Most car owners are constantly looking for more out of their vehicles; whether it’s appearance, drivability or performance, there are thousands of parts and accessories available for nearly any application. However, nothing is worse than paying hard-earned money for a product that either doesn’t fit correctly or doesn’t match up to the manufacturers claims.  

Recently, Farmer Machine out of Ashland, Virginia had the chance to test one of these of products on their 2019 ZR-1 Corvette to see if it would in fact hold up to the claims of Chevrolet Performance. According to the automotive powerhouse, this is the first performance air intake upgrade offered for the Corvette by GM since 1957. Chevrolet also claims that on the LT5, the system will add an additional 17 horsepower. This might seem like a tall order for the already stout engine cranking out 755 horsepower and 715 lb.-ft. of torque, with over 600 lb.-ft. of torque available from 2,200 rpm to redline.

To put the new GM cold air intake system to test, Will Farmer headed out to his local dragstrip for some real-world testing. On the first pass the ‘Vette, in its stock configuration, posted an elapsed time of 10.38-seconds at 134.05 mph with a 1.61 60-foot time. The video then shows the installation of the Chevrolet Performance unit in the car before making another pass. By switching out the factory air box to the new performance unit, the 60-foot time dropped to a 1.57 and the time at the stripe also quickened to a 10.24 with a slightly slower 133.77 mph trap speed. Will and his crew made a follow-up pass a couple of weeks later and posted a time-slip displaying a 1.58 60-foot and an elapsed time of of 10.22 at 136.20 mph. 

Not only does this unit offer a much better option than the factory assembly, it did increase the 60-foot times as well as the et of the Zr1. Will stated,” I could feel the improvement in acceleration especially in the 60ft.” It’s hard to argue with these kind of gains especially when the price point of the cold air intake kit is only $499.80 through various online retailers.