Drag Test: 2010 Camaro SS

[Nine Ball]

Exactly War Eagle. I can't wait until several guys here who say it is my lack of driving skill get their Camaro and go run in Summer heat and non-ideal conditions...just to crack some high 13s...and not post about it. Easier said than done to run a 12 in this car, and those previous magazine tests were NOT done at a dragstrip. They use GPS in-car equipment, and the trap speeds are not actual "trap" speeds. They are max speeds at the end of 0.25 miles, so they tend to be higher.

BTW, I write/shoot for a few automotive magazines. Most mags are somewhat allergic to setting foot on an actual dragstrip. I'm not

[Nine Ball]

Originally Posted by b20

also remember those are numbers they will use to compare what there mods inproved the camaro by

just putting out they may not have been tring to hard for the best time in

I was driving the car, not Hennessey. I can assure you, I was beating the holy hell out of this car to get a number out of it. I had hopes of cracking the first stock 12-second pass before arriving, but it just didn't happen. We all wanted to see how quick the Camaro would run stock, so please do not bring any speculation that we wanted to go slower in it. That is just dumb, and I'm totally against doing so.

I'll have my own SS in a month or so, and you can bet I'll be drag racing and road racing it to 100% of my/it's potential. Count on it.

Tony

[War Eagle]

Tony,

I appreciate you putting the video up and it looked like a good run, well driven to me. There has been so much hype and speculation a lot of people are going to be dissapointed when they run their car the first time. I know I was the first time I put my Shelby on the 1/8 mile track. It was hot and with my stock tires the best I could do was an 8.8 in the 1/8 mile. There is a big diference between talking and driving.

War Eagle

[SGOS252382]

You just need some cool dry air.

When Road and Track ran 13.0 @ 111 mph (which is a great time for Road and Track because they usually run slower than most mags) the conditions were 59 degrees with 37% humidity (very good track conditions).

[PMD GTO]

Originally Posted by SGOS252382

Interesting to hear they had wheel hop issues with the 6 speed manual. I thought that problem with the IRS had been all worked out (they learned their lesson from the manual GTO).

My 6 speed manual GTO had terrible wheel hop issues (before I learned how to launch the car properly - knee jerk launch (at a constant rpm) without flooring the gas until the car was already moving off the line).
My A4 automatic GTO has never given me any wheel hop issues.

I had whell hop issues on occasion with my A4 GTO but they were solved with the addition of a set of Drag Bags.




Drag Bags Inflated

[b4z]

Rear tires are 29" tall.
Car has a 3.4X rearend.
My '87 IROC had 3.45s and 25.6" tall tires.
My '06 GTO has 3.46s and 25.7" tall tires.
The Camaro needs a 3.90 gear to equal a GTO's gearing!

[camarossrs2150]

Originally Posted by Nine Ball

We had the keys to a new Camaro SS yesterday, as well as a track all to ourselves. Enjoy!

http://www.planetlsx.com/news/Drag_T...0_Camaro_SS/74



Planet LSX track tests the new 2010 Camaro SS
Has the recent introduction of the new 2010 Camaro left you wondering how it might perform at the drag strip? Sure, we've seen other magazines post up results using GPS type tracking equipment, but we know our Planet LSX readers won't settle for high tech gizmos to record actual dragstrip results. Being the gearheads we are, we decided to take a brand new Camaro and romp it down the track to learn both the good and bad.

We picked up the phone to our friends over at Hennessey Motorsports, located in Sealy, TX. We learned that they were one of the first to take possession of a 2K10 SS, and this shop also benefits from having its very own dragstrip on site. Track conditions were fair, about 88 degrees outside and humid. Headwind was 10-15 mph, track prep was excellent. Camaro SS weighs in at portly 3,850 lbs without the driver.

We found that the Camaro was difficult to launch effectively, too little throttle resulted in bog, and too much throttle induced some terrible wheelhop. Bogging seemed to get slightly better results, due to maintaining traction. Clutch engagement was high on the pedal travel, but worked well. The TR6060 manual transmission shifted flawlessly, just like our test 2009 Z06. Even when maintaining a smooth launch, the best 60-foot times only resulted in a paltry 2.1 second range. Those rear tires on the Camaro are nearly 29" tall, and look very heavy. No doubt some of that curb appeal that they are intended for are hurting track performance. A set of drag radials would work wonders for netting a better launch.

Going down the track, you could feel some slight torque management in 1st gear, as if the throttle did not go wide open until 2nd gear. All passes were made with traction control off, electing to use driver (right foot) traction control instead. The Camaro only uses the first three gears to get down the quarter-mile, coming just under redline as you cross the traps. Our best pass was a 13.51 @ 107 mph, with a weak 2.1 sixty foot time. The car would easily be a high-12 to low-13 car in better conditions, with a decent launch. To be fair, our test car was never allowed to cool down, we did more hot laps than a NASCAR.

The 2010 Camaro SS was great fun, and we enjoyed our thrash of it. The car embodies exactly what a pony car should be. Nice exhaust note, sporty handling, aggressive stance and body, as well as decent track performance. We also realize that our readers are looking at this car like a blank canvass, eager to dig into that LS3 engine and get even more power out of it. We can't wait to do this ourselves here at Planet LSX!

any cracks

[JBsC6]

tough to launch 20's..and lets see what gets done at englishtown in the new camaro SS

I bet the automatic L99 runs 13 flats everytime...and drop below with a pcm upgrade..

I look forward to road course test results too...

Great car!

[Sleestack]

Originally Posted by JBsC6

tough to launch 20's..and lets see what gets done at englishtown in the new camaro SS

I bet the automatic L99 runs 13 flats everytime...and drop below with a pcm upgrade..

I look forward to road course test results too...

Great car!

The L99 is only 400HP, so that deficit will not help it's cause.

[rayhawk]

Originally Posted by Sleestack

The L99 is only 400HP, so that deficit will not help it's cause.

The L99 car is geared more aggressively, so that should mostly balance out the difference between the two motors. The auto uses 4 gears through the 1/4 and the manual only uses the first 3. The trap speed will be lower though on the auto, but et should be very close.

[Nine Ball]

Originally Posted by camarossrs2150

any cracks

Yessir. If you look closely, the cracks are there. This is the same car that had the nose cracks.

[THE EVIL TW1N]

Originally Posted by SGOS252382

You just need some cool dry air.

When Road and Track ran 13.0 @ 111 mph (which is a great time for Road and Track because they usually run slower than most mags) the conditions were 59 degrees with 37% humidity (very good track conditions).

Road and Track didn't use a REAL track.

[Emjay]

13 is pretty good, most muscle ie the 67 ran 12 for me ... and not to toot my own horn but I did go to stunt driving school, and racing school (because of a indy movie I stunted in) and like the muscle runs are of coarse slower then ricers, but they dont blow up at the speed

[rayhawk]

Originally Posted by THE EVIL TW1N

Road and Track didn't use a REAL track.

They did'nt use a real track, but that should result in a worse time, I would think. The videos-at least for motor trend-showed them on a regular street, which would make you think you could get a better launch if on a prepped track, especially for this type of car. The mph discrepancy is somewhat surprising though, maybe the cars given to the magazines for testing were fully broken in? Something still does'nt add up here. I don't see track conditions making that big a difference in the trap speed.