So is it a sign of a mid life crisis if I want to trade in my truck on this car?
580-horsepower, 556 lb.-ft. of torque, 6.2-liter supercharged V8
Wicked cool technology wrapped into the car also…
http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro-zl1-sports-car/
Holy Crap that looks like a fun car….
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Yes 😉
Whatever anyone else calls it I call it fun! And so much more practical than a truck don't you think, probably better mileage too!
Well with 580hp I would not expect incredible fuel economy…but I would expect insane smiles and lots of hot chicks…..
Yes … but understandable 🙂
It gets 14 mpg city and 19 mpg highway! That's simply amazing! Better than my truck with a 4.6L
yup – it is! enjoy it!! lol!
That's better than my truck…..
Thing is you can NEVER get even close to using all that horsepower, some kind of design flaw…no wait that was the shitty Mustang, lol. Check out the new Vette…3rd fastest car, but heard the handling is a bit rough and it's a bit loud for every day driving, but who cares, right?
http://jalopnik.com/5810306/watch-the-2012-corvette-zr1-drop-six-seconds-from-nurburgring-lap-time
I will admit if I got one I would take it to a track day…..
wow wow wow!
If I was more of a man, I would be driving that instead of my wife driving the new Rogue. I've been in love with the Camaro since my eyes first set on a 68 SS, but I have finally come the the realization that I will never own one.
The most surprising thing about the SS is that they are fantastic cruisers…when you get to about 85-90mph the car just glues itself to the road and the suspension works best…definitely a heavy car though, it becomes more obvious after the "honeymoon" of the first couple of years of ownership… bottom line: the best fun for the buck 🙂
+William Shockley if I get one I will let you drive it……
not 🙂
I have the 2010 Camaro and love it.
Damn Brent, that was harsh…
I'm waiting for the hybrid version to come out!
You may be waiting a long time.
I am kidding +William Shockley ……..thou I think signing over your mc in cash you crash it might be in order
+Armida Evony That was not at all what I said. All cars are affected by the Grip Force Factor, which is due to the limited traction you get from your tires…you actually do not have all that HP at your disposal. In a few cars this problem is far more exacerbated than in most cars due to design flaws. I was not trying to burst anyone's bubble, but was actually making a joke at the expense of the Ford Mustang. If too much power is inaccessible, even with big fat sticky tires (which most aren't even street legal), then what is the point, right?
"
There are two basic factors that govern traction. These are based on the friction formula:
the grip of the driving tire (how sticky it is)
the load on the driving tires.
To put this in perspective, road racing tires have a coefficient of 1.3 to 1.5 and drag racing tires can be 3.0 to 4.0. By comparison, high performance “street road tires” do not have nearly the grip as track tires do. Of course, we still would like those great 0-60 and quarter mile times.
There is a subclass of race tires actually approved by the Department of Transportation for the street. “D.O.T race tires” are designed for road racing, autocross and drag racing. D.O.T race tires (by BFG, Hoosier, etc.) test at 1.25 and better. However, even the manufacturers often do not recommend them for the street because of their high wear rates and lack of puncture resistance.
On a high performance street car, the horsepower may be increased more and more, but you are still limited by the grip of the street tire. You can change the tires at the track but not while you are driving on the street. Even though more horsepower is put into the car, the grip limit stays the same. The speed at which the available power falls below the grip limit, I call the grip crossover point. This is typically at a shift point where the higher gear has less mechanical advantage than the previous gear. By increasing the horsepower, the “mountain of excess power” builds over the grip limit and the grip crossover speed is pushed to a higher and higher velocity.
The second part of the grip formula is the load on the driving wheels. The percentage of the car’s weight that can be applied to the driving wheels determines traction and straight line performance. The percentage of car weight that cannot be applied to the driving wheels is excess “baggage.” So on a rear wheel drive (RWD) car, that amount of car weight that cannot be transferred to the rear just has to be pushed along by the driving wheels. In this case, the more weight that stays on the front tires, the more the acceleration is degraded. This is a key principle for straight line performance.
The weight on the drive wheels is affected by weight transfer during acceleration. As the vehicle accelerates, weight is transferred to the rear tires due to two things:
the moment created by the forward force of the drive axle on the car’s inertia at the center of gravity
the moment created by the reaction of the axle torque on the drive axle housing (straight axle housing, independent rear suspension third member, or transaxle)
Both of these twisting moments lift the front wheels and transfer weight to the back wheels. In excess, you have a wheelie.
