Great Motortrend Article - GM’s Reuss: Camaro ZL1 “Wait is Worth it,”

[IOMZL1]

http://wot.motortrend.com/gms-reuss-...me-123699.html

I especially like this paragraph:

Like the Corvette ZR1 and Z06 before it, the Camaro ZL1 set its lap time with about 30 lbs of testing gear sitting in the trunk, plus a full roll cage, a five-point racing harness and a fire suppression system added on for safety. On top of that, the Camaro wasn’t driven by some hot-shoe racing driver like a certain $400,000 Toyota; the driver behind the wheel of the ZL1 was one of the team’s engineers. “Aaron Link, who’s one of our terrific new drivers through our driver’s training program for engineers at GM set the time,” said Reuss, “He’s also the lead development engineer on it and he did a wonderful job for us.”

Not sure how I feel about this one because of what it might mean for the price:

“I want to tell them that the wait is worth it,” he said, “This car really doesn’t have a direct competitor in segment, or out of segment – that’s how good the car is and I can tell you right now, I’ve driven a lot of cars and done a lot of development – this car is one of the most refined cars.” Reuss continued, “It’s one of the easiest cars I’ve ever driven to drive fast and hard. Everybody’s going to have a good time with it.”



Full Article:

GM North American President Mark Reuss just stopped by the MT HQ in an almost-ready-for-prime-time 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 all done up in fancy camo duds. Any Camaro ZL1 is bound to be a special beast, but this car is even more so – just two weeks ago, this very 580-hp supercharged rocket lapped the Nurburgring in a wickedly fast 7:41.27. Unofficially, of course…

The 2012 Camaro ZL1’s Ring time not surprisingly puts it in some extraordinarily fast company. According to all-knowing Wikipedia, the ZL1’s time is less than a second slower than a 997 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo S (7:41.23) and a 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera (7:40.76) as tested by Auto Bild. For those keeping score, the last time a Camaro SS went around the Nurburgring it posted a Ring time of around 8:20. Wow.

According to Reuss, this almost production ready Camaro ZL1 set its staggering time a couple of weeks ago when GM took it to the Nurburgring for some last-minute development time. “We were over there driving it, [and working on] final calibration and validations of the thermal capability, and then we recorded our lap time of 7 minutes and 41 seconds.” GM was at the ‘Ring doing some last minute calibrations to the Camaro’s final gear ratios, among other things.

Like the Corvette ZR1 and Z06 before it, the Camaro ZL1 set its lap time with about 30 lbs of testing gear sitting in the trunk, plus a full roll cage, a five-point racing harness and a fire suppression system added on for safety. On top of that, the Camaro wasn’t driven by some hot-shoe racing driver like a certain $400,000 Toyota; the driver behind the wheel of the ZL1 was one of the team’s engineers. “Aaron Link, who’s one of our terrific new drivers through our driver’s training program for engineers at GM set the time,” said Reuss, “He’s also the lead development engineer on it and he did a wonderful job for us.”

So we know the Camaro ZL1 is fast, but how does it drive? Unfortunately we weren’t able to get behind the wheel of the ZL1 just yet, but Reuss couldn’t stop going on about how easy it is to drive the ZL1 fast. “It’s power all the time, capability all the time, and the steering and tractability of the car is just phenomenal,” he told us. Reuss also told us that this Camaro easily (and often) hit speeds of 170 mph on the ‘Ring’s back straight, and that even from those speeds the ZL1 exhibited, “Some serious braking power.” Reuss added, “We never faded the brakes on it.”

The differences between the Camaro ZL1 and your run-of-the-mill SS are deeper than faster lap times. For starters, the ZL1 packs a 580-hp 6.2-liter supercharged LSA V-8 under the hood that produces a massive 556 lb-ft of torque. The Camaro ZL1 also comes with a five mode Performance Traction Management system which Reuss said, “Actually changes the character of the car. Because of the electric power steering unit, and the magnetic ride, you can change and have five different cars in the Camaro.” The ZL1 also has a different suspension geometry that really paid off on the track, Reuss said.

One question we had for Reuss was how he felt the ZL1 stacked up against the Corvette, considering it now packs a detuned (relatively speaking of course) version of the Corvette ZR1’s LS9 under the hood. “This car is quite different than a Corvette,” he said, “We’re tuning it different than the Corvette; this is a much easier car to drive fast than the Corvette.” Reuss continued, “The reason why I say that is it’s probably a more ‘neutral’ car. The Corvette you have to learn how to drive, just like a racecar. This car is very forgiving, very fun and people are going to have a blast with it.”

