Formula D Drift Competition Camaro
Most of the time, when I think of a Camaro, I think of pure HP transferring itself to wide tires and rocketing a machine forward in a straight line. The Gen 5 Camaro has shown already that it is a lot more than a drag rocket, and now its going to a place Camaros don't typically go. Sideways. Hankook has developed and is entering a 600+hp Camaro in to the Formula D Drift Competition Series now. Debuted at SEMA in 2009, we weren't really certain what the Hankook Camaro could really do, until this video came out. Looks pretty great tearing up that track (and its tires).
SLP ZL575 Camaro – A Driver’s Car, a Fan’s Dream
The Camaro has been tuned by so many different groups and shops since it was released this past year, that it has almost become a passé thing. Almost. The new SLP ZL575 has absolutely nothing about it one might consider passé, unless of course that means it is passé-ing someone else on an open road. Outfitted with the SLP Supercharger, Long Tube Headers, stainless axle-back exhaust system, and a cold air intake (as well as some other fantastic looking and performing upgrades) the SLP ZL575 Camaro is one powerful machine. Boasting 575 bhp, which is a bump of 149 over the stock SS, this beast gets a lot out of the already awesome Camaro LS3, and couples that with fantastic suspension, braking (Brembo 6-piston big brake kit), handling, and visual modifications for one exceptional Camaro.
With the SLP Supercharger strapped on to the LS3, this vehicle is basically a rocket on 4 wheels. Combining the already great performance of the LS3 with the tested performance and quality of SLP makes for an awesome car. With stiffer springs for an inch-lowered ride height, 29-mm tubular anti-roll bars, enhanced suspension package, and wider staggered (245s front and 275s rear) 20 inch Pirelli P Zero's this car not only flies, but it can sure as hell take a corner as well. Couple all of this with some fantastic styling cues, and you have one of the greatest complete package tuner Camaros out there. The Ram Air hood, functional rear spoiler, active brake cooling rear gills, 5-spoke alloy wheels, custom paint striping, and specialized SLP interior with embroidered mats and seats, all make for one absolutely glorious looking Camaro. The styling touches were small when compared to the stock Camaro (apart from that mean looking ram air hood) but worked absolutely perfect in the context of the car.
If I had any one complaint with the SLP Camaro, it would be with their exhaust choice. This is just personal preference too, but I prefer the more steady hum of a Borla or Billy Boat or other exhaust system to the throatier gurgle of the Powerflo. It is a very mean and aggressive exhaust, and it provides fantastic performance boosts, just wouldn't be my first choice. Of course, it is one of SLP's own in-house products, and makes sense with the package. Saying I don't like it also just feels like nit-picking on my part. And, with the performance and styling this car offers at its price tag (in the very reasonable $60,000 price range), I shouldn't be complaining.
A look at the numbers shows just how impressive these performance modifications are:
- 575 bhp, 550 lbs-feet torque
- 4.3 second 0-60, and a very respectable 9.0 second 0-100
- 12.5 second 1/4 mile run at 118.5 mph
- 121 ft 60-0 braking, 215 ft for 80-0 braking
- .89g on lateral accel (200 ft skidpad)
- and a limited top speed of 190 mph
Very definitely, another great vehicle from SLP, the ZL575 Camaro is a beast begging to be tamed and one of my favorite Camaro tuners on the market!
Hennessey Camaro, or the Camaro ZR1 (if you will)!
Hennessey, the vehicle tuning shop out of Texas run and operated by John Hennessey, has been making fast cars go a lot faster for a long time now. Over the last 20 years they've introduced twin-turbo Venom Vipers, suped up 911 Twin Turbos, 1000+ HP Ford GTs, and that's just beginning to scratch the surface of what they're capable of. Well, their newest endeavor is one of their most impressive. Hennesey has taken the ever impressive LS9 (more commonly known as the stage 1 rocket booster powering the Corvette ZR1) which was already pumping 638 bhp, amped up its BHP output to 725 with some ingenious touches, and dropped it in a 2010 Camaro. Sounds like a whole lot of fun, doesn't it?
So, an extra 100hp out of an already extremely powerful motor is no easy task, how did the Hennesey guys do it? They started by installing a smaller pulley on the blower's snout, which effectively raised the supercharger's peak boost from 11.0 psi to 14.5 psi. After the shortened pulley, they installed a custom created carbon fiber 4 inch cold air intake system, utilizing a K&N cone nose filter, and paired that with a more efficient central plenum which utilized improved air to water heat exchangers to help the engine run cooler and stronger. Not finding themselves satisfied there, they also installed 1 7/8" long tube headers, which run down to a 3 inch center X-Pipe, and improved stainless high flow cats. All of these exhaust modifications equate to a more powerful, wider breathing exhaust system, with a deliciously rich exhaust note on the end. Basically, this car not only flies, but really sounds like it as well.