With weight transfer in mind, there are four factors that affect the weight on the drive wheels (as depicted in the diagram):
location and quantity of drive wheels
static weight distribution
center of gravity (CG) of the car
wheelbase
With the weight transferring to the rear, RWD has an obvious advantage over front wheel drive (FWD). Since higher static weight on the rear gives better traction, a mid-engine or rear-engine layout has a grip advantage over a front-engine car. CG height has a dramatic affect on traction because it increases the drive axle/CG moment arm. But since a high CG has an adverse effect on cornering, a low CG is preferred in the less specialized “well-rounded” super car. Shorter wheelbases have a minimal advantage for a low CG car.
Drag racers capitalize on these effects to carry the minimum “baggage” weight on the front tires. A drag racer transfers weight to the rear driving wheels so the highest percentage of weight can be applied to traction. A very small percentage of vehicle weight is being “carried along for the ride” degrading acceleration.
In a low CG super car, the weight transfer is less so a higher percentage of vehicle weight must be “carried along for the ride.” An effective way to obtain better acceleration in a high horsepower, low CG super car is all wheel drive (AWD). While AWD does add some weight, there is very little “baggage weight” in the car. The higher the horsepower, the greater the effect of AWD because it utilizes the excess “mountain of power” which is pushed up to higher grip crossover speeds.
Look at this in terms of “traction efficiency.” This can be defined as the power a car actually applies to the ground (up to the grip crossover speed) divided by the power that could be applied if the car was four wheel drive (4WD has all four wheels locked with no center differential). A front engine RWD car with a weight distribution of 55/45 may have a traction efficiency as poor as 60%. That means 40% of the power is useless below the grip crossover speed. A mid or rear engine RWD car might have a traction efficiency of 75%. An AWD car with an optimized center box differential ratio (CBDR) can have a traction efficiency of over 95%. Only 5% of the power is unused below the grip crossover speed.
Apart from the location of the static weight of the car and the effects of weight transfer, there is an additional factor which affects the load on the driving tires. Aerodynamic lift can take weight off the driving tires by lifting the car and aerodynamic downforce can increase load by pressing down on the driving tires. Aerodynamic load increases with the square of velocity so with current aerodynamic techniques, there is little effect at low speeds where traction is needed to apply available power. At high speeds, however, aerodynamic techniques such as wings, spoilers, and ground effects have all had very positive effects on cornering."http://home.centurytel.net/foundations/nature/cars/more_grip.html
And then this…. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-76131.html
+Patty Lapa Straub …check out the newest model, it beats some of the fastest cars in the world, easily I might add. I was only a fan of the early 70's stingray series Vette's until this latest model arrived. You have a very nice vehicle, but this new model is a monster 😉
I have checked them out. I really wasn't looking for a monster since I don't "race" it. I had a 70's Camaro and missed it, so when the new ones came out, I jumped on it. Before that I was considering a hybrid, but my "sports car" has enough power for me and does pretty well on gas-best of both worlds.
+Brent Burzycki read my last comment to Arvida E… it has some info about Grip Force and HP. If you are gonna hit the track get you some super sticky wide's for the occasion, I kept a pair of street legal pro-trac 60's on both my 76 Camaro and my 76 Firebird (back when I was young and wild)…that Firebird was completely stock except for the Hurst Shifter in it and it was a handful, even more so than my nicely modified 350 in the Camaro believe it or not, well I did remove the Cat converter and ran a duel exhaust in the FB which did make a difference 😉
+Patty Lapa Straub I know where you are coming, I am just so excited about those new Vette's I just can't help myself, lol. You do have plenty of power, you're right 🙂
If you can afford it, go for it! Life is short.
Have to say me personally just do not like the Corvette, I am not sure why I just never have, Thou I give them huge credit for winning Lemans this past year… that's a huge accomplishment.
If I got this car it would be to simply switch up what I am driving – i drive a truck everyday for work and because I need to haul stuff to customers…. its nice but I really miss a performance car. I used to own one but I cannot own both a truck and a car – thou that would be the perfect solution sadly my pocketbook cannot handle that..
I would buy this thing today but not having a truck is a big issue…
+Brent Burzycki …I know what you mean, normally I'm not a Vette girl either, but man, whoooosh! Best of luck getting whatever will make you happy, that's what counts really anyway 🙂
A killer car with no payments would make me pretty happy…
+Chris Burzycki the issue I see is the new car is a convertible…I am not into those….
I am not big on the mustang…..unless not was a cobra..and sadly this thing has more power and seems to kill it for handling…they are close thou…
2013 Mustang GT Shelby 500 is supposed to have over 600 hp
But can it turn….
Stang's are overrated :-/
Cept the Shelby Cobra etc