The Camaro ZL1 1LE wants to bite your face off

By topgear ,

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Lock up your loved ones and allow us to introduce to you the new Chevrolet Camaro 1LE.

Put simply, it’s a Camaro ZL1 that’s had even more anger injected into it, making the quick version of the humble American muscle car quicker still around a track.

How much quicker? Well, compared to the standard ZL1, the 1LE is three seconds faster around General Motors’ 2.9-mile, 18-turn Milford Road Course test track. So expect a reasonable chunk to be taken out the ZL1’s 7min 29.60sec Nürburgring time, too.

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What kind of witchcraft has made this possible? Well, through a simple shopping list of track-worthy accoutrements but no more power. The same supercharged 6.2-litre ‘LT4’ engine as the ZL1 sits up front, producing 640bhp and 868Nm of torque.

But as you can probably tell, there have been some quite hefty aero revisions. Primarily that huge carbonfibre wing on the rear deck as well as air deflectors and dive planes on the front fascia to stick the Camaro to the track.

Aero is only one way of improving its track nous; set-up is another. And Chevy’s spanner monkeys have been hard at work on the adjustable, race-derived suspension with trick dampers (like those found on the Colorado ZR2 and previous Camaro Z/28), while the front-end features springs with adjustable perches for changing ride height, and the ability to dial in some negative camber. Nerdy stuff. The springs are also stiffer, and the rear stabiliser bar is also adjustable if you fancy getting your fingers oily.

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Weight has been lost thanks to new, lightweight forged aluminium wheels (saving 3.3 kg per corner), thinner rear glass and a fixed-back rear seat to give an overall 27kg lower kerb weight than a standard ZL1 Coupe.

Meanwhile, all that power gets to the road via a six-speed manual gearbox and the widest tyres ever offered on a production Camaro: humongous 305mm fronts and 325mm rears, wrapped in bespoke Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar rubber.

There’s no word on price yet, but just like the normal ZL1, you’ll no doubt get serious bang for ya buck when it goes on sale later this summer.