Car and Driver's 2009 Lightning Lap Results

[anthonybyram]

Were there any other mods on the Camaro CAI, headers, exhaust? Or, was this pretty much a stock Camaro? If it was stock, those are some great numbers!

[SWAT 79]

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

Interesting take...I've never heard that before, though...everyone (even at GM) seems to hold the Camaro as a jack-of-all trades. Ditto for Mustang, they just go about it different ways.

The different ways as in, camaro has better speed but worse handling (specs and what not can be found in the thread above...2011 mustang vs 2010/2011 camaro) which is why although the camaro is a solid 3 tenths faster in the quarter, its barely ahead on most road courses, and behind in some. Also has a slower slalom.

In my post the sarcastic camaro can turn mustang can go over 80 is what I was referring to, they can all do everything, but they both do certain things better then eachother, respectively (go about it different ways) such as the camaro being a faster straight line car, and the mustang being a "better" handling car.

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by SWAT 79

The different ways as in, camaro has better speed but worse handling (specs and what not can be found in the thread above...2011 mustang vs 2010/2011 camaro) which is why although the camaro is a solid 3 tenths faster in the quarter, its barely ahead on most road courses, and behind in some. Also has a slower slalom.

No, I meant different ways as in the Camaro does it with a virgin IRS and the Mustang does it with a Live axle on steroids. It performed admirably at Car and Driver's Lightning Lap...2 seconds behind the GT500 on a 4 mile course. Down 120hp, and supposedly inferior track handling...not to shabby.

Basically, I'm trying to delicately say "I don't consider the Camaro a drag-oriented car anymore than I do the Z06"...

[Zeus]

Are the cars that were used 2009 or 2010 model year?

[AngryAmish]

I'm kind of surprised... no GT-R?
And no CTS-V either.

I'm not exactly what you would call an avid reader of C&D, but I'm guessing they were tested allready?

[SGOS252382]

Originally Posted by SWAT 79

No, if they had, the mustang would be closer the camaro, as it is more of a "track" oriented car, where as the camaro is more of a drag oriented car. Still impressive that the mustang can hang so close on such a top end oriented track. The time for the mustang was with the track pack, minus the tires which although are the biggest factor of the track pack, would not make up the 4 second difference. At best, it would pick up 2 1/2, maybe 3. Still not enough to surpass the more powerful camaro.

Car and Driver said they did "practice laps" waiting for the Pirelli's to arrive. The times posted for the Mustang GT were with the Pirelli's.

[cab2g]

The Camaro actually looks like it did very well against the competition!!! I saw a lot of reviews about how the weight and suspension caused a ton of under-steer, but if it did better than the gosh darn Mustang GT, then it must not have been under steering that much! That's one wild course!

[REAPER SS]

Damn, a chevy at the top of the list for best bang for the buck and a chevy as the best overall. Man whats next? Chevy for President LOL!!!!

[rayhawk]

The Camaro continues to prove itself as a good all around performer, but I would be surprised to see C&D give it a good write up based on what I have seen from them so far. At least if they would give the Camaro credit for being a more comfortable ride on the street as they complain about it not doing this or that well on the track I could understand. I'm sure once the writeup comes out people won't be so thrilled with C&D again.

[camaro10]

Can't wait to see how they spin this after all the anti-Camaro articles all the rags have been printing lately. AND the Corvette Grand Sport beat the vaunted R8?!

[ihc95]

WTF? Camaro owned the 370Z!

[ihc95]

*NISMO 370Z!!!!!

[camarolt76]

I'm glad to see that the Camaro SS made a nice showing at Virginia International Raceway! When you consider the price you pay for the performance the Camaro is hard to beat!

[garfin]

Here are the results of the previous year's Lightning Lap - with a few interesting results for some cars not included in this year's... like the CTS-V, GT-R. The M3 participated 2 yrs. in a row and was very consistent. Last year, the Cobalt SS was a couple of t icks faster than the Mustang GT was this year. I love that the CTS-V turned in a faster time last year than both Porsches did this year!

http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...5d3c4cd280.pdf

Best regardSS,

Elie