Reuss believes the ZL1 is so good that its competition (like the Mustang Boss 302) will not only be surprised by the power it puts down to the ground, but by how refined it is. “This is not a full-blown, stripped-out [race] car,” said Reuss, “This is a very nice car so you can drive it to work every day, take it on the track on the weekend, and clean everybody’s clock.”

Chevrolet still has quite a bit of last minute testing to do before the Camaro ZL1 enters production sometime next year, with sales likely beginning in the late spring. “We’re getting ready to put about a quarter-million miles on it on a test basis, validation wise at our own hands so that we find any last details that we’ve missed,” Reuss told us.

Before Reuss packed up to roll out in the Camaro ZL1 he brought over to our offices, we asked him if he had anything to tell the Camaro fans that have been waiting for an answer to the Mustang GT 5.0, Boss 302, and Super Snake

“I want to tell them that the wait is worth it,” he said, “This car really doesn’t have a direct competitor in segment, or out of segment – that’s how good the car is and I can tell you right now, I’ve driven a lot of cars and done a lot of development – this car is one of the most refined cars.” Reuss continued, “It’s one of the easiest cars I’ve ever driven to drive fast and hard. Everybody’s going to have a good time with it.”

[Bad70supreme]

I want one too! Stupid money always getting in the way

[ShnOmac]

That video is sweet!

[Romeloc]

I want one. He said next up is the Z28

[ShnOmac]

Originally Posted by Romeloc

. He said next up is the Z28

I must be missing it...

[IOMZL1]

Originally Posted by ShnOmac

I must be missing it...

At the end of the video.

[ShnOmac]

He says "Motortrend guesses next up will be a Z/28"

[10forty2]

Great article.....but it's sounding more and more like it will be priced out of range for most folks. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe that's a bad thing....only time will tell......

[LostInMoscow]

He speaks loud! He speaks proud! I can't wait to find out for myself!

[radz28]

Originally Posted by Bad70supreme

I want one too! Stupid money always getting in the way

LOL! POTD for me, LOL!!!

Originally Posted by ShnOmac

That video is sweet!

I was hoping for some action shots, but I'll take anything ZL1 at this time

Originally Posted by 10forty2

Great article.....but it's sounding more and more like it will be priced out of range for most folks. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe that's a bad thing....only time will tell......

While I agree, GM knows it has to be at the right price. Whether or not their idea of the right price is what many of us think of remains to be seen. Even if it goes up to $60K, and prices many people out, I think the performance will justify it. There's a lot of competition in that area though. A lot of cars with similar performance and higher content. It would still be a no-brainer for me, but money talks and we all know what walks.

[OldJedi]

The 7:41 time makes it like 17-18 seconds faster than the CTS-V. That is quite an improvement.

[radz28]

Originally Posted by OldJedi

The 7:41 time makes it like 17-18 seconds faster than the CTS-V. That is quite an improvement.

I like to think about what that means... Both cars are probably only a couple hundred pounds apart (hopefully more...), and both make similar power with nearly the same drivetrains. We know the tires are bigger (I'm not sold that they're actually stickier, size-for-size) and ZL1 has EPS, Gen III MR, and one of the main focuses was downforce, and to see the sum of those new systems culminating in a staggering increase in performance is just amazing to me. This IS still a prototype, and not final performance, but I bet most of the content of that car (minus the obvious telemetry and safety equipment) is close to production content. I notice Ruess stated they were checking gear ratios, too, but that doesn't mean that's going to change. This car is heavier but could be very representative of what we're going to see.

I'm definately encouraged by the performance I think all ZL1 buyers are going to be absolutely exuberant. This car, for a CAMARO-nut like me, is a lifetime dream, and I'm hoping it's going to bring all of you the smiles I know it would bring me

[OldJedi]

Originally Posted by radz28

I'm definately encouraged by the performance I think all ZL1 buyers are going to be absolutely exuberant. This car, for a CAMARO-nut like me, is a lifetime dream, and I'm hoping it's going to bring all of you the smiles I know it would bring me

The car is a culmination of all of our dreams for an ultimate Camaro. We got over it not being called Z/28 and have settled in on ZL1. The numbers we wanted so badly are beating our wildest dreams. Ruess says the car will be an easier car to drive at speed than the Corvette. It has every speed toy and gizmo we could ever want from any car. This is the ultimate Camaro.

[RLHMARINES]

And the car was wearing the goodyear F1 tires and not the optional cup tires on that impressive run. This pic is from the motor trend office visit by Mark Reuss in the ZL1.