Captain America takes on the Beast from the Far East, as Road & Track tests the new Camaro ZL1 [1] against the track proven Nissan GT-R around Indy Motorsports Ranch and the winding canyon roads of Arizona. Between these two cars, over 1,100 flywheel horsepower and over $150,000 of factory tuned performance technology were paired up in this video from YouTube [2]. So how’d the ZL1 fair? Just about how you might expect.
The nice fella from Road and Track says in the video [2], “It’s very difficult to get the GT-R sideways, whereas the ZL1 will do it if you look at it funny. So on our track test, the ZL1 was a bit of a handful, and it definitely took a lot more effort to drive fast. But it was far more rewarding. The GT-R on the other hand, just understeered and drove like a video game: on throttle, off throttle, squeeze a paddle here squeeze a paddle there.”
[3]
That doesn’t sound too bad at all for the ol’ ZL1 [1]. However, the GT-R was 2.8 seconds faster around Indy Motorsports Ranch’s road course, but as Road and Track pointed out, for the extra $40,000 you’d have to spend on it, it had better be faster than the less expensive ZL1. In the end, even though the GT-R is more of a track monster, the Road & Track crew unanimously deemed the ZL1 to be the superior daily driver. That’s not a bad thing; let’s not forget that the ZL1 would be a 580 horsepower daily driver that can rip off high 11’s in the right hands. Yeah, we’ll take that kind of daily driver, and pocket that extra $40,000 we saved by not getting the GT-R.
[4]