Yesterday was likely a good day inside the General Motors renaissance center. Buick secured the third place in Consumer Reports’ Auto Reliability Survey; the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze became the “Recommended” compact car of the segment and the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 trounced rivals at the famed Nürburgring.
If you missed the news, the 2017 Camaro ZL1 lapped the ‘Ring in a seriously quick 7:29.60. To help digest the information, and put it into some context, Jalopnik has compiled a good ol’ fashioned list of cars the 2017 Camaro ZL1 beat with its latest lap time. Without further ado:
- Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
- Koenigsegg CCX
- Ford Shelby GT350R
- Ferrari 458 Italia
- Porsche 911 GT2
- Mercedes-AMG GT S
- McLaren 650S Spider
- Jaguar XJ220
- Lexus LFA
- Caterham R500 Superlight
- Trabant
Each of the vehicles above fell to the agile Alpha platform-based, sixth-generation Camaro ZL1. But, there are still a handful of cars the Camaro ZL1 couldn’t outdo, even if it was in spitting distance of the Porsche Carrera GT.
- Porsche 918
- Lamborghini Aventador
- Ferrari LaFerrari
- Dodge Viper ACR
- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
- BMW M4 GTS
- Radical SR8
However, maybe a few vehicles from the second list can be clipped off when an inbound 2018 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 arrives with an even greater focus on lap times.
Comments
This is an amazing performance by the Camaro and Oppenheiser’s team, congratulations to them for bringing America back to the top of the world, and I bet Doug Fehan and Pratt and Miller may have had a few words of advice in there too. I look forward to that unique American way of winning when the Corvette ZR1 thrashes the Bugatti at 7% of the price and 200% + of the efficiency. Don’t forget that Corvette’s 30mpg/hwy was what saved it from death during the Government Motors era.
As far as Jalopnik’s list, I don’t think beating a 30 year old half-assed super-failure-car in the XJ220 is anything to be proud of. The Caterham is completely lost on aero, so I challenge Jalopnik to race a Caterham vs the ZL1 on Willow’s short course. Beating the Trabant is impossible though, because you can’t carry sheep, chickens, and hay while setting Nurburgring laptimes in a Camaro, the back seat is way too small.
This is simply All-American impressive. I own a showroom stock 2014 ZL1 and it is a very nice car as well as fast, superb handling and especially great at stopping from high speed. Now, I was already thinking of upgrading, but our ZL only has 4800 miles on it. But 650 HP compared to 580? Might make it the deal maker.
If they (Camaro group) have plans on making the 2018 Z-28 run the ‘Ring faster than the ZL1, they may want to add some boost. Maybe turbo?
When you consider you couldn’t buy half a Porsche for what a Camaro ZL1 costs, it’s even more impressive.