Of course, there were some issues with the LS9 install in the Camaro. Typically housing a LS3 V-8, the size difference between the LS9 and LS3 was not much, so very little engine bay modification was necessary to make the engine drop in and sit. The electronics though, were something totally different. According to Hennessey, in the modern Camaro system all vehicle systems communicate with one another (from the air bags to the radio to the fuel pump), and perfecting a computer system which utilized the new engine's electronics with the pre-existing Camaro vehicle was no easy task. Hennessey did figure it out though, and then went about modifying the Camaro's fuel delivery system, which ultimately required a very intensive reworking. The LS9 requires 40psi more fuel which meant that larger injectors, a higher volume fuel pump, and new fuel rails were ultimately installed as well.
Through all of this, you have one of the meanest sounding and performing Camaros ever created, but now one must beg the question: Well, how does it look? The answer to that, quiet simply, is fantastic! While it will ultimately be available in any color combination desired, right now Hennessey has it in Cyber Gray Metallic with Blue Hockey Stick Accent striping. Adorned with carbon fiber ground effects spoilers and body kit touches, and a slightly wider wheel stance, make this car looks fantastic. Add to that the gorgeous 18 spoke wheels, housing the gigantic Brembo brakes and KW complete coil-over kit, and the exterior of this vehicle is very striking and beautiful. Inside, the Hennessey Camaro has a fairly standard Camaro look. All leather, and upgraded trim touches are some of the few visible touches, apart from the short-shifter. This fantastic feeling, short throw racing shifter, looks great and custom in the center of the Camaro does a lot for the vehicle.
All of this said, the vehicle does have some issues. Currently, there's no transmission that can make the most of the powerful engine, and the engine's 741lb-feet of torque will very literally shred the Camaro tires. Because of this, and the general weight of the Camaro, the car isn't as fast as one would expect, ultimately. It does handle fantastically, and is more nimble than the stock Camaro, but that's still not enough of a difference. The Hennessey Camaro (which is almost 100 HP stronger) is .8 seconds slower than the Corvette ZR1 to 60mph. The Hennessey Camaro is also .6 seconds slower the quarter mile than the ZR1 Corvette, but is a full second faster than the Camaro SS. The vehicle does handle well and look great, but some more work is necessary before it is seemingly worth its $125,000 price tag. (Compared to the $31,000 for the Camaro SS and the $107,000 price tag of the Corvette ZR1).
Is this the Z28, or just another impostor?
Well, word has been going around the Camaro community the last couple of days that the official Z28 test car has been spotted. Everyone from Camaro5 to Camaro Forums to Insideline and GMInsideNews, but I wanted to hold off for any sign that it was more official. Thus far, it appears that everyone is basing their information off of the Camaro5 report, so I figured instead of just regurgitating their information, I'd try and do some further investigation to see if there exists any validity behind this statement.
Camaro5 reported that the test vehicle seen in their images sported the LSA 6.2L Supercharged V8, which would be consistent with what Chevrolet themselves were saying would be in the Z28... exactly one year ago. The stipulation was though, one year ago, that the Z28 would not begin any sort of production or testing run until Chevrolet and GM had their financial situation in a better place. Over the last year the Camaro itself has almost single-handedly saved Chevy, while GM has trimmed a lot of their unnecessary fat as a means of cutting their overhead. It seems logical then that in that year's time this vehicle went ahead in production, although maybe a little premature. We know, from what vehicle history has shown us, that vehicles need multiple months to begin their testing phases, and a few more afterwards for production. What that means is that the choice to move ahead with the Z28 would had to have been made maybe 3 or 4 months ago to be at a place where test mules are running today. GM's end of the year numbers would not have been calculated at that point, nor would the Camaro final year sales numbers, but it could be assumed that GM would have been the incredible rate at which the Camaro was selling and made this decision. I say that, based on this, it's entirely possible that the test mule seen was the Z28, but not ultimately probable.
To further complicate the probability as to whether or not the test mule spotted was, in fact, the Z28 is the simple matter that GM and Chevy have been very candid about the Camaro and what their doing with it as time has progressed. A year ago they said they wanted to make the Z28, and said that they wanted it to happen in the not too distant future. They were also candid about their financial situation. They were then candid about Camaro convertible production beginning, well before test mule shots of that were ever seen. When first starting the Camaro production run, the public was getting consistent updates as to what the Camaro itself would entail. They were not keeping secrets then. So, with all of the truthfulness they've offered up to the public concerning the Camaro in the past, why now go to a more secretive nature? I can't imagine any solid reasons. Maybe they want to continue to promote Camaro SS sales, and think that announcing a Z28 production run would cause those to slow while people wait for the Z28, but I can't see that happening logically. If anything, Z28 announcements would mean more publicity for their powerhouse seller sports coupe. Also, because of the Z28's obviously higher price tag, it seems that the majority of the potential Z28 buyers are in a different economic group or class than those driving or looking to drive SS Camaros today. I can't imagine how GM would benefit from keeping the Z28 private, as they say in business "No press is bad press", and the Z28 is nothing but press.
