It’s amazing at just how fast some of the factory cars have become. What’s even crazier is the amount of power you can get out of the sixth-gen Camaro with just heads and cam swap. Brandon Hill just set the naturally-aspirated (N/A) stock bottom end (SBE) sixth-gen Camaro record with a blistering 1/4-mile time of 9.44 at 142 MPH.
Brandon’s 2017 Chevy Camaro SS was built and tuned by Ryan Stevens of Gwatney Performance Innovations (GPI) out of Jacksonville, Arkansas. This stock bottom end Gen V LT1 6.2-liter is equipped with a set of CID heads with some additional work from the late great Jim Kuntz from Kuntz and Company Racing Engines. Armed with a GPI hydraulic cam on Cam Motion core, this Camaro means business. Other additions include a Holley Hi-Ram intake manifold and a Katech 103mm throttle body.
The 6.2-liter cranks out an impressive 756 horsepower to the crank. For the fuel system, the crew opted for an LT4 high and low side fuel system using the DSX Tuning aux system on E85.
To get all of that power to the ground, Brandon didn’t change much. The stock 8l90 transmission is still in the car with the addition of a custom torque converter from Circle-D Specialties. We asked more about the Circle-D unit, and he said, “It’s a big one, but we are going to keep that information to ourselves.” He did tell us that the convertor is a 245mm custom triple disc billet converter. Brandon is also using the stock 2.77 gearing and differential.
To get the Camaro to slow down from 142 MPH trap speeds, an Aerospace Components brake kit was used on the front and rear, which also gets rid of a ton of rotating mass. At race weight, the car weighs in a 3,400-pounds with Brandon sitting behind the wheel.
When asked if the Camaro would go faster, Brandon states, “Yes. As the weather continues to get better, the car will go quicker. 5.9s in 1/8th-mile will happen for sure. I’d say low 9.3s or even a high 9.2s is possible. The car has enough power to go 8.9s with some more weight reduction.” Did we mention that this car was driven to the track, still has air conditioning, and raced on a 17-inch wheel?
It is pretty cool to see a sixth-gen Camaro run in deep in the 9-second range. It’s insane to see one that does it with a stock bottom-end, stock transmission, and a head and cam package. Congratulations to GPI, Circle-D, Holley, CamMotion, and Brandon on this killer record.