A pair of LS-powered Camaro coupes flex their American muscles at a pop-up drag racing event.
This drag racing video comes to us from the Drag Racing Channel YouTube network and it features a battle between a pair of 5g Camaro coupes. These aren’t the quickest Chevy muscle cars in the world, but they put on a good show of American performance at the foreign racing event.
The Competitors
This video showcases a pair of fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro coupes, with a ZL1 in the near lane and an SS in the far lane. There are no details on these cars, but they look relatively stock. If they are as stock as they appear, the SS is powered by an LS3 with 426 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque while the ZL1 is powered by a supercharged LSA with 580 horsepower and 556 lb-ft of torque.
This is clearly a mismatched drag race, but this battle isn’t so much about the winner as it is about showing off a couple of famous American performance cars in some non-North American venue.
The Race
The video begins with the Camaro ZL1 doing a quick burnout while the SS simply rolls up to the starting line. We don’t have any details on where this race took place, but this is clearly a pop-up style drag race event, setup on the straightaway of a road course. There is no proper burnout box, a temporary timing setup and – most significantly – the track appears to have a significant uphill grade.
Due to the shaky burnout box situation, traction is at a premium when the green lights drop, causing the ZL1 to smoke the tires as it leaves the line. This allows the Camaro SS to keep up for a short distance, but once the supercharged Chevy gets traction, it quickly takes the lead and hands the naturally aspirated car a serious beating.
We don’t get any numbers for the SS, but the timing system indicates a run of 13.288 at 116.15 miles per hour. Not a great time by American standards, but it gives this overseas racing fans a chance to see the Camaro ZL1 flex its muscles.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
