Automobile Magazine was invited into General Motors Performance Build Center to watch and lightly assist in the buildup of a ZR-1's internal combustion heart. It takes four-and-a-half hours of real time to go from a bare block to a fire-breathing, supercharged LS9, but through the magic of sped-up video, it only takes seven minutes of your life. You won't come away with anything productive for that time, unlike the people in the video, who get the pleasure of creating a small-block V8, but it's a neat picture of how it all comes together. We just hope that some other poor sucker gets the motor that the magazine intern fiddled with. Video posted after the jump.

Click above to see the Corvette ZR1 lapping the 'Ring.

Alrighty folks. Here it is. The General has released the in-car footage of the Corvette ZR-1 lapping the Nurburgring in 7:26.4, hitting 180 mph at one point on the 12.9-mile course and beating out the Z06's time, set in 2005 by Jan Magnussen by almost 17 seconds. Jim Mero is behind the wheel and just as a reminder; the lap was done on the same Michelin Pilot Sport 2s as the production model, and retains the same ride height, engine calibrations and emissions equipment, along with running pump gas.

Make the jump to view the video.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Corvette ZR1

If you were planning on heading down to your local Chevy dealership and placing an order for a new Corvette ZR1, think again. The new super-Vette is the fastest ever made, yet despite its $105k price tag, there'll be a lot of eager customers lining up. But General Motors will only allow certain Chevrolet dealerships to sell the supercar.

Click either image for a high-res gallery.