which is synonymous with motorsports, is about to enter a new era of racing with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R. This is significant for several reasons, but mainly, because GM is going to bring its GT3 customer program in-house, offering the Z06 GT3.R to third party race teams for the notable sum of $735,000 USD. Private customers will take priority after racing team customer orders are fulfilled. But racing is no longer limited to the confines of a track, as evident by the meteoric rise in off-road motorsports. And as such, it has Chevy eying the opportunity of one day selling turn key Colorado ZR2 race trucks to private customers.
Mike McPhee, Marketing Director for Chevrolet Trucks, clued us in that a Colorado ZR2 customer race truck program could resemble something like the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program that’s been officially announced. However, he stopped short of confirming this outright.
“Whether it’s GT3 race car with Corvette, maybe there’s an off-road program we could be doing, and it’s definitely something we’re keeping a close eye on,” said McPhee.
The Chad Hall Racing Silverado ZR2 race truck. Image via Chevrolet Performance.
At the moment, Chevrolet exclusively fields its Colorado ZR2 (and Silverado ZR2) race trucks through Chad Hall Racing. The trucks run stock engines, with some modifications to the interior (stripping out the interior, adding a cage, etc.) and some suspension modifications that sometimes lead to additions to the accessories portfolio, such as long-travel Multimatic shocks.
“It’s an area that we’re very interested in,” said McPhee. “Nothing to announce right now but it’s something that we’ve got our eye on.”
At one point, desert races like the Mint 400 and events like King of the Hammers seemed like a niche interest from dusty hobbyists. Today, they attract thousands of spectators, globally renown drivers, and big-name sponsorships. Ford Performance has taken the liberty to see to that. Ford Performance also takes the liberty to sell the Ford Bronco DR to privateer customers for $200,000 USD, and seeks to do similar things with the wide array of S650 Mustang Dark Horse race cars. The Bronco DR is built by Multimatic in Markham, Ontario, filling manufacturing capacity left behind by the Ford GT supercar, which has finally concluded its production run.
The production version of the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 raises the bar for midsize off-road trucks with a more robust powertrain, improved suspension, larger tires, and heightened levels of technology. These upgrades have proven to be beneficial to the race truck, as well. Hall Racing fielded the new Colorado ZR2 in a 500 mile Vegas to Reno desert race last August, and finished a full 34 minutes faster than the best time of the outgoing Colorado ZR2 race truck from 2021.
Image via Chevrolet Performance.
