2027 Silverado ZR2 Race Truck Hints at Multimatic Dampers Under the Skin

The most interesting part of Chevrolet's latest off-road race truck isn't the 481-horsepower V8 or the 37-inch tires. It's the front shocks. Park the race truck next to a production ZR2 and the suspension hardware looks like a different philosophy, and that's a clue worth chasing.

What's different at the front

The race truck's front coilover damper bodies appear to carry adjustable valving, which production dampers usually keep hidden or leave out entirely. Large-diameter fluid lines run from each damper to a sizable remote reservoir, a setup that points to a lot of fluid volume and heat management being built into the system. Those details matter. Remote reservoirs help keep damper oil from overheating during long, rough runs, and adjustable valving lets a team tune compression and rebound for different terrain without swapping hardware.

There's also a suspension droop limiting strap on the front end. That's a simple part, but it's a clear sign the team is managing how far the wheels can drop after a big landing or a deep rut. Production-style independent suspensions can be prone to overextending, and a strap like this keeps the components within the range the damping was designed for.

Reading the production-based rules

Race trucks in series like the Best in the Desert championship have to stay close to production. The chassis, body and powertrain need to be production based, and the allowed modifications are mostly about safety and navigation. That's why the list of changes here is so specific: a roll cage, a bed cage with a mount for two spare tires, a racing-style fuel cell and navigation equipment. Suspension isn't on that list of allowances in the same way, which makes the advanced front dampers more interesting. Teams can only change so much, so every component they do change tells you where the engineering effort is going.

The truck's powertrain is the new L78 6.6L V8, rated at 481 horsepower and 501 lb-ft of torque. Those are the same headline numbers production trucks carry, so the race truck is effectively testing the drivetrain and suspension together under the kind of load a production truck will rarely see.

Why GM races these trucks

Chevrolet and GM field these trucks, run by Chad Hall Racing, partly as a testing ground. Teams in this position typically use racing programs to shake out new components before they reach showroom trucks, and the punishment is the point. One of the more recent races Chevrolet has entered was measured at 505 miles. A run like that will expose heat soak, fluid fade, mounting failures and driveline fatigue far faster than a week of trail riding.

That's the lens to use when you look at the front dampers. A race team doesn't fit custom hardware for fun. If GM is running a damper with remote reservoirs and adjustable valving on a truck that has to finish a 500-mile course, the company is likely evaluating whether that design earns a place on a future production model.

The Multimatic link and the EV ZR2

This isn't the first time Multimatic ASV hardware has shown up on a GM off-road truck. In March 2025, the Silverado EV ZR2 race truck debuted at the MINT 400 near Las Vegas, Nevada, running Multimatic ASV (Active Spool Valve) shocks. The EV ZR2 is much heavier than this gas-powered 2027 truck, so its damper size and design differ. Still, the connection matters. It suggests GM has been working with Multimatic's active damping approach across more than one platform, and the new race truck's dampers look like a second chapter in that development.

The reason to care is that active spool valve dampers adjust their behavior on the fly, not just through a fixed setting. For a truck that spends its life moving between pavement, gravel and whoops, that kind of adaptability is the whole pitch. The challenge is packaging. Adding hydraulic plumbing, reservoirs and control hardware to a production truck's suspension without hurting ride quality, cost or serviceability is hard, and a race truck is a good place to find the limits before committing to a production design.

Could a ZR2-X follow?

The open question is whether this hardware leads to a Silverado 1500 ZR2-X. That's speculation, not a confirmed program, but the pieces fit. A wider-body truck with longer travel, a supercharged V8 and Multimatic ASV dampers would be a logical step up from the current ZR2, and the race truck's remote-reservoir dampers would suit that kind of setup. Whether GM builds it is a different question, and nothing in the source confirms a production decision.

What to watch

For buyers, the production 2027 ZR2 is the truck to evaluate today, with its DSSV spool valve shocks, hydraulic bump stops and 35-inch tires. For enthusiasts, the race truck is the tell. If the adjustable front dampers and remote reservoirs show up on a production model, that's a sign GM's racing program is feeding directly into road hardware. If they don't, the race team may have simply found a better answer for a 500-mile course than a showroom truck ever needs. Either way, the damper hardware deserves a closer look than the paint and tires get.