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Looking at history, I don't think the Camaro was intended to be "little brother/sister" to the Corvette as much as it was intended to be a competitor to the Mustang introduced in 1964 (explains the 3 year lag before the intro of the Camaro).
As Chevy was trying to "catch up" with Ford's "new car" (though the Mustang was really just a spiffed up Falcon), it is not a surprise that they borrowed components, including engine, from the Vette that was already in production. This helps in a couple ways ... it is faster to market as opposed to designing from ground up, and it uses a tried and tested powertrain to limit the "oops's" of introducing new potential buggy systems in a vehicle while trying to compete with a vehicle that has been on the market for 3 years already.
The size and weight of the Camaro compared to the Vette helped make the performance levels "not as competitve" with the Vette, as well as adjustments to the tuning etc ... this was designed so as not to piss off Chevy's existing market in the performance category.
Summary: Camaro was brought to market in reaction to a new "class" of vehicle and in response to the intro of the Mustang, not as a knock-off of the Vette.
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