The C4-generation Corvette had something to prove — and it did, in ways most owners never fully realized. Between 1984 and 1996 it introduced a completely redesigned platform, brought in British firm Lotus Engineering to help build the 375-horsepower ZR-1, and quietly set a 24-hour, 175-mph endurance speed record along the way. A separately built twin-turbo version, the Callaway Sledgehammer, pushed even further, hitting 254.76 mph on a closed track. Read on to find out how an era known for plastic panels and a flawed anti-theft key also became one of the fastest Corvette generations ever built.