Does the ZL1's Quarter Mile Performance Matter Much to You?

[GoldenBear]

I think that if one is truly interested in drag racing and quarter mile performance, one would be better served by the new COPO Camaro rather than the new ZL1.

It seems to me that new ZL1 is really designed more to be a true GT car, more targeted to road courses and comfortable everyday driving, where one will really be able to reap the benefits of its magnetic ride control and its IRS, than it is designed to be a quarter mile machine. I'm sure that some will take their ZL1s to the drag strip, but if drag racing is really how one is interested in spending one's time, I think that one's money will probably better spent on a vehicle other than the ZL1.

The Nurburgring lap time is a more useful indication to me of how a vehicle will perform under the types of conditions that I might encounter while driving than a vehicle's quarter mile performance is.

As, I think, IOMZL1 pointed out, the Nurburgring is an excellent venue to judge a vehicle's overall performance capability.

The Nurburging is very demanding track. It encompasses aspects of almost all other tracks that exist. The Nurburgring does not necessarily favor any one individual aspect of a vehicle, such as only either high horsepower, or quick acceleration, or good braking, or top speed, or traction, or good low or high speed handling, etc. A vehicle must have a well balanced overall performance package to do well at the Nurburgring. The track is not necessarily smooth, as with many roads that one will encounter in one's daily travels, and, therefore, the Nurburgring is challenging in that real world aspect for both the car and the driver.

The chances are that if a vehicle performs well at the Nurburgring, it will perform well just about anywhere. If a vehicle posts a good Nurburgring time, I believe that it indicates that the car is a well balanced high performance vehicle.

I know that many focus on 0-60 MPH times and quarter mile trap speeds and times, saying that most ZL1s will be driven on the street or the strip, where all that matters is straight line performance, and stating that almost no one will take their ZL1 to the Nurburgring, but the ZL1, although it has Launch Control, was designed to be much more than a vehicle that spends most of its time making straight line runs, and one doesn't have to drive one's ZL1 on the Nurburgring to make use of the characteristics of the ZL1 that make it perform well at the Nurburging.

It's not the 1960s anymore when most muscle cars were judged primarily on their straight line performance. Some may be stuck in the past, focused mainly on a vehicle's straight line performance, but today a high performance vehicle needs to perform well at many different venues and under many different circumstances, including providing seamless, comfortable everyday transportation.

[Z4me]

For me no not really. If I was in my twenties and thirties probably would.

I'm looking as this is a great looking car, plenty of power when I want it.
Comfortable to cruise in and be able to walk away from a bad accident.
The Zl1 does all of that for me and will be a high performance car for the
money.
With any car there might be a few things here and there I would like as some more options but thats a minor issue for me.

Can't wait to drive mine .

[SlingShot]

For me I have zero plans of tracking my car. I'm getting it as a daily driver and show stopper, and a car that is more than capable of getting out of it's own way.

[JMAN311]

It's not the only thing, but it does matter to me, and I think it will matter to anyone who is cross shopping the ZL1 and the 2013 GT500. But I agree that the main purpose will be able to have a car you can drive everyday and take it to a road course. Being able to beat alot of cars on the track that cost 2-3 times more is just a bonus

[Happy_Dan]

GB, your post describes more what I am looking for than straight line performance. But there are other factors as well.

The Z06 I had had NO back seat. While the Camaro is small, it fits my special needs daughter who is small and I want to take her and my wife to events when I go.

I want a car that looks great and handles well on the street with my wife and daughter dreading getting in to go for a ride.

I want to take it to several track days a year without having to spend 8 hours prepping it.

I want a car that I can run hard at HPDE's without having to back off because I reached a drivers level that allows me to push the car so hard that PS fluid is spraying out of the top of the reservoir, the tranny temp is not at 300 degrees and the water temp is not at 295 degrees and who knows what the rear diff fluid is at.

I have been a Camaro nut since my teams, couldn't have one as I married right out of high school and raised 6 awesome daughters. They are now grown up and I have had my Camaro's and Vettes, but I had to get back to my first love of cars. So it had to be a Camaro, and the ZL1 is the one that covers all the other parameters.

Straight line speed would be at the bottom of that whole list.

[YourBlindingBias]

It matters to alot of enthusiasts, most people don't go race on tracks they go to their dragstrip. I am sad to hear some people buying a ZL1 and never putting it on a track of any kinds, it's like a waste of a car.

