When you buy a new Corvette Z06 or ZR-1 or crate engines of the LS7 or LS9, you have the option of paying $5800 to build your own engine at the GM Performance Build Center in Wixom, Michigan. You go to the plant and use the GM parts, tools and processes under the guidance of a GM technician. Stacey David recently did this to build the LS7 going into the latest project car that’s building for his show Gearz on SPEED. Lucky for us, they brought cameras along.
Hot Rod Magazine teamed up with Ligenfelter Engineering to break the 200 mph barrier in the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Ligenfelter put a new cam, CNC ported heads, cold air intake, fuel system and engine management into the factory supercharged Camaro to bump the power to 720 hp at 6500 rpm and 650 foot-pounds of torque at 4650 rpm. The car was the first ZL1 to run a 10 second quarter mile pass and they wanted to see if it could match the upcoming Shelby Mustang’s claimed 200 mph top speed
There’s something to be said about taking a car and modifying it so that it excels in an area where it was never really intended to go. That’s why this video of autocrossing muscle cars is awesome. Autocross and road racing are starting to become pretty popular with the classic muscle car crowd. It could have to do with all of the modern muscle cars that are being released now that handle amazingly. It could also have to do with the fact that aftermarket suspension from folks like Hotchkiss and Art Morrison are better than ever. There’s no doubt that it looks like an absolute blast.
Some people say that we are in the second golden age of the muscle car. Each of Detroit’s Big 3 have revived their performance car nameplates and the horsepower wars are on again. Further proof that the muscle car is alive and well is that you can buy factory built drag racing cars again. Ford turned the Mustang into the Super Cobra Jet and Dodge has a MOPAR Drag Package for the Challenger. Now GM has joined the game by reviving the COPO Camaro. COPO stands for Central Office Production Order which was a process used by a dealer in the 60’s to get GM to install a 427 into the Camaro even though that combination was never intended for production. 69 COPO’s were built in the 60’s and now GM will only build 69 of the new COPO’s. The new COPO was developed during the off-hours at the GM Powertrain Plant in Wixom, Michigan by all the hot rodders who worked there. The rear suspension has been converted to a 4-link solid axle and it will be available with three engine options.
The guys from Hot Rod Magazine also got a chance to tour the Wixom Performance Build Center in the other half of the building in Wixom. That’s where they hand build all the LS3’s for the Corvette Grand Sport, LS7’s for the Corvette Z06 and the supercharged LS9’s in the Corvette ZR-1. They also got to play with the Camaro ZL1 on the dragstrip and take a look at the new 1LE handling package.
Motor Trend has been doing this series on YouTube that pits two cars “Head 2 Head.” This episode is particularly interesting for more reasons than just the Mustang vs. Camaro rivalry. It’s old school analog vs. new school digital. The new Camaro ZL1 is GM’s first entry into the world of the electronic sports car that was ushered in by the Nissan GT-R in 2008. It’s been equipped with a sophisticated traction control system and magnetorheological shocks. Traditional shocks use valves that restrict oil flow through its body to control motion. The magnetorheological shocks use electromagnets to control the flow of magnetic fluid through their bodies. This allows a computer to read the road surface with a sensor and then adjust the damping forces of the shock with the electromagnets. The same type of system is used on the Cadillac CTS-V, Corvette ZR-1 and the Ferrari 458 Italia, but the ZL1’s shocks are the latest generation of the technology.
What this showdown boils down to is the digital vs. analog driving experience. The computers in the ZL1 aid the driver in maximizing the potential of the car when putting down lap times. However, it still doesn’t drive the car for you. A driver with skills will still put down faster times than a novice in the ZL1. That’s where cars like the Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca come on. The Mustang can be driven without driver aids. What the car does is in direct response to the driver’s input. The analog car gives you plenty of feedback so you can push to the absolute limits. Get it wrong and it will punish you, but that’s how you learn to become a better driver. The digital age of the sports car is great, but I hope that it grows hand in hand with the traditional analog car instead of completely taking it over. I think both are necessary so that drivers can grow along with technology of the cars. The technology has to amplify driver skill, not replace it.