Domestic Battle: Mustangs vs Camaro 1LE SS vs C6 GS

In several roll races, GMs prove their pushrod might.

This was some intense night racing between four Mustangs and two of the General’s best on a closed highway in Mexico. With the winning cars only just pulling ahead towards the finish, it makes you wonder what exactly these guys have under their hoods.

The oldest Mustang is a S197 GT. It features a six-speed manual with a 3.31:1 rear gear but engine wise it’s tame. It has a PMAS cold air intake system, a Lund Flex Fuel tune for E85, JBA exhaust and a 170-degree thermostat. That list makes it a fairly decent street car and it keeps up surprisingly well.

The car known as “Gus550” is a S550 Mustang (the latest generation with IRS), with a Ford Racing Cobra Jet intake manifold that’s used on the factory drag car that allows the 5.0 four-valve to sing up to 7750-RPM. Attached to that is a dual 65mm butterfly oval throttle body where a Ford Racing cold air intake sends its air to. It also features a full custom exhaust and an ECU tune for E85 fuel.

The other S550 Mustang is a six-speed car with a 3.73 rear gear. It features a GT350 intake manifold, custom exhaust, “full bolt-ons” and a Lunde E85 tune.

One of our two “hero cars” is known as the Bambino 1LE, a 2015 Camaro SS 1LE with a six-speed manual. It doesn’t list what the bolt-ons are, but it does feature a more aggressive camshaft, FAST Intake Manifold, custom exhaust, and tuned to run C85 – a VP Fuels’ racing version of E85 that uses Methyl Tertiary Butyle Ether and is a highly-oxygenated formula. When tuned right, you can make up to thirty-horsepower more to the wheels and about the same in torque versus E85. The C6 Grand Sport features a six-speed manual with a full custom exhaust, intake, and E85 tune but not much else is known.

So, while Bambino was able to pull away, many are calling his wins cheating because he used C85 while everyone else was using E85. What do you think?