Car & Driver Tests the Z/28

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2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
This is America's track star.

MARCH 2014 BY ERIC TINGWALL

From the May 2014 Issue of Car and Driver

Plucked from GM’s last track-day *special, the 2013 Corvette Z06, the Z/28’s port-injected LS7 V-8 is fortified with new pistons and titanium connecting rods whose bearing inserts are now spray-coated for improved durability. There’s also a cold-air intake, revised exhaust headers, and a repackaged dry-sump oiling system, but there’s more hardware that’s carry-over than new under the hood. At 505 horsepower and 481 pound-feet of torque, the Z/28’s LS7 makes just six pound-feet more than when this engine made its debut eight years ago.

Save the Manuals!
Just as it did back then, the LS7 oozes power whether the Z/28 is standing still or at speed. The car quakes under a lopey idle as heat radiates from the carbon-fiber extractor and blurs the view through the windshield. Racing toward a 7000-rpm redline, the Z/28 smears Barber’s manicured landscaping as if it’s a still-wet watercolor while the exhaust’s raucous bawl *rattles the cabin. Zero to 60 mph passes in 4.4 seconds and the quarter-mile clears in 12.7, by which time you’re doing 116 mph. True, the Z/28 isn’t as quick as the ZL1 in a straight line, but that’s not the point.

How to make a 7.0-liter V-8 look small? Put it in a Camaro. The cold-air intake is one of the few changes GM made in transplanting the LS7 engine from the outgoing Corvette Z06.

The six-speed manual transmission shared with the Camaro SS 1LE is geared for road-course duty, with closer ratios passed through a shorter 3.91:1 final drive. Shifts are heavy and stiff, and the pedals are spaced a toe’s-width too far apart for easy heel-toe action. The substantial displacement of the naturally aspirated V-8 compensates with a low end that’s nearly as forceful as its top end is intense. We work over Barber using third and fourth gears and every rev between 3000 and 7000 rpm.

The Pirelli P Zero Trofeo Rs are essentially street-legal racing tires so tacky that, during development testing, they occasionally stuck to the pavement better than to the wheels they were mounted on. To keep the Pirellis from slipping around the rim, the wheels on production Z/28s are media-blasted to increase friction at the mating surface, a common practice in racing.

The massive front tires are the same size as the rears, a remedy first used on the 1LE to address the Camaro SS’s penchant for understeer. Here, though, the rubber is sized up to 305/30 and mounted on smaller, lighter, 19-inch forged aluminum wheels. When warm, the tires stick to the pavement like four wads of melted Wrigley’s. In Barber’s long, mid-speed corners we saw as much as 1.06 g’s of lateral stick despite a damp track and temperatures struggling to top 40 degrees. The Z/28 is neutral and responsive at the limits, and the Torsen-type limited-slip differential prudently doles out power on corner exit. The flat-bottomed steering wheel has the same heft and on-center sharpness as the Camaro ZL1’s. Unfortunately, it lacks the stimulating feedback of the best sports cars.

The cross-drilled carbon-ceramic discs are clamped by six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers that bite just as hard after 50 minutes of lapping as they do on the first laps. From 70 mph, they haul the Z/28 to a stop in 155 feet.

There are, of course, stiffer springs and bushings, and the downsized wheels allowed engineers to drop the center of gravity by 1.3 inches and use smaller and lighter anti-roll bars. The cornerstones of the suspension are four spool-valve dampers, a technology used by Red Bull Racing as it claimed four Formula 1 championships between 2010 and 2013. Until now, the closest these shocks have come to a production car is Aston Martin’s $1.8 million One-77.

2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28: Page Two

This is America's track star.

Spool-valve dampers don’t use electronic components or magnetic fluid, and they are neither driver-adjustable nor adaptable to road conditions. Instead, the spool valve’s merit lies in tailor-shaped internal ports that improve the precision and effective range available to engineers as they tune the shocks. They work magnificently. The Z/28 transitions from left to right to braking and acceleration with nearly imperceptible load transfer. It is stoic and stable as it bounds over the curbing and hunkers into hard braking through the tight corkscrew of Barber’s eighth and ninth turns. On the road, firm doesn’t mean harsh, either. As we bomb over a bridge deck that is set two inches above the road that abuts it, I tense in anticipation of a jarring impact—that never materializes.

Even without the ZL1’s magnetic dampers, the Z/28 retains ride-height sensors at each wheel to feed data to the five-mode Perform*ance Traction Management system that determines when to straighten the car with the brakes, reduce torque via engine management, or feed power to the rear wheels. The sensors also enable a “fly mode,” in which the engine controller holds torque constant when the car goes airborne, rather than cutting fuel as a typical Chevy does. Why doesn’t every car have a fly mode?

And yet, Chevy made great efforts to keep the Z/28’s tires firmly in contact with the ground. The front splitter, wheel-arch extensions, and rear spoiler are all part of a functional—if not beautiful—aero kit that makes 150 pounds of downforce at 150 mph when an accessory Gurney flap is screwed onto the back of the spoiler. Chevrolet also stripped its gold bow tie off the front grille. In its place is a hollowed-out emblem, cheekily called the “flow tie,” allowing extra air into the engine bay at the rate of 88 cubic feet per minute.

Camaro chief engineer Al Oppenheiser claims the Z/28 team “took out everything that didn’t make it go faster or wasn’t required by law.” So the car comes without air conditioning and only a single speaker to sound the seatbelt-reminder chime. Floor mats aren’t included, and the emergency tire-inflation kit is left out unless you buy in Rhode Island or New Hampshire, where it’s mandatory equipment. They even replaced the rear glass with a pane 0.01 inch thinner to nix 0.9 pound.

