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Jay Leno owns a few 5th Gens, and we weren’t surprised to find out that most of them have a V8 under the hood. But there is one glaring exception; this V6 Camaro that was unveiled at the 2009 SEMA show. This project is the product of collaboration between GM and Leno, on what he believed the next generation of Z/28 should be like. At the unveiling of the car in 2009 Leno said, “In light of the economic situation, and the green-situation, and the Middle-East fuel situation, we wanted to go a little bit different on the drivetrain. Not radical, not crazy…I think that everyone sort of expects us to have the big 425 horsepower motor, and that’s a great motor. But, this car doesn’t have it.”
It may be “just” a V6, but twin Turbonetics T3 Turbos only pushing around 7 PSI of boost effortlessly bump the V6’s output to the level of the stock LS3. To handle the additional power, the Camaro has an upgraded Centerforce clutch, and a Be-Cool radiator helps get rid of the extra heat. The car seems to have the same Brembo six-piston brake as the ZL1, and rides on 21-inch BBS forged wheels.
You’ll also observe that Leno’s V6 certainly doesn’t look like any stock LT or LS model 5th Gen. The vents on the hood are functional heat extractors for the turbos, and the slits behind the doors are functional air inlets for brake cooling ducts. At the back of the car, you can also see that the Leno V6 has a very different exhaust outlet and diffuser from the stock Camaros.
At the unveiling of the car in 2009, Leno also made a prediction of the Camaro’s future, saying, “I think that this will be the hot set up in the Camaro of the future. I think this will be what the Z/28 will be. It’s lighter, it’s got more horsepower, and it’s not a V8… I think if I was the head of GM, I would make this the new Z/28… We Americans, as much as we like our V8’s we kinda have to get out of that mindset that there’s only one way to do a muscle car.”
