NurburBring It On: 2010 Camaro Cuts a Hot Lap



Date posted: 07-22-2008

DETROIT — You can't launch a car with any aspirations of "performance" and not do your time at Germany's famed Nürburgring racetrack — it's just plain expected these days. So General Motors Corp. certainly wasn't about to shy away from the 'Ring with the sizzling new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. At Monday's official unveiling of the production version of the new-age Camaro, Inside Line chased down a ranking Camaro engineer and asked for the crucial lap time.

Doug Houlihan, GM's chief engineer for global rear-wheel-drive vehicles (the architecture underneath the Camaro, the Pontiac G8 and all that blowsy, big-V8 Holden stuff from Australia, where the platform originates), coughed it right up: A Camaro SS ran the Nürburgring in 8:20.

A quick scan of an authoritative listing (it definitely looks authoritative, anyway) of Nürburgring lap times at supercars.net shows cars posting a lap time of 8:20 include the E36-generation BMW M3 in 1999, the Porsche 911 GT3 (993 generation) in the same year driven by 'Ring ace Walter Roehrl and stuff like the Audi RS6 in 2001. For a little extra perspective on that 8:20 lap time, GM recently boasted the coming '09 Corvette ZR1 did it in 7:26.4.

"We learned a few things," from the 'Ring session, says Houlihan, which led the Camaro development team to tire supplier Pirelli for some subtle changes that he says fine-tuned steering response and turn-in, and also resulted in some nitty-gritty tweaks for suspension settings — all of which will further improve the Camaro's on-road handling.

Houlihan also said all Camaros — V8 or V6 — will feature the best StabiliTrak stability control system GM can offer; the SS enjoys essentially the software from the Corvette's magnificent Active Handling system that we insist remains the world standard in performance-oriented stability control. The Camaro SS stability control will have a track mode, a performance mode and a setting that fully disables stability and traction control. Stability/traction control for all Camaros can be fully disabled, but Camaro SSs with the six-speed manual also get a launch control feature.

Houlihan also said the 2010 Camaro's coefficient of drag is an OK, but unremarkable 0.35 for the SS and 0.36 for the LS/LT V6 models. Ed Welburn, GM's vice president of global design, said it's tough to get super-slippery aero numbers for cars with full-width grilles and recessed headlights — design cues Welburn and his styling team insisted on, obviously, to deliver on the 2010 Camaro's retro promise.

We whined the RS appearance package that adds high-intensity discharge, "halo ring" headlamps, unique tail lamps, a rear spoiler and 20-inch wheels makes it almost impossible to distinguish a V8-packing Camaro from a V6 job. But for those of you who can spot the difference of an inch, Houlihan says there's one giveaway: the exhaust tips for the Camaro SS, which is V8 only, are 96mm (3.7 inches) in diameter. But LT Camaros (standard 3.6-liter V6) — even with the RS package — have exhaust tips that are just 3 inches in diameter.

What this means to you: The Nürburgring number proves even if it's a little heavy, a Camaro SS can run with some pretty exclusive company. And with 300 horsepower, the Camaro V6 doesn't exactly earn the "secretary car" stereotype, either. — Bill Visnic, Senior Editor, Edmunds AutoObserver

 

Is that good? Doesn't seem fast to me.

 

CTS-V just ran it in ~7.59 (Sedan record)
Cobalt SS just did ~8.22 (FWD record)

It is decent as far as modern sports cars are concerned. Nothing spectacular, but decent none-the-less. If they can get it down to the 8.00 range it would be one AWESOME 3900lb muscle car true to it's TRANS AM forefathers. Hell look at the times for the C6Z, two records by two diff drivers, with a 7+sec gap between them.

Here is a full list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordsch...test_lap_times

 

For the type of car it is it will run rings around the Mustang and Challenger in the twisties or track.

 

Wow, that is bad. Even my HHR SS went 8.40 another record from it's class.

 

I would deff. agree with that statement.

 

it's a Camaro.... it will kick ***, no worries

 

ohhhh I was expecting around 7.50 to 7.59 a little better than the CTS-V...Mmmm I'm really dissapointed about the lap time

 

I don't really think it's a disappointing lap time but with the Cobalt SS pulling a very similar time, I would hope they could get it down to about 8:10.
I'm wondering if it was an engineer driving the car to that lap time like in the new ZR1?

 

the cobalt ss dusted a c5 corvette automatic by 18 seconds.

 

Yeah I agree with you, I Hope they will get better times...

 

At 8:20 thats a very respectable time for a 4000lb car. Thats pretty damn fast!! Could you imagine if it was more aero friendly, it would destroy that ring! But all in all great times, Im impressed.

 

Not bad for a 30k pony car. I want to see what the LSA powered Z28 will do, being that it will have a very similar motor/suspension to the CTS-v, yet still be a couple hundred lbs lighter.

 

**** poor. This thing is no faster than the old M@RO. This thing is a ******* pig. WTF were they thinking. That is disjointed...but I am just so disappointed.

W

 

chevy blew it. in addition to the extra weight they bastardized the car with a independent rear end and it still sux on a road course and its even worse on a dragstip now so much for this wannabe pony car. it gets a big FAIL from me. my 2001 camaro SS just went up in value. thanx GM

 

damn, that sounds pretty cool. wonder how much the 'track' mode helps with weight transfer or if by 'track' they mean autocross.

 

^^^ that is sickening. I'd still put mine up against a Cobalt SS. they probably did a rolling start with the SS and a standing start with the C5

 

I hope you're kidding...
A stock non-1LE 4th gen would struggle to get 8:40s, a 1LE car might get close to 8:30s, that is if the crappy brakes don't give out...

8:20 is a great time for a 4000lbs car with only 8 and 9" wide tires. Thats beating cars like the E46 M3, 350Z, Boxster S, Cayman S, 04 STi, BMW 335i, and so on. Its only 2 seconds off a C5 Corvette... This would absolutely kill a GT500 or SRT8 Challenger on a track.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

 

Goes to show how much slower a conventional auto is on a track.
A 6 speed C5 ran 8:18, a whole 22 seconds quicker...

 

https://ls1tech.com/forums/showpost....1&postcount=58

The 4th gen. wouldn't even come close to that time running on that track. Without seeing the entire list or watching other cars go on that track you can't really gauge how fast that really is, or how amazing the record times set by the GT-R and ZR-1 are. Both of which are dedicated and very expensive sports cars. Look at the company the Camaro is in and it's an affordable, mass-market muscle car.

This car is entire generation better than the old one in body rigidity, suspension control, ride comfort, steering turn-in, overall handling performance, virtually everything. All of that vast improvement while maintaing the legendary straight line performance the Camaro is known for stock.

You can mod the old one all you want to go fast down the drag strip but you cannot fix everything else about the old chassis that are all addressed in the new car.