Camaro ZL1 1LE Smokes GT500 & Redeye in Hot Laps
It may not have 800 fat horses or $10,000 paint stripes, but the Camaro ZL1 1LE is the track-day war machine to beat.
Among the pony cars of the modern day, one stands above: the Camaro. It can handle it all, including grocery runs, quarter-miles, and its favorite home, the track. Speaking of, the top-tier Camaro ZL1 1LE is the track-day war machine of our dreams. For just $75,000 with the options, you’ll leave everyone else in the dust.
Back in September 2019, LS1 Tech Editor Derin Richardson wrote an editorial talking about how the ZL1 1LE, despite having less horsepower, would still give the GT500 a run for its money. Four months later, it appears there was some truth to this bold statement. Thomas Holland and James Engelsman of Throttle House headed south of their Canadian home to California to the tried-and-true Willow Springs International Raceway. There, they joined fellow YouTuber Jason Cammissa and racing legend Randy Pobst to test the Camaro against the Shelby GT500, and the Challenger Hellcat Redeye.
“The GT500 is the new nemesis,” said Engelsman, “and Ford’s answer to one of our favorite cars. And coincidentally, the fastest car to grace the Throttle House test track back in old Canada, the Camaro ZL1 1LE. Which, by the way, has more torque than that Mustang.”
Both sporty ponies, of course, have to contend with the fat cat along for the ride, the Hellcat Redeye. It’s big, supercharged V8 has 797 horses to send through the eight-speed automatic Torqueflite transmission to the rear 20-inchers. Alas, it’s not a canyon carver, nor a track machine, even if the widebody variant has some track-focused goodies.
“So yeah, these are all really powerful cars,” said Engelsman, who drove the ZL1. “They’re all supercharged V8s. This thing has 650 horsepower, and 650 pound-feet of torque. And yet, somehow, [it’s] the least powerful of the three. Let that sink in for a second.”
It’s also the least expensive. The 1LE track pack adds $7,500 to the $62,000 base for the ZL1, as we noted several months ago. For that, you get aggressive, carbon-fiber aero, exclusive Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar tires, and performance suspension. The GT500, as Holland says, starts at $70,000 before adding the $18,500 track pack. Finally, the Hellcat tops them all with a base of $79,000 (but at least Dodge only charges a buck to remove the rear seats, unlike Ford).
“The ZL1 is a car that needs to be taken very seriously,” said Engelsman. “Today, we’re driving it in the 2019-onwards 10-speed automatic form […] On the road, I can tell you that the shifts in automatic are fast […] Chevrolet have made a full-blown sports car, and in doing so, they have given it ridiculous tires […] the chassis is so tight, the damping is so stiff, that even driving this on the highway, I found myself aggressively confirming things.”
One thing Engelsman likely confirmed was that the ZL1 1LE wasn’t going to win a dig due to its aero. Thus, he brought a blue ZL1 ringer for the first challenge at Willow Springs International Raceway, a dig to the line.
His ZL1 has several advantages over the other cars when it comes to digs. For one, it doesn’t have a one-second delay on launch, like the GT500 does. It also can plant its power off the line, unlike the Hellcat, which will go squirrelly without some thought (and some VHT for extra grip). Thus, it easily takes the win in the first challenge.
“This kind of matches up with Car and Driver‘s results,” said Holland. “They found that the ZL1 non-1LE was within one-tenth of this time in the quarter-mile. When it comes down to reality and the delay of the launch control, kind of make sense.”
Alas, reality would come back to bite Engelsman and his ZL1 ringer. The trio rolled off of 50 mph for the second challenge. This time, the fat cat Hellcat charged to the finish, with the GT500 and the ZL1 taking silver and bronze, respectively.
“ZL1 beats a Mustang from a dig,” said Engelsman. “But not in 1LE form, because in 1LE form, we have DSSV dampers, which are fixed, not like the magnetic ride in the normal ZL1. The top speed of this suffers.”
When not drag racing, though, the 1LE dominates the track. The performance suspension, excellent aero, and tight chassis come together to best the rest of the pack. And how.
After Pobst took each car around Willow Springs, the ZL1 1LE took the top spot with a time of 1:27.20. The GT500 was close behind at 1:28.15, while the big cat took a distant third at 1:32.59.
Yet, both Holland and Engelsman preferred the orange snake over the Camaro. Perhaps the desert heat got to them. Pobst, thankfully, chooses the ZL1 1LE as his chariot of choice, due to its Alpha platform, and its value for performance. Cammissa had nothing to say, as he was down for the count due to illness. We’d like to think he’d take the ZL1 1LE, though.
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