I'm not sure about the ZR1, I just remember one of my old magazines from 91 saying that. Pretty sure they hit a 13.0 in the 1/4. But either way, it was an amazing vehicle in a slow ass Era for cars.
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Geez that was a great comparison. My friend had a cyclone, my boss drove a typhoon, still remember when his girlfriend ( the boss) found out the new truck couldn't be use to get the business materials she almost killed him.The 1991 GMC Cyclone, A History Lesson...
Kid: "Dad, where do Syclones come from?"
Dad: "Well son, when a Chevy Astro Van and a Chevy S10 love each other very much..."
I'm not here to plagerize what Car and Driver already wrote about the GMC Syclone. I'm going to link that article here. For those who don't care to read it, the Syclone was an AWD S10 with a 4.3L V6 turbo engine. it basically had the AWD components from a Chevy Astro Van (including the V6 engine) with a big turbo slapped on it. Then General Motors stuffed this into a lightweight S10 with some 245 tires. This combo worked so well that it beat a Ferrari 348 in the quarter mile in the test article that I linked above.
The Astro Van/S10 combo is no secret. Tony Angelo (formerly of Hot Rod Garage, and also a former pro drifter) and his team at Stay Tuned built one of these from junkyard parts. It came out awesome and cheap. Don't take my word for it though; watch the video here.
Right now you're asking yourself "Why is this idiot so wound up about a truck from 1991?". The answer is because it bears some striking similarities to our Mavericks. Check this out (test data blatantly plagerized from Car and Driver):
1991 GMC Syclone 2024 Ford Maverick Vehicle Type front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door pickup front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door pickup Price As Tested $26,120 $30,235 Engine Type turbocharged and intercooled pushrod 12-valve V-6, iron block and heads, port fuel injection turbocharged and intercooled inline-4, aluminum block and head Displacement 262 cubi inches, 4300 cubic centimeters 122 cubic inches, 1999 cubic centimeters Power 280 hp @ 4400 rpm 250 hp @ 5500 rpm Torque 350 lb-ft @ 3600 rpm 277 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm Transmission 4-speed automatic 8-speed automatic Chassis Suspension F/R control arms/live axle struts/multilink Wheels 16x8 17x7 Tires Firestone Firehawk SVX, 245/50VR-16 M+S Falken Wildpeak A/T3W, 235/65R-17 104H M+S 3PMSF Dimensions Wheelbase 108.3 inches 121.1 inches Length 180.5 inches 199.7 inches Width 64.8 inches 72.6 inches Height 60.0 inches 68.7 inches Passenger Volume 52 cubic feet 102 cubic feet Curb Weight 3,600 lbs 3,800 lbs Car & Driver Test Results 30 MPH 1.6 seconds 60MPH 5.3 seconds 5.9 seconds 100 MPH 17.8 seconds 16.4 seconds 120 MPH 37.4 seconds Top Gear, 30-50 MPH 3.0 seconds 3.2 seconds Top Gear, 50-70 MPH 4.6 seconds 4.2 seconds 1/4 Mile 14.1 @ 93 mph 14.5 @ 95 mph Top Speed 126 mph 110 mph, governor limited Braking 70 mph - 0 mph 183 feet 172 feet Roadholding 300 ft diameter skidpad 0.80 g 0.82 g Fuel Economy Combined 15 mpg 25 mpg City 14 mpg 22 mpg Highway 17 mpg 29 mpg
Hopefully this little history lesson at least partially explains why I'm doing what I'm doing. Philosopher George Santayana once said "Those who cannot remeber the past are condemned to repeat it." I remeber it; I hope I'm lucky enough to get close to repeating it.
Until next time...
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