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<\/p>\n<\/div>You\u2019ve saved your pennies and now it\u2019s time to buy yourself a Christmas present.<\/p>\n
In particular, that track-eating Corvette Z06 you\u2019ve eyed ever since it stomped <\/a>the Porsche 911 GT3 (and everything else) at Car and Driver\u2019s Lightning Lap competition around Virginia International Raceway. The one with 650 horsepower, magnetic shocks, T-Rex growl. The works.<\/p>\n But life is complicated. You\u2019ve got a family, kids; a two-seat sports car seems so … selfish. Rear seats would be nice to ferry family \u2014 especially if you can find a sports coupe with similar, trackable dynamics.<\/p>\n Well, Merry Christmas. Chevy\u2019s elves have a nice, red toy just for you.<\/p>\n With the same supercharged V-8 monster under the hood, magnetic dampers and Jurassic bellow, the 2017 Chevy Camaro ZL1 is a \u2019Vette with four seats.<\/p>\n Roaring down California\u2019s Willow Springs front straightaway at 150 mph (is that sonic boom from the Camaro or Edwards Air Force base nearby?), I\u2019m reminded of my first test of the Z06 last year<\/a> at Spring Mountain Raceway in Nevada.<\/p>\n Like the \u2019Vette, the \u2019Maro\u2019s lo-o-o-o-ong front hood seems to arrive at Turn One 10 seconds before I do. Enormous 15.35-inch front Brembo brakes (six-pot front, four rear like Z06) stop the 3,944-pound missile like a brick wall. Huge 11-inch front rubber claws the pavement. The car rotates effortlessly into the 90-degree left-hander, throttle flat across the apex, emerging with pavement to spare as I launch to Turn 2.<\/p>\n Like the Stingray, the ZL1 has more to give.<\/p>\n Josef Newgarden, one of \u201cThe Captain\u201d Penske\u2019s Indycar star drivers, finds more. Back in the pits, I join him, jumping in the passenger seat. He explores the ragged edge in Turn One, dancing the car from turn to turn. He obliterates my 1.33 second lap with his 1.28.5 \u2014 just seconds off the Z06 track best of 1.25. And it\u2019s the first time either of us has been in the car.<\/p>\n The Camaro still has more.<\/p>\n To achieve this mind-melting performance, the \u2019Maro has more than any ZL1 before it.<\/p>\n Begin with the Alpha platform, the same bones that gird the sensational Cadillac ATS-V. As awesome as the new Mustang GT350R is on the track and as intimidating as the Dodge Hellcat is in a straight line, this Camaro is in its own league. This is a pony car with thoroughbred DNA.<\/p>\n Peer under the skin and the ZL1 gets the same bat-wing under-body brace and suspension bits as the ATS-V. Lighter than its predecessor by 237 pounds, the ZL1 weighs just 80 pounds more than ATS-V, despite its bigger wheelbase and V-8 boat anchor up front that requires 11 heat exchangers to keep cool. Alpha\u2019s inherent goodness shines through as the ZL1 handles like a much smaller car.<\/p>\n GM\u2019s 1st 10-speed gearbox<\/strong><\/p>\n The Camaro even gets more than big brother Z06.<\/p>\n In a sign of just how serious the General is about making Camaro a premier sports coupe, the ZL1 is GM\u2019s first application of the much-anticipated, lightning-quick 10-speed gearbox co-developed with Ford for rear-drive vehicles.<\/p>\n I imagine Camaro Chief Engineer Al Oppenheiser and Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter in a friendly arm wrestle to claim the rights to use the 10-speed. Oppenheiser, who has the torso of a grizzly bear, wins.<\/p>\n The 10-speed is a revelation, a single-clutch automatic that rivals \u2014 nay, surpasses \u2014 the sophisticated, more expensive, dual-clutch Porsche PDK transmission that GM used as a baseline. Nail the big V-8 out of a corner and shifts snap off in almost imperceptible, 300-milliseconds shots \u2014 quicker, GM, claims than a Porsche\u2019s 500 milliseconds.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was driving a PDK,\u201d says Randy Pobst, Sports Car Club of America champ and a Motor Trend hot shoe who has driven everything from Porsches to McLarens around Willow.<\/p>\n Drew Cattell, a Camaro track jockey and ride and handling engineer for Chevy, says the 10-speed\u2019s quickness gives it a slight advantage over the ZL1\u2019s also available 6-speed manual (itself superior to the Corvette\u2019s confusing, three-gate, 7-speed box). That efficiency helped propel ZL1 to a stunning, 7.26 lap across Nurburgring\u2019s 14-mile course this year \u2014 that\u2019s quicker than the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ready to perform<\/strong><\/p>\n Want more? Cattell says the ZL1 should lap Willow in the 1.26-1.27 second range.<\/p>\n But the 10-speed\u2019s benefits don\u2019t have to be tracked to be realized. Chevy\u2019s elves have been busy. This is a modern, computer-controlled box that sprinkles magic dust over the old automatic formula.<\/p>\n The transmission\u2019s range of ratios allows the box to concentrate on gears 3-to-7 while on track (Cattell caught 8th gear at 180 mph on the \u2019Ring\u2019s back straight), then rely on overdrive gears 8-10 on road to save fuel. Seized by the need for speed on a twisty road? Toggle to SPORT mode, hold the left paddle-shifter for one-Mississippi and the tranny will instantly downshift to the appropriate gear \u2014 no cycling required \u2014 for maximum torque. Cruising along in 10th gear when a Hellcat challenges you into a Hell, Michigan, corner? Hold. Bang! You\u2019re in third gear, revs at 5 grand. Let\u2019s play.<\/p>\n