We'd heard the long-lead media "drive" for the 2009 Corvette ZR1 was yesterday and it looks like the first in-car driving footage is now out on the web, less than 24 hours later. We obviously weren't there, primarily since we'd heard it was all magazines there. Frankly, we just don't need as much time as the glossies to put out a good story. We don't have character blocks to set in the printing press, no ink to squirt out and no parchment to unroll. So we guess it makes sense that we wouldn't need an invite to an event this far out. Of course, we also expected the invited media reps from the big n' bad buff books would, you know, drive the cars themselves. UPDATE: The video's from Motive Mag, an online publication. Who knew they needed extra time too? Slow pokes.
Instead, we're treated to GM test engineer Jim Mero — we think — driving one of the invited journalists around the road course at the General's Milford Proving Grounds. We know Mero's a pretty damn good driver — he shot the ZR1 'round the Nubrugring in record time. Maybe he was just having a bad day today, but how many cones did he hit on this particular run 'round the "Lutz Ring?" Probably a lot less than the number whoever he was driving would have had he gotten behind the wheel himself.
Not to say he didn't. Whoever it is in the passenger seat probably did get a few minutes of limited driver seat time. We just hope this video won't cast aspersions on "test drives" coming out of the event. [More over at VetteTube]