Photo: Vengeance Racing
Excluding the strip-slaying COPO, the most powerful road-going Camaro ever comes in the guise of the ZL1. Redesigned from the ground up for the 2017 model year, the muscle-bound pony car delivers incredible performance with the help of a small-block V8 with a 1.7-liter blower.
The seventh-generation Corvette Z06 used this 6.2-liter motor, and Cadillac has recently upgraded the 6.2-liter lump for the CT5-V Blackwing. From the supercharger's whine to the raspy exhaust note and 650-horsepower rating at the crankshaft of the ZL1, the LT4 can only be described as glorious.
Vengeance Racing can do better, though. The go-faster shop from Georgia had the opportunity to upgrade the engine with an E85 tune, a Whipple supercharger, and many other goodies that leveled up the output ratings to 877 horsepower and 705 pound-feet (956 Nm) of torque at the wheels.
Switch to 93-octane gasoline, and the Camaro ZL1 in the following video is much obliged to flex 811 RWHP and 667 RWTQ (904 Nm). The 6.2-liter lump has also been treated to a 103-millimeter throttle body from Nick Williams, CNC-ported cylinder heads, a big-bore fuel pump from Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, and +30% injectors. Modifications further include a DSX Tuning auxiliary fuel pump and a 9.45-inch lower pulley, an underhood expansion tank, wideband O2 sensors, and a triple disc clutch upgrade.
It’s a wicked setup, make no mistake about that, but it’s also painful to compare the aftermarket’s continued support for the Camaro while General Motors couldn’t be bothered to challenge the Hellcat and Shelby GT500. As a brief refresher, the Camaro won’t even get a 55th anniversary edition.
There’s even talk of General Motors pulling the plug on the seventh-generation model to focus on electric vehicles, which is worrying in my honest opinion. Ford is very close to redesigning the Mustang, the Challenger will get a hybridized transmission, and the Camaro may go out with a whimper instead of a bang if General Motors doesn’t get its act together fast.
Vengeance Racing can do better, though. The go-faster shop from Georgia had the opportunity to upgrade the engine with an E85 tune, a Whipple supercharger, and many other goodies that leveled up the output ratings to 877 horsepower and 705 pound-feet (956 Nm) of torque at the wheels.
Switch to 93-octane gasoline, and the Camaro ZL1 in the following video is much obliged to flex 811 RWHP and 667 RWTQ (904 Nm). The 6.2-liter lump has also been treated to a 103-millimeter throttle body from Nick Williams, CNC-ported cylinder heads, a big-bore fuel pump from Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, and +30% injectors. Modifications further include a DSX Tuning auxiliary fuel pump and a 9.45-inch lower pulley, an underhood expansion tank, wideband O2 sensors, and a triple disc clutch upgrade.
It’s a wicked setup, make no mistake about that, but it’s also painful to compare the aftermarket’s continued support for the Camaro while General Motors couldn’t be bothered to challenge the Hellcat and Shelby GT500. As a brief refresher, the Camaro won’t even get a 55th anniversary edition.
There’s even talk of General Motors pulling the plug on the seventh-generation model to focus on electric vehicles, which is worrying in my honest opinion. Ford is very close to redesigning the Mustang, the Challenger will get a hybridized transmission, and the Camaro may go out with a whimper instead of a bang if General Motors doesn’t get its act together fast.
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