Full rescue story: T0210019_A0929021 May your father and mother’s kindness be rewarded with thousands of blessings from God

Title: 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 First Test: Brute Squad Goals Raising Hell, Killing Tires, and Feeling the Heat Jonny Lieberman/Robin Trajano Dec 21, 2016 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 front three quarter burnout e1482297740407 The Bugatti Veyron famously came equipped with 10 heat exchangers. That 1,001-horsepower projection of Ferdinand Piëch’s ego generated so much heat it required 10 intercoolers to prevent it from boiling over. The 650-horsepower 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sports 11 of them. Insert Spinal Tap joke here. Such is the extreme nature of the latest, and arguably greatest, and without question the most powerful Camaro the Bow Tie brand has ever offered to the public. Unlike the obvious competition (Chevy, we’re looking at you, Hellcat), the ZL1 isn’t just extreme for the sake of it. The Camaro team endowed the sixth-generation Camaro with a full suite of performance enhancements for a very specific purpose. Three purposes, actually: Camaro boss Al Oppenheiser envisioned the ZL1 as the ultimate pony car for the drag strip, the canyon road, and the racetrack. ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW Chevy is marketing these three objectives with the hashtag #ZL1triplethreat. That’s no small feat. But fortunately for Oppenheiser, he had the right platform, the right engineering team, and the right parts bin to take a run at glory. For instance, even though horsepower has increased by 70 ponies compared to the previous-generation ZL1, weight has dropped by 169 pounds, largely thanks to the Alpha platform, which also underpins the Cadillac ATS and CTS families. The front fenders on the ZL1 are flared compared to other Camaros to accommodate the 285-width Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 tires, shared with the SS 1LE. On the 1LE, the front tires just barely poke out. 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 front three quarter Of course, there’s also the matter of the miniature atomic device of an engine. It’s called the LT4, and its most familiar iteration is the 650-hp, 650 lb-ft dry-sump version found in the Corvette Z06. A slightly detuned 640-hp, 630 lb-ft wet-sump version resides under the hood of the Cadillac CTS-V. All three variants are 6.2-liter, direct-injected V-8s with a top-mounted 1.7-liter intercooled supercharger. ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW Here’s the part Chevrolet doesn’t want me to say: In the Z06, the LT4 has cooling issues. The mighty Corvette’s heart heat soaks or overheats. Remember those 11 heat exchangers I mentioned? The Camaro ZL1 will not overheat. I tried, and even after six sets of rear tires in four days—no joke—the thunderous V-8 never even simmered. Two of those 11 heat exchangers are actually the intercoolers that flank the supercharger. They’ve been redesigned and repositioned for ZL1 duty. It’s also worth noting that the ZL1 version of the LT4 makes exactly the same power and torque as the Z06. In generations past, the Corvette would have had to (officially, at least) be the power king. These days, Camaro is free to be as potent as it can be. Also of great interest in the ZL1 is the debut of GM’s 10-speed automatic transmission. Co-developed to a certain extent with Ford, Chevy’s hopped-up Camaro version features unique gearing, valving, and control software. Gears one through six are very tightly spaced, seventh is direct, and eight through 10 are for highway cruising. Should you opt for the six-speed manual version of the ZL1, the feds will hit you with a $1,300 Gas Guzzler tax. The EPA’s verdict is still pending for the automatic, but there’s a chance that with those three overdrive gears, 10-speed ZL1s might only incur a $1,000 tax, or perhaps none at all. This could mean that the 10-speed slushbox might go from a $1,595 option to a mere $295. Still, I’m betting on the $1,000 tax. ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 front three quarter in motion 02 1 When the old 580-hp ZL1 debuted in 2012, it was soon bested in a straight line by the 662-hp 2013 Shelby GT500. That burly Shelby, with its unusually long gears, hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds (in first gear) and rocketed through the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 125.7 mph. The old ZL1 reached 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and ran the quarter mile in 12.2 seconds at 116.6 mph. Chevy claims the 2017 10-speed ZL1 needs 3.5 seconds to reach 60 mph and runs the quarter mile in 11.4 seconds at 127 mph. Fortunately for you, we have a test team, and we were able to verify the 3.5-second 0-60 mph claim. However, in the quarter mile, our best from road test editor Chris Walton was 11.5 seconds at 125 miles per hour. The discrepancy? We’re attributing it to California’s 91-octane premium gasoline versus the 93-octane good stuff in Michigan. Yes, Virginia, the 650-horsepower Camaro requires premium fuel. Still, an 11.5-second quarter mile beats both the phantom (out of production) Shelby bogey and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which needs 11.7 seconds at 125.4 mph. An 11.5-second quarter mile beats a whole lot of supercars, too. The ZL1 isn’t just quick in a straight line. The monstrous Chevy also excels on our figure-eight handling circuit, where it posted an elite time of 23.1 seconds. For context, the 1LE version of the Camaro, the BMW M4 GTS, and the Shelby GT350R all take 23.3 seconds. A time of 23.1 seconds puts the nearly two-ton Camaro on par with the 3,353-pound 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S with all-wheel steering. Speaking of Porsche, the quickest figure-eight lap we’ve ever recorded belongs to the 918 Spyder: 22.2 seconds. Meaning this Camaro is less than a second off the best there is. The GT500 takes 24.2 seconds, while the two-door Hellcat needs 24.7 seconds. The ZL1 requires only 96 feet to stop from 60 mph. Anything under 100 feet should be considered excellent. ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 interior Since I drove it last July, I’ve been describing the Camaro SS 1LE as one of the very best handling cars currently on sale. We ranked it fourth in last year’s Best Driver’s Car competition, behind the aforementioned Carrera S and the GT350R, as well as the winning McLaren 570S. There’s a strong temptation to view the ZL1 as merely a 1LE with an extra 195 horsepower. However, all that additional cooling and the nearly 200 pounds of added weight from the engine sap the ZL1 of the 1LE’s grace and fluidity. As a result, the ZL1 doesn’t dance like a ballerina. Instead, it hits like a heavyweight boxer’s fist with a horseshoe hidden inside the glove. There might not be a whole lot of feel, connection, subtlety, or whatever other flowery words scribes like me use to wax poetic about the ineffable. You’re not dancing with the road; you’re beating it to death. Would the Shelby GT500 or Hellcat be able to keep up? No way. This thing freaking flies. Those Goodyears are not only remarkable, but the Camaro team also did a wonderful job with the ZL1’s rear suspension, both lowering the roll center and making the familiar electronic limited-slip differential (eLSD in GM parlance) work better here than in any other application. This baby is a drift machine. Also, and quite importantly, the rear wheels have no trouble putting down all the LT4’s power. I tried several of the Performance Traction modes (Wet, Sport 1, Sport 2, Race), but I quickly realized that the ZL1 is so capable that turning off all nannies was the optimal way to roll. Don’t just take my word for it. “In the aggressive driving modes, such as Sport and Track, the throttle actually opens more slowly to get more control