ANDIt is common for the top person in charge of a historic car brand very little can be seen, perhaps in the world presentations of its most emblematic models or in some car shows, always with an elegant suit and a speech full of references to the brand’s bright future. But this typical profile is not the one that fits a man named Mark Reuss.
Different positions
Reuss entered General Motors through the front door and with many eyes on how he worked, since his father, Lloyd E. Reuss, had been president of GM between 1990 and 1992. Thus, this man who currently has 59 years I joined the company in 2001 as director of the Performance divisionwhich is responsible for the high-performance versions. Four years later he took charge of Global Vehicle Integration, Safety and Virtual Development in the company, and 2009 to 2013 became President of General Motors in North America.
Mark Reuss.General Motors.
But Reuss, current head of General Motors in the world, he is one of those who wants to check how his cars are running, especially when to do so he has to drive them as fast as the test drivers that they have hired for this.
Your accident
This, of course, sometimes has its unexpected consequences, as when in 2018 He began to drive himself Corvette ZR1 Pace Car during the Indy Car Detroit Grand Prix and I lost control of the car in the first corner of the first lap. The race had to be delayed due to his accident and they left with injuries both he and the man who was traveling as co-pilot, Mark Sandy. But it is also true that I achieved a unexpected publicity for the Corvette ZR1.
But as you can see that the word surrender It’s not in your dictionary, a year later I repeated the experience in the same place (also, with heavy rain) and in 2020 rod with the same safety car in the Indianapolis 500solving both appointments wonderfully.
The ZR1 driven by Reuss, in action.General Motors.
It would not be surprising, therefore, that when he asked that the new 2025 Corvette ZR1 became the Fastest production model in history made in the United States (by less than a million dollars) was thinking from the first minute of himself as pilot to achieve it.
So Reussalong with a cast of five engineers, several mechanics and two units of the 2025 Corvette ZR1has traveled to Papenburg, in Germany. The place is not new for Reuss, since the optimal conditions of air temperature and density that is there already allowed the North American brand to achieve its speed records with the Corvette ZR1 of sixth and seventh generation and with the Camaro ZL1 of sixth generation.
1,064 HP
The model in question has wild mechanics 5.5 biturbo with 1,064 HP and 1,123 Nmthe highest figures for a V8 mass produced in the United States. In fact everything in him is serial, including ailerons and tires Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. And to get the most out of it, it has a mode Top Speed Designed only for circuit where you adjust the chassis control systems to achieve maximum speed.
General Motors.
So Reuss has gotten behind the wheel of one of them together with a engineer analyzing speed data at his side in real time (we don’t know if the engineer’s images came to mind). accident from his boss at Indy). And at one point, halfway between the north and south straights of the rather oval track of the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburghas achieved an average of 375 km/h, making the car that had been assigned return safely to the pits.
But he has not been the only one who has reached stratospheric speeds, because the five engineers have also achieved exceed 370 km/h. Almost the same as his boss but a little less; maybe they didn’t want to take away the merit of being the fastest man in the world on a strictly production Corvette.
