Ride Along: flat out in the new Camaro ZL1

This is where the Camaro range starts to get really interesting. As competent and quick as the standard lower order Camaros are, this new ZL1 brushes all of them aside with its deep armoury of grunt and go.  The last gen supercharged ZL1 did its best to surmount the porky chassis’ shortcomings, but, despite still being fun, was never really the convincing performance pony car it promised to be. This sixth-gen car, nicknamed 'The Hammer' by GM global product development chief Mark Reuss, intends to rectify that situation.

By riding on the same new platform as the Cadillac ATS and CTS, the new ZL1 inherits all of the goodies we know and love on both those cars. The active MR damping, the massive rigidity, Performance Traction Management, launch control, etc. But it ups the game to a much more serious level now by inserting the 640bhp/640lb ft 6.2-litre supercharged LT4 motor from the Corvette Z06 into the engine bay. That gives it 60bhp more than the outgoing car, in a package that weighs a full 200lb less. If you like your stats, each horsepower now has just 6.46lb of mass to push around.

Yes, there’s a six-speed self-stirrer with active rev matching and a sixth gear overdrive. But the big news here is the first application of a new 10-speed automatic box (developed with Ford and a version of which will appear in the F-150 Raptor later this year). This has an overall ratio of 7.39:1, in case you were wondering, and shifts faster than a Bruce Lee punch.

The 20-inch wheels ride on Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres – 285/30s at the front and 305/30s at the rear. Brakes are Brembo 15.35 inch steel rotors with six piston calipers and the rears are surprisingly large 14.37-inch units being slowed by four piston grabbers. So it’s still no Z28 but it’s way better shod and braked than ever before.

Inside there is the now expected trio of Recaro seats, flat-bottomed steering wheel and sueded steering wheel and gearstick. Outside it gets the full muscle car on steroids treatment: big front splitter, wider wheel arches, bigger rear spoiler. But it also gets some changes in areas you can’t see, too. There are now underbody aero shields including an auxiliary one for the oil cooler – both the result, along with the other mods, of more than 100 hours in the wind tunnel.

Should be. Apart from having a massive front grille – with the trademark hollow Flowtie logo – the bonnet has heat extractors and there are no fewer than 11 heat exchangers as standard. Can’t find a number for the Vette, but that sounds like it should be plenty to keep the ZL1’s engine temp calm even on track days. There are also front brake cooling ducts to stop those big discs from melting while hauling down this still weighty 4,000lb+ car from speed.

Good question. We didn’t get to muscle it around the track ourselves but we did get a shift in the passenger seat while, in our case, Mark Reuss, piled on the coals. From that safety harness-secured position, the ZL1 feels solid, planted and fast. Not as hair-on-fire fast as the Z06, but very quick. The over-riding noise and memory is of the autobox and the engine sounds. With 10 speeds to play with and an engine note that prefers the supercharger whine to V8 rumble, it feels very linear, almost electric in the way it pulls. It was still a development car we were in, so that might change some by the time it gets to market later this year, but we’ll see.

In many ways this is a budget Cadillac CTS-V – only with 20 more bhp and two more gears. It might only have two doors but it has four big seats and plenty of interior space. Plus it appears to have much better cooling than the Z06, so it should be more stable when you want to rub the tyres to bits at the track. We still don’t know what the Z28 is going to serve up, but that’s not going to happen for a while yet. So for now, we can see no reason not to get your name on the list for one of these now. We’ve seen and heard enough to know 'The Hammer' is a good ‘un.