West Coast smiles
“This car will bring a smile to your face when ever you put the top down… or hit the accelerator.” Okay, these are the words of a guy who is far from impartial, coming from Al Oppenheiser, head engineer for the Chevrolet Camaro production. And he’s talking about the new Camaro ZL1 Cabrio to be shown for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show (from the 16th to 27th of November). But Oppenheiser’s statement seems to fit when we take a look at the technical data for the most powerful convertible in Chevrolet’s history.
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- 588 horsepower and 754 Nm of torque are at the disposal of the driver of a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Cabrio, coming from a compressor V8 power plant which is even more potent when installed in the Corvette ZR1.
Heading for the Nordschleife
588 horsepower and 754 Nm of torque are at the disposal of the driver of a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Cabrio, coming from a compressor V8 power plant which is even more potent when installed in the Corvette ZR1. In the coupé the engine… positioned at the front and sending its power to the rear wheels via a manual six-speed gearbox… has proven itself admirably. On the Nordschleife the closed version of the ZL1 achieved a very impressive 7:41.27 lap time. The convertible will be almost as quick, given that the target of the development team was to build a convertible with enough rigidity for very agile and very fast motoring.
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- The convertible is meant to be almost as fast as the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Coupé, given that the target of the development team was to build a convertible with enough rigidity for very agile and very fast motoring.
Checked and connected
As for the driving dynamics… in this case the third generation of ‘Magnetic Ride’ technology comes to support the damping. All four wheels are given shock absorbers which monitor the road surface a thousand times each second and adjust the damping accordingly. This enables the Camaro ZL1 Cabrio to respond almost instantly to changes in the road characteristics. The ‘Magnetic Ride’ suspension feature is also a component of the ‘Performance Traction Management’ system which interconnects the damper controls, the launch control and the traction and electronic stability control and thus ensure that such a powerful automobile remains relatively easy to handle. Chevrolet is so enthusiastic about the advantages of this interconnectivity that in their press material they heave the ZL1 Cabrio up to the same level as pedigree super sports cars like the Porsche 911 Turbo S, Mercedes SL 63 AMG or Aston Martin DB9 Volante.
There is no false modesty at Chevrolet who thus display an entirely typical American self-confidence. And so we shall just have to wait until the end of 2012 when the Camaro ZL1 Cabrio is due to go on sale and we have the chance of checking out whether the predictions of the car’s builder still ring true.
