Meet the World’s First 8-Second Sixth-gen Camaro ZL1
Camaro ZL1 had transmission failure and coasted the last 220 feet, but it is still the first in the 8s.
The 6th generation ZL1 is the quickest and most powerful production car to ever wear the Chevrolet Camaro name, with 650 horsepower and the ability to run in the 11-second range in stock form. Since the LT4-powered muscle car hit the street, we have seen countless examples in the 9s and 10s, but until this past weekend, we had not seen a new ZL1 in the 8s.
That all changed at Memphis International Raceway on the night of Friday, May 31st, when Michael Talley and his 2018 Camaro ZL1 stopped the timers with an 8.992, but there is an interesting aspect to this story. Talley’s transmission went south around the 1,100-foot mark, causing the car to essentially coast through the traps at just 116 miles per hour, but he still ran in the 8-second range.
Record Setting Muscle Car
Michael Talley owns and drives the 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 shown here, which set the record earlier this year for the quickest stock-blower quarter mile run when he ran a 9.57, but since then, he has made a handful of changes to add lots more power.
This Camaro has a stock bottom end, stock transmission, stock rear differential and stock suspension, but there are some pretty significant changes made under the hood. Upgrades include an Edelbrock 2650 supercharger wearing a 3.0 upper pulley, a 9.55 lower pulley, a Roto Fab Big Gulp intake, a set of GPI cylinder heads, a GPI camshaft, Kooks two-inch headers, a full Corsa exhaust system, a methanol injection system and a C16 tune by Ryan Stevens at Gwatney Performance.
Next, this car has a 15-inch rear brake conversion from Carlyle Racing to make room for the RTS71 beadlock wheels wearing 28-inch by 10.5-inch drag radials. To cut down weight a bit, this car has 18 Alumistars skinnies up front and the interior is without a passenger seat or rear seat for this record run.
First in the 8s
In the video above from Mike Talley’s YouTube channel, Talley and his 2018 Camaro ZL1 get off of the line with a 1.33 60-foot time, leading to a smokin’-quick eighth mile time of 5.674 at 127.23 miles per hour. He got to the 1,000-foot stripe in just 7.338 seconds, but shortly after, the car stopped pulling. Talley looked at his computer logs and found that the car stopped pulling around the 1,100-foot mark when the transmission began slipping badly.
As a result, Talley and his Camaro basically coasted from the 1,100-foot mark to the finish line, so he only hit 116 miles per hour on the big end, but he still got there in just 8.992 seconds. Needless to say, had the transmission stayed together, Talley would have run further down into the 8-second range, but even with the mechanical failure, he became the first new ZL1 owner to run in the 8s.