Here are some images of the vehicle that was spotted, maybe you can tell me what you think or how you feel about it. Does it seem reasonable to assume that this is the Z28? There's no Ram Air hood, which is typically indicative of the Z28. The styling just feels off, it doesn't seem that there's enough here to differentiate this Camaro from any other SS on the road (which isn't a bad thing, b/c the SS is a damn beautiful car).
If I were to put a probability on this, I'd say its maybe 40% likely that this is the Z28. The people providing the info seem genuine enough in their belief of it, but something just doesn't seem right. The sudden secretive nature of GM, the all too soon timing of a mule, and the lack of traditional Z28 styling all lead me to believe that we're (sadly) not seeing the Z28 yet. Here's to remaining optimistic towards the Camaro future though, and hoping that I'm wrong and this is the Z28 and the world will soon be graced with its presence.
Click thumbs for jump to large, hi-res images:
VaraRam Releasing a Camaro Ram Air Intake System
VaraRam, an industry leader in Ram Air Intake systems, is about to release a new Ram Air system for the Gen 5 Camaro. If the system ends up being anything like VaraRam's other systems, then it will certainly be one of the best intake systems available for the Camaro today. VaraRam's Ram Air systems for the 'Vette and other performance cars have always been great, so I'm looking forward to seeing this when it is released.
This system is not public yet, and wont be released until late March or early April, but a friend with was able to see one in action and linked me to the early press information from VaraRam concerning the system, knowing the interest I would surely take in it. Their write up promises no less than 20 HP gains without a tune on a stock Camaro, apparently going up to as much as 32HP without tune and 40HP in gains on a tuned Camaro. VaraRam has also committed to providing multiple different options for every different level of performance Camaro out there, from stock to those pushing over 1000HP.
Of course, what do these numbers mean in a real-world setting? VaraRam claims a half second, and extra 5mph 1/4 Mile performance just by installing the Ram Air kit. Even if those numbers are on the high end though, a .3 second and 3mph improvement at the cost of a VaraRam system is very impressive. If the Camaro VaraRam Ram Air intake system runs equivalent in price to the other VaraRam systems, (anywhere from $300-400) this may wind up being the single best bang for the buck Camaro upgrade on the market. Definitely worth a look-see, so keep an eye on the Ram Air system as its release date gets closer. Remember, late March to early April.
Camaro Sales Rise, Mustang Sales Stagnate
Now, I am never happy or excited to report on something of this nature, but the Camaro's incredible sales have resulted in lay-offs at the factory where Mustangs are produced by Ford, as their sales have declined drastically. Nearly 900 positions were cut by Ford, which is by no means a happy bit of news. Of course, the flip side to this is that the Camaro production run resulted in many more hirings than 900 when it began, and its increased production and popularity has meant more hirings on the GM front. Who knows, maybe some of those former Ford employees may even be able to find work with GM. I hope they find work somewhere, best of luck to all people who lost their jobs at Ford because the Mustang is not as cool as the Camaro.
As for the Camaro, well, short of being too awesome it has done nothing wrong. Its sales continue to rise, and its popularity grows with each day that passes as it has more and more accolades lavished upon it. Here's to the future of the Camaro, may it continue to dominate the Sports Coupe market for years to come!
More Accolades for the Camaro!
So, the Camaro love just does not stop coming in. A couple more awards/accolades are official for the Camaro now, and I'm fairly certain over the next few months even more will come rolling in.
Most recently, the Camaro SS was rated the best resale value Sports Car on the market by Kiplinger's. This most obviously comes from the fact that Kiplinger's assumes the Camaro to have continued appeal and desirability to large markets down the road. From Kiplinger's, who also gave the Camaro SS their Best New Car award.
"Also capturing the nod for Best New Car, the highly anticipated Camaro SS features a growling V8 that puts out 426 horses and a retro design inside and out. Not surprisingly, this beast is expected to be in demand on the used market as well, with resale values of 62% after three years and 44% after five.
To win best-resale plaudits, the model must first be selected as one of the top 25 vehicles in its category. Then we pick the vehicle with the highest three-year resale value."