We won’t be talking about a true lightweight Camaro until at least 2016, though, when the car is redesigned on the Alpha platform. The Z/28 we tested was equipped with the sole option package—five extra speakers and air conditioning—and weighed 3862 pounds. While not light, that is 35 pounds shy of a 1LE and more than 300 pounds slimmer than a ZL1.

How to identify a Z/28: badges. Lots and lots of badges.
Even without looking at the scales, it’s a stretch to say Chevrolet stripped the Z/28 of everything that didn’t make it faster. The car still has carpeting, a headliner, full interi*or trim, and (lighter) rear seats. The wide Recaros are all-day comfortable rather than track-day snug. Other than the flat-bottomed steering wheel and the rescaled speedo and tachometer, from the driver’s seat the Z/28 could easily be confused for a six-cylinder Camaro. If you want to convince someone just how serious this car is, you’ll have to pop the trunk, where there isn’t a single piece of plastic trim or carpet.

Or drive it on the track. Because that’s really the only way to show off cornering this flat, grip this abundant, power this *visceral, and a car this bad-ass.

Highs, Lows, and Verdict >
Highs:
Galvanic handling, pavement-sucking tires, 7.0 liters' worth of small-block V-8.

Lows:
Pricier than a Corvette without being faster, looks like a V-6 Camaro inside.

Verdict:
As close as it gets to a race car for the road.

Test Sheet: Complete Specs and Performance Data>

Specifications:

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe

PRICE AS TESTED: $76,150 (base price: $75,000)

ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection

Displacement: 428 cu in, 7008 cc
Power: 505 hp @ 6100 rpm
Torque: 481 lb-ft @ 4800 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 112.3 in
Length: 192.3 in
Width: 76.9 in Height: 52.4 in
Curb weight: 3862 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.4 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 9.5 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 16.1 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 4.6 sec
Top gear, 30-50 mph: 9.0 sec
Top gear, 50-70 mph: 8.9 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.7 sec @ 116 mph
Top speed (drag ltd, mfr's est): 172 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 155 ft
Lateral acceleration, track test: 1.06 g*

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway (mfr's est): 13/19 mpg

*Skidpad unavailable. Number taken from track test.

TEST NOTES: Unlike other Chevys with Performance Traction Management, the Z/28 doesn't have launch control. Grippy though the tires are, it doesn't take much right pedal to break them loose on an acceleration run. A quick time is all about modulating the throttle.

[shaffe]

"Pricier than Corvette w/o being faster"....I wonder what Corvette, last years Z06 I would guess bc just about every other article on the Z says its a race car you can drive on the street lol

[DroptopZ]

Originally Posted by shaffe

"Pricier than Corvette w/o being faster"....I wonder what Corvette, last years Z06 I would guess bc just about every other article on the Z says its a race car you can drive on the street lol

Well, a stock LS3 Corvette is hitting low 12s to high 11s with a good driver... so my guess is all Corvettes as far as straight line performance.

I would wager that it's going to beat a Z51 C6 around the track, though.... and probably an older Z06 without the grippier tires.

[shaffe]

Originally Posted by DroptopZ

Well, a stock LS3 Corvette is hitting low 12s to high 11s with a good driver... so my guess is all Corvettes as far as straight line performance.

I would wager that it's going to beat a Z51 C6 around the track, though.... and probably an older Z06 without the grippier tires.

I would agree. I just didnt see the point in them putting that in the cons unless they were talking total package which I would say edge goes to the Z/28

[Emvici]

Gotta love the last thing Randy Pobst says in the car review video "The Boss Laguna Seca puts the power down better". for all the work chevy puts into this, a car for 30k less gets the green light. hmmm back to the drawing board chevy. in my relatively worthless opinion, the only thing nice about this car is the drive train, other then that it is a stripped down piece of junk, that if you ever went to bring it back to the dealer they would seriously laugh at you.

[Mikebrinda]

Originally Posted by Emvici

Gotta love the last thing Randy Pobst says in the car review video "The Boss Laguna Seca puts the power down better". for all the work chevy puts into this, a car for 30k less gets the green light. hmmm back to the drawing board chevy. in my relatively worthless opinion, the only thing nice about this car is the drive train, other then that it is a stripped down piece of junk, that if you ever went to bring it back to the dealer they would seriously laugh at you.

I would love it more if I understood what he meant.

[prostcj]

Originally Posted by Emvici

Gotta love the last thing Randy Pobst says in the car review video "The Boss Laguna Seca puts the power down better". for all the work chevy puts into this, a car for 30k less gets the green light. hmmm back to the drawing board chevy. in my relatively worthless opinion, the only thing nice about this car is the drive train, other then that it is a stripped down piece of junk, that if you ever went to bring it back to the dealer they would seriously laugh at you.

Wow! Really reaching for a reason to put down the car aren't we? I doubt anyone is going to give a crap about how well this stoplight races. The kind of person that purchases this car will have more money and intelligence than the typical bench racing monkey....

[CamaroTom]

Man those acceleration numbers seem low.

Motortrend ran 0-60 in 4.2 and 12.7 @ 111.8 mph with a 2013 1LE.

[Bhobbs]

Originally Posted by Emvici

Gotta love the last thing Randy Pobst says in the car review video "The Boss Laguna Seca puts the power down better". for all the work chevy puts into this, a car for 30k less gets the green light. hmmm back to the drawing board chevy. in my relatively worthless opinion, the only thing nice about this car is the drive train, other then that it is a stripped down piece of junk, that if you ever went to bring it back to the dealer they would seriously laugh at you.

Where did I leave that can of troll spray.

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by 1LEMayhem

Man those acceleration numbers seem low.

Motortrend ran 0-60 in 4.2 and 12.7 @ 111.8 mph with a 2013 1LE.

No one else has. MT did that with a stop watch I bet. But for sure the Z/28 is faster than that.