We're in a Barber Motorsports Park garage in Birmingham, Ala., on a brisk morning with pro race-car driver Andy Pilgrim -- along with the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 and Porsche 911 GT3, the latest, road course-focused street cars for 2014. Cadillac Racing pays Pilgrim to pilot a CTS-V coupe in the Pirelli World Challenge series, but today he is our hired gun to give us top-level feedback around the challenging 2.38-mile circuit.
Pilgrim's résumé boasts wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, in addition to numerous Le Mans podium finishes. And while he has bagged five professional sports-car championships, it's his articulate, detailed feedback about a car's behavior at the limit that's more valuable to us on this day.
JOLIET, Ill., March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- As Chicagoland performance-car enthusiasts await the arrival of the track-ready 2015 Chevy Camaro Z/28 at Bill Jacobs Joliet in the coming months, they'll be able to catch a glimpse of the muscle car in action as paces the 2014 Indy 500 on May 25.
While the 2015 Chevy Camaro Z/28 won't be fully unleashed on the track, the man behind the wheel has proven to be more than capable of getting every ounce of performance from a car. Chevy selected three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti to drive the track-ready Camaro. Although Franchitti had his racing career cut short after suffering serious injuries from a crash last October, the automotive world is thrilled to see Franchitti back behind the wheel at the Indy 500.
The 2014 Camaro Z/28 is a lot more than a big engine in a Camaro—it’s a repurposed performance machine with numerous tweaks to call its own. This “Camaro Z06″ (if you will) has a number of aerodynamic mods that help make the it such a stellar vehicle on the track, so Car and Driver interviewed Program Engineering Manager Mark Stielow to discuss how the Z/28′s aerodynamics improve the breed and how it compares with another Camaro with track aspirations, the 1LE.
Chevrolet engineers rocketed the performance of the Zeta-based fifth-generation Camaro to new heights with the hard-core 2014 Camaro Z/28. They bench-marked the car against top tier supercars which cost thousands of dollars more, like the Nissan GT-R and Porsche 911. So far, the Z/28 has proved to be more than a worthy competitor on the racetrack, posting an extremely fast time on Germany’s infamous Nurburgring, but how does it work as a road car and is it faster around Barber Motorsports Park than a GT-R? We find out on this week’s episode of Motor Trend’s Head 2 Head.
Tom Panaseny grew up on Long Island, NY helping his Dad work on the family cars. In 1969, his neighbor drove home in a new 1969 Camaro Indy Pace Car - white with orange stripes and orange interior. Tom thought it was the coolest car he’d ever seen. It made a lasting impression, and started his love of Camaros.
Money was tight in the early ’70s, so Tom’s first cruiser ended up being a tired old ’64 Mustang, beat up from many years enduring NY winters. It did not take long though, before Tom joined his Chevelle and ’Cuda driving friends and built a total performance 1923 T-bucket with blown 350, and “all of the good stuff.” Talk about one extreme to another!
Chevrolet Performance, the high-performance parts division of Chevrolet, has announced that it will increase its contingency payouts to those who race in NHRA-sanctioned events using Chevrolet Performance parts while displaying the brand’s decals.
Says Jim Campbell, General Motors U.S. Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, “Chevrolet has a long history of supporting NHRA drag racers and our 2014 contingency program rewards sportsman and Pro Stock racers for top performances. When you race with Chevrolet Performance parts and display our decals, you are eligible for a contingency payout that can be reinvested in your race team.”
Barber Motorsports Park is providing the backdrop this week as Chevrolet introduces its new Camaro Z/28 to journalists from top auto enthusiast magazines.
About 100 people are visiting Birmingham and the park over a 10-day span, including Chevrolet engineers, as well as writers, photographers and videographers for Motor Trend, Road & Track, Car and Driver, Hot Rod and others.
It did not take long for Bill Panouses to get hooked. The local East Milone, IL paper, a ’68 Camaro, and a test ride were all it took.
Feeling his heart pump wildly as the owner slammed through the gears on the test ride confirmed to Bill that there would be a time when he owned a ’68 Camaro. “It was the ride of my life!” exclaimed Bill.