There is even a 1/4 mile fast list on this site and most forums, you don't see a road track fast list do you? what are you going to tell people if they ask your road track time? lol

[Padre]

Yes. I am anxiously looking forward to embarrassing each one I meet at the track.

Padre

[closs2sx]

to me it matters alot..that said if equal drivers meet and get equal runs and the 650 hp gt 500 beats me by a fender (its funny i started to put half a car and changed my mind) i wont cry as the bigger reason i am buying this car is for the handling and the ability to put 4 people in it if need be not that its a comfort queen but you can. Now if the tests come out and the gt500 beats it horribly in the quarter and is very close on a road circuit or barely edges it i will be jumping to ford for the first time in my life so i hope gm has got an answer for 650hp in this segment this is acutually why i passed on a 2012 need data. i have a straight line muscle car i want a car that does it all but dont want to be killed by a ford in the process. If they are close enough where the driver can and does make the difference then i am all zl1 if not i am jumping ship

bottom line i love that it handle almost as good as a z06 but i dont want to be beat up everyday by coworkers and family that i spent all this money and the the gt500 kills it in the 1/4 and beats it on the road course (not that is has yet but if it does thats what i will hear) the unfourtunate part is i just dont know if i will be as passionate about a ford as i am about my chevys hopefully it wont come to that but only time will tell

[Happy_Dan]

Honestly guys what confuses me in some of these posts is this.
If you just want to go fast in a straight line and get there as quickly as possible, why a ZL1? No disrespect intended in any way, but there are already guys here that have cars much faster than a ZL1 in a straight line.

You don't need much of what is in a ZL1 to do that. You don't need a tranny and rear diff cooler. You don't need the suspension.

You don't even need and probably don't want IRS. I just don't understand why you want a ZL1 for that express purpose. It is clearly a car that has some compromises.

[IcePick06]

Originally Posted by Happy_Dan

Honestly guys what confuses me in some of these posts is this.
If you just want to go fast in a straight line and get there as quickly as possible, why a ZL1? No disrespect intended in any way, but there are already guys here that have cars much faster than a ZL1 in a straight line.

You don't need much of what is in a ZL1 to do that. You don't need a tranny and rear diff cooler. You don't need the suspension.

You don't even need and probably don't want IRS. I just don't understand why you want a ZL1 for that express purpose. It is clearly a car that has some compromises.

people on this forum and the Mustang forum obviously want something INSANELY fast (for a muscle car) right out of the box while maintaining FULL WARRANTY. Yes, some cars here like Padre's SS will beat a ZL1 in a straight line but they are modded cars. But a factory/stock GT500 doing quarter miles in the mid-11's consistently and a 3.7 0-60mph time will likely get some people switched over to the Mustang if it indeed handles well on a road course too. Mine will be a daily driver, so I think having the benefit of PTM and the MRC is a HUGE bonus, and I will likely do a few bolt on mods (i.e. CAI) that should maintain warranty & to hopefully get the acceleration performance a little closer to the '13 GT500. I will also have a manual car and the automatic posted faster times but since the GT500 is manual only that is my baseline comparison.

I like that the ZL1 has "no lift" shifting and I would love to see a comparison between the '12 ZL1 and '13 GT500 where the Editors focus on the benefit of that feature on the ZL1 compared to the GT500. Does it really make one shift and therefore accelerate faster? Only time will tell...

FWIW, I may do a few trackdays, but as a daily driver, most of my glory and permagrin will be from smoking some guy in the M3, or GT500 next to me at the stoplight and I'll bet 90% of ZL1 owners are in the same boat. So to answer the OP's question directly, YES...1/4 mile times and 0-60mph times matter alot. But as I stated, if those times are so close between the competition that it boils down to driver skill, I hope some of the ZL1's "ARCADE LIKE FEATURES" such as "NO LIFT SHIFT" will help ZL1 owner's come out on top at the end of the day

[HDRDTD]

The ZL1 is street legal and the COPO is not.

[snapp32e]

1/4 means nothing to me, as long as it's quicker to the next set of lights.

[YourBlindingBias]

Originally Posted by snapp32e

1/4 means nothing to me, as long as it's quicker to the next set of lights.

Yes, that's straight line performance lol

[SlingShot]

Originally Posted by YourBlindingBias

Yes, that's straight line performance lol

The topic is about actually running on a track ... I'd say most really don't care other than bragging rights.