[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP4Pp5l-kLg]Increasing Air Flow: "Flowtie" Badge -- 2014 Camaro Z/28 | Chevrolet - YouTube[/ame]
Pretty compelling, anyone in for a group buy 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 [w/video] First Drive - Autoblog
Actually, it's a letdown. Not as quick as the ZL-1 or near the GT500 and the braking is more of a letdown. MT got 97 feet, but I was expecting it to improve on the Z06's 93 feet (scud also). With all the talk from the project manager, I wanted to see 90 ft and 3.7 for numbers.
As someone who has been involved with magazine "testing", I certainly wouldn't take numbers obtained by different drivers, on different days and different surfaces as anything more than the roughest of comparison numbers. That Z/28 will bring the heat. I think Boxerman is on to something-its going to be a very competent track toy(as long as you don't mind the tire replacement bill)
Well you have to use some numbers, that's why I use Motor Trends to be consistent. They got 0-60 4.0 and 97 ft 60-0 (best run) for the Z/28. They got 3.5 and 101 for the GT500. The GT500 costs $56K the Z/28 costs $75K. Those are the big numbers and the GT500 is older and not that special. The Z/28 project manager talked a big game for this car, had a lot of time and a lot of resources, and should have at least matched the previous gen Z06 for braking. It's a fail, given the build-up, imo.
I see it slightly differently. The Gt500 is not a track car, its nose heavy and underbraked for one thing. But it may be more fun, comfortable and "faster" on the street. Track cars are not suualy 0-60 machines, what I value in a street/track car, (and this one seems to have it) is and ability to go all day, day after day, week after week, for a whole summer without wilting or needing attention beyond consumables. A lotus with new rotors will do that as would a 997.2 Gt3 and of course a Z06 vette. I cant really think of others, maybe the laguna secca mustang? After that youa re talking heavily modded machines which are far from stoch and eventualy devlop to the point where they need to arrive on a trailer. As to track numbers, are you on big track or a short track, and most importantly who is the driver. Because I will bet Randy Probst in a Z28 will smoke most if not all of us if we even if we are driving a Z06 or 458 speciale. I dont doubt that the next camaro will be 400lbs lighter and faster, it will probably also be supercharged. The next verions of the z28 car and Mustang Laguna are probably years off once the regular ones fill the market, and I dont see them being NA or as raw. Although the z28 is lardy, beteween the motor and track durability it seems special and not likely to be repeated too soon. To me this is a street legal version of a cup car, for sure a Zl1/Gt500 will be faster and more comnfortable on the street. This machine seems a glorious irrelevance, too hard really as a street car, but street legal so you can drive to the track, hoon around and drive home, that is a pretty short list of machines and probably a thin market, sommethign we forst saw with the f40 and since then the ferraris got faster but more refined too. In other words this is a completly ridiculous car, that it was made at all is magnbificant, and if you have atrack to drive toi its going to be fun, otherwise its a PTA.
Whoa. Autoweek compares gt3 w z28 at barber motorsport w andy pilgrim driving. Spoiler alert -------z28 is faster AND better to drive on track but gt3 is better as street car. And this is NOT based on price value evevthough chevy is 1/2 cost. Who woulda thunk it? Its like being told zombie apocalypse is happening now!
The z/28 is built for the track where it excels. Putting so much emphasis on 0-60 and 60-0 times and distances is rather amateurish. Obviously, there's no comparison between the z/28 and gt500 since the gt500 is a one trick pony (drag strip) and the consensus is that the brakes are good for a handful of laps max on any track.
Whoa. Autoweek compares gt3 w z28 at barber motorsport w andy pilgrim driving. Spoiler alert -------z28 is faster AND better to drive on track but gt3 is better as street car. And this is NOT based on price value evevthough chevy is 1/2 cost. Who woulda thunk it? Its like being told zombie apocalypse is happening now!
It simply costs to much. The ZL1 in all likelyhood costs more to make. A C6 Z06 will run circles around it. Its not a track car, its a limited run car that well sell in super low numbers, mostly for collectibilty. 75k is outrageous.
I dunno Ceramic brakes and handbuilt motor put it above the Zl1 in costs to make. Yeah a C6 Z06 will outperform it, but then a radical will ourperform a C6 Zo6. This is just such a totaly riduclous machine, a cup car for the road/DE. Froim what i read, as far as street legal cars go, it is a track car. Maybe we shoudl coin the phrase DE trackday track car. Hopefully it does not sell in big numbers and can then be bought for less than the 75K, because yeah that is a hefty number.
Maybe I am just biased becuase I am going to get a Z06....which Hopefully. Can get for 90k (Z07). If they are willing to charge 75 for the z28, I feel that the z07 will be over 100k.
