New Camaro ZL1 1LE Conquers the Nurburgring, Has Critics Tucking their Tails

7:16.04

It was just 7 minutes and 16.04 seconds that it took to throw the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE around one of the hardest and most diverse racing tracks in the world. In just a couple of ticks over seven minutes, the latest and greatest Camaro that is now also the fastest Camaro ever managed to round the Nurburgring, the track that can truly redirect the engineering efforts of any company and make them take a car from the sporty and fun machine to an all-out racing machine. Today, the Camaro really gets the chance to shine on the benchmark of performance.

Almost immediately after Chevrolet released the times, social media begin booming with people remarking how awesome this feat was, especially considering the company that this Camaro is keeping with its new lap time. Personally, I saw that fans from across the board were reveling in the fact that the car had managed to build up enough steam to blow right on by the Ferrari 488 GTB and Nissan GT-R alike, making it a real heavy hitter all for right around a $70,000 starting point. I’m not sure if you’ve been car shopping recently for any of the aforementioned rides but that’s a good amount lower than you can expect with either of the competitors, right around $40k lower to be exact.

What’s so special about this Camaro that made it faster than the previous ZL1 as it lapped the ring? Well, the 1LE boasts an aero kit and some suspension upgrades over the base ZL1 but one wrench thrown into the gears here is that the package only comes with a manual transmission which still didn’t cripple the car enough to make it go any less than 13 seconds quicker than its predecessor which set its personal best with the help of an automatic.

The video below is a true treat as this car absolutely terrorizes each and every corner, only after blasting through the straighter parts of the course and using each of the 650 supercharged horsepower provided by the 6.2L V8 that’s thrust through a fury of banging gears. This machine is truly a joy to watch and with the lap time to back it up, you can’t deny that this new bowtie is one bad machine.

https://youtu.be/t4zSIVpVMaw