We haven’t talked about the upcoming 2014 Chevy Camaro Z/28 in a while. So let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of what’s coming. And it’s looking like the most extreme track-oriented vehicle GM has ever announced, thanks to a bare-bones approach inside and out, coupled with some really incredible hardware, with no one feature being the main highlight, but rather complimentary to the rest. Sure, everyone recognizes the all-motor 7.0L LS7 V8 engine, which is arguably the best performance engine Chevrolet has ever offered. But there’s also the 60-tread count Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires.
These marvels of rubber are street-legal slicks, essentially. And as a fun fact, they’re built in the same facility where Pirelli manufactures its Formula 1 racing tires. More impressively, the Trofeo R tires designated for the Camaro Z/28 measure 305/30ZR-19 in all four corners. Enormous. So big, in fact, that Chevy claims the size to be the largest front-mounted tire of any production car on the market.
For reference, the Bugatti Veyron sports 265-size tires in the front.The enhanced size of the contact patch, along with a 20-percent stiffer spring rate over the Camaro 1LE and purpose-built DSSV shocks unique to the Z/28, are said to give the LS7-powered road-course killer the cornering abilities of 1.05 G forces. That’s better than most supercars, and completely unheard of for what many relate to as a muscle car.
Comments
mother of god what would it cost to replace all four after a track day?
It will probably cost more than a 1967 Z/28 cost when new.
you’re probably right. and I’m saddened by that fact..
According to TireRack.com, a set of Pirelli Corsa Asymmetrics can range anywhere from $2,000-$2,800, so you could assume that these special tires would run somewhere north of $2,000. In other words, you have to pay to play.
Gotta love it, but, where are the “Ring” numbers?
I still cant get over no fancy Graphics, Z28s have always had fancy graphics.Looks to plain ;(
There are no fancy graphics as this car is a back to the original concept kind of car where you can buy it and race it with only a little extra work. The original Z/28 had so very little markings in the first few years. The first year is easy to miss since it was so un adorned.
As the performance went away in the 70’s they replaced HP with stickers.
To be honest I like the back to basics of this car though they will not sell many.
To me GM has a good line up with the Camaro now and the names and numbers hung on the car mean little to me. They can call them what ever they like as long as they all are at the top of the segment they represent. Names do not make the car go fast hardware and engineering does.
I can wait to see the Alpha based car as the less mass will bring braking and handling to the lower priced models that they have never seen. More HP can only add so much performance but controlled weight can add two more dimensions.
Great mass takes a large tire to hold it in place.
I too would not want to replace these. I expect with the smaller lighter Camaro coming they will do like the ATS and get the sizes back down to remove the un sprung weight.
These tires I would guess will be between 300-400 dollars and the least.
Who ever did the neg needs to learn that bigger is not always better. One of the new magazines does a great story in July on contact patches and how wider and larger does not always equal the same increase in contact patch.
Pretty dumb but not surprising. Should be interesting to see the turning radius of this new Camaro set up just for starters.
Is the Camaro all wheel drive these days? Hard to imagine a benefit of having such wide tires up front otherwise, surely cannot be advantageous to improve steering or add traction to this real wheel drive behemoth.
I would think this size tire works well with this weight car, and i still would like to know the price of the car, and i think the tire prices would be extreme.
With the weight and balance of this car will create a better balance. Sure if it under steers you can kick the throttle out with the gas pedal but that is not how you should have to properly drive the car.
The upper limits of this car are now getting to the point they have to compensate with the larger tires. Lets face it the Camaro has gone to levels not expected when the Zeta was conceived.
I am not saying the Camaro is bad handling but I am saying that the tune on it could be made much better in future models with a better balanced chassis.
Just look at the work that GM has put into the ATS and if you have driven one you will understand what I have experienced in the car. It makes going fast on uneven surfaced easy and feel slower than it is .
I am not a Porsche guy but after spending several thousand miles in one I learned that proper tuning is when the car make the driver work less and makes it easy to go fast. A well tuned car does not need to be driven by the throttle but buy the wheel. The throttle can be used if you make a mistake the car can not correct.
Tires for years have been used as a tuning tool to fix issues with suspension. Even way back with the Pantera it had a horrid over steer and Ford had Goodyear make special tires to combat the issue. It did not fix it but it did help keep many owner from killing themselves going into the ditch backwards.
Look for the new Alpha Camaro will be very well tuned and the chassis will be so much better balanced. The folks who did the magic on the GM Performance Cars are now working on these cars from the start. They are now designing them right from the start and no longer have to take what was given to them and fix it. If you note this also has made even the non performance cars lie the Cruze so much better to drive.