I guess I agree more with Phil, . The following is nothing personal and I have always felt this way and not directed at any 1 person. All passenger vehicles are street vehicles! Track cars are F1 , Lemans prototypes, and Nascar, have incredible safety features, roolbars, fire prevention systems etc..... If you're not getting paid and famous ala Senna, Prost, Hamilton, Johnson et al you are on the verge of being a version of Walter Mitty to one degree or another to me, depending on how serious you take your track driving. The adult sandbox. This stuff is a lot cheaper and anyone can do it; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQm1gqbfH9I
Yes and no. True it may have a walter Mitty componanat, i could say that about all non pro racing and tracking, but either way the dynamics of "fast driving" have changed in the past few decades due to a number of factors, so its no longer for the street and not necessarily racing for numbers.. In days gone by, you could take your fast car out on a relatively deserted road and have at it. A car could even be used to cover distance quickly on the open road. On the street in the days when driving fast was possible you usualy stayed well within a cars performnce envelope particularily in terms of cornering, and braking was not Nth dgree at each bend, the higher the bandwidth of the cars performance the faster you could go, still within an envelope. The dynamics of cars back then also meant most speed was entertaining. Nowadays and realisticaly since 74, but far more so recently driving at speed on the street is a big no no. The speed of cars is greater. leading to bigger consequences, roads really are crowded incresing the liklyhood of a shunt or hurting someone else. People think roads are for walking and bycicles, everyone assumes a 90th percentile pace, the legal system is harsh and unforgiving. Lastlky the nature of modern cars(maita excepted) makes then unrewarding untill large speeds are there. That means if you like to drive fast evn just for pleasure, but dont necessarily want to be a dedicated racer, trackdays are the place and the thing. This is seen by the expolsion of DE events, and private race track country clubs. I think the technical term for it is sublimating. ie doing a socialy unacceptable thing in safe non harmful manner. This desire to be a gear head and drive fast, while aslo being non antisocial begets cars like porche Gt3's that are not racecars but comfortable spending a day on track. Many a BMW and Vw is used in this manner too, not to mention hondas. There is a reason why Z06's Gt3's and the like exist beyond burnouts 0-60 and posing. Its a return to the roots if you will. Modern day 250 SWB's, somethign to be driven to the track run around and driven home, the sporting mans car. I am sure a new Z06 will smoke the z28, hell even a C6 Z06 will. I am not sure many of us can drive a C6 Z06 to its limit competatntly so we might never learn, being spoiled by its talents. The z28 is so absurd its beautiful, a glorious irrelevance, the cup car routine is unique, I think it will be worth keeping for posterity, the last of the real mohecans, not sure I can say the same about a Z06 which will be afster modern superceed by a faster modern. In any event when the ZO6 comes out, maybe it will be the best thing since sliced bread and we will all want one of those, or maybe like the aventador, F12 MP12 etc it will be another way to fast 2 seater, really cool but somethign different. Yeah if the Z06 is going to be 85-90K the Z28 should cost 55k. Look at those special camaros from the late 60's and early 70's, they cost a fortune and are worth a fortune now. Very few ZL1s were sold back in the day because they were too expesive for what they were and too impractical, same with a L88 vette. So maybe the new Z28 is like that, not really worth the money, sort of pointless, worth keeping because its just so special in execution, the last of a line, and fun to drive, and you can have fun with it on track, something wll always be faster and others slower. These days I try to buy vehicles that one wouldnt want to sell, because they are fun trackable and posessing a special magic, driving then 500miles 2500 per year. 20 years on I hope I still own them. I also like analogue dinosaurs. But yeah maybe the camaro is a waste, in which case we will be able to buy them at a discount. Also my first car was a 1980 Z28 so I am a camaro guy.
2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 vs. 2014 Nissan GT-R Track Edition! - Head 2 Head Ep. 52 - YouTube [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqkyWhVBSKU&list=PLGvTvFzdMg_OIya3r7lFUJvdvtXSZmdD5]2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 vs. 2014 Nissan GT-R Track Edition! - Head 2 Head Ep. 52 - YouTube[/ame] Looking forward to getting mine!
The Gtr can have the wick turned up pretty easily, but then from what i have seen if there are 3 GTrs at the track one or two wilt beofre days end. that the cruder less practical Camaro is even in the hunt is pretty epic.
I didn't think I would EVER listen to ANYONE from ANY car magazine be literally giddy over a Camaro! The fact that someone from GM (Mark Reuss?) OK'd this car being built does show a turnaround in the way GM acts. And, in my eyes, the Z/28 is a much better looking car. Jimmy
I agree to a point, for one thing, it depends on where you live. If you live in a densely populated area, then yeah finding a deserted road is difficult. But I have always lived in locations that would be driver's utopia's. Within a mile, I am out in the country on roads that are deserted of cars and pedestrians. With modern cars, most have been quieted down too much, which kills the enjoyment. But a g is still a g. You do not need speed for speed's sake if there are good twists and turns. Thats why LA drivers go up into the canyons and the Dragon has a big name down south. I think accelerating from 0-80 is a lot more fun than 80-160. My R1 is perfect for nice country roads. My car on the other hand was very enjoyable on the Merritt parkway. These are the only tracks I would use if I could move them near to me; Brands Hatch and this one http://trackreviewers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/aerienne2.jpg
\ So the question is where do you live that has such great roads? In my neck of the woods, Monticello and Watkins Glenn are two ideal places to excercise a z28.
Not sure where people are getting their information from, but the z/28 (like ZL1) has pretty decent steering and is anything but lifeless and meant for a road course and not 1/4mile like most think. All of the extra cooling features, MR suspension (same as Ferrari uses from GM) makes the car quite good on a road course. The LS engine series are just about bullet proof. The one item either has against them is the weight. Try a ZL1 in PTM5 mode and see for yourself. Either car has a 180mph+ top end and are more than suited for any road course.