Moving on from the Kiplinger's awards, it also seems that the Camaro made the very short list for the 2010 World Car Design of the Year. 30 vehicles were intially nominated, and the Camaro made it down to the final 4. The other 3 are:
Citroën C3 Picasso
Kia Soul
Toyota Prius
Tough competition? Well, I don't think so, but we'll see how that award committee feels about it. A little bit directly from the article:
"The World Car Design of the Year award is meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundaries. A design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors. The original list consisted of 30 different cars.
This top three design finalists will be announced at the Geneva International Motor Show on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 and the winner will be revealed at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 1, 2010."
Camaro Named MotorWeek’s Best Sport Coupe
MotorWeek's annual list of yearly Driver's Choice Awards came out this year, and that just meant more honors for the Chevy Camaro. Continuing its dominance amongst the automobile loving community, the Camaro just won MotorWeek's award for Best Sport Coupe as chosen by their readers. MotorWeek had this to say about the Camaro:
"Our choice for Best Sport Coupe is the Chevrolet Camaro. This modernized throwbackmuscle car is, above all else, an extreme head-turner. Designers combined the retro styling of Camaro's heyday with design cues that intimate the future of sports cars. Now add to that two very healthy powertrains -including a roaring 426-horsepower V8 – and excellent overall handling. Plus an authentically classic interior. With base pricing in the low 20s, the new Camaro is a prize like no other."
Now, I simply can not disagree with that little snippet. Who could? More awards for the Camaro, and definitely more yet to come!
Halltech Camaro Yellow Jacket
The Brand new Camaro Intake, the Halltech Yellow Jacket has just recently hit the 2010+ Camaro scene and it appears to be a huge hit. Halltech, a long time developer of high flow intake systems for the Corvette C5 and Corvette C6 has decided to take their expertise with the LSX engines to the 2010+ Camaro crowd. The Camaro Yellow Jacket was tested for over 6 weeks dynamically on the road with logging software to make sure it performed to Halltech standards. Halltech has built World Class induction systems for over 11 years, with companies like Katech Engine Development, Livernois Motorsports, Extreme Motorsports, including many Chevy dealers nationwide, and other major tuners recommending the Halltech product line. The Halltech Yelllow Jacket Camaro Intake is a highly accurate MAF read intake for the LS3. Halltech spent 6 weeks developing this new Camaro intake system that sports a massive ISO 5011 Certified filter which achieves 99.4% filtration. This is the same filter media used in the highly popular and time tested Corvette C6 Z06 intake system, the Halltech Killer Bee. Halltech currently has a 650 HP motor using the same filter media, so they know the flow rates substantial.
The Camaro Halltech Yellow Jacket installed on a bone stock Camaro SS LS3 produced +14 RWHP/10.6 lbs-ft over the stock intake on a Superflow Chassis Dyno. Has anyone ever seen a Cat stung by a Bee? This is how our new Camaro ran with this intake installed. Other independent testing on the dyno is producing +22 rear wheel Horsepower (WOW).The intake weighs 4lbs (7.7 lbs is what the stock intake weighs) and comes complete with the heat shield. Long Term Fuel trims sit at zero to 1% with big power, and NO TUNING AT ALL.
This brand new Camaro intake takes about 15 minutes to install and does not require any cutting or permanent modifications to your Camaro. The other big deal with the Camaro Yellow Jacket is that no tune is needed to get the HP gains mentioned above. We all know that tuning a Chevy engine can potentially create issues if a warranty claim is ever filed on your car.
The Yellow Jacket Camaro Intake is available at Halltech distributors now and comes in the standard plastic or Carbon Fiber versions (be prepared to spend some coin if you opt for the carbon fiber version).
Gen6 Camaro to get new platform?
According to a recent MotorTrend report we're beginning now to get some information about what the 6th Generation Camaro will be like (seems a little premature, no?). Apparently GM is developing a new RWD platform that will take place of the SIGMA platform on the Cadillac CTS and be the base by which the 6th Gen Camaro is also built. This platform will be the ALPHA platform. This seems a little odd of a move, but I'm alright with it personally, to announce this right now before the second year of the Camaro has hit dealerships. So, this platform will be hitting dealers in 2014, and the Camaro is scheduled (tentatively) for 2015 right now. Other changes discussed here: The 6th Gen Camaro is expected to be lightened by a good bit from the 5th Gen; Also, apparently the engine in the Camaro will not be a naturally-aspirated, but instead either a turbo or super-charged V6. It seems the goal is to continue increasing Camaro performance while also increasing its EPA gas consumption rating to guarantee it will continually be able to beat whatever Mustang Ford throws at it. All very interesting stuff, but, having just bought my Camaro not too long along, too soon for my liking to hear about!