By Zach Bowman, Autoblog.com - International man of mystery Chris Harris recently abandoned his duties in the UK for a trip to America. Why? Because of two very important pieces of machinery: the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500. Harris took charge of both cars in Manhattan to evaluate their on-road manners before heading to the track for a little showdown. What did he find? On the street, the Camaro is actually easier to live with than its Ford rival thanks to a more comfortable seating position, friendly clutch and easy torque curve.
And on the track? The ZL1 took top honors there, as well, beating the GT500 around Monticello by a full two seconds even though it has less power. Despite all this, Harris says if he had to choose one to be his very own. It would be a set of Ford keys in his pocket. The hoon of hoons says that in this world, bad is good, and the Mustang is properly scary, where the Camaro is simply too drivable.
By Jonathon Ramsey, Autoblog - Inside Line took the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, together, on a field trip: to Westminster, California where they were both tested on the same dyno at MD Automotive, run by the same operator on the same day. In case any memories need refreshing, the specs run thusly: the ZL1 has a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 belting out 580 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 556 pound-feet of torque at 4,200 rpm, for a 0-60 (96 km/h) time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 296 km/h (184 mph). The Shelby GT500 rocks up with a supercharged 5.8-litre boasting 662 hp and 631 lb-ft, for a 0-60 (96 km/h) time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed in excess of 320 km/h (200 mph). Both get the power down via six-speed manual transmissions.
All things being equal, the dyno returns should have them split by something like 82 hp and 75 lb-ft. But good luck with equality, at least on this day: the Camaro charted 497 hp and 497 lb-ft, the kind of 15 per cent drop you might expect due to driveline losses, and just 11 per cent of its torque sapped.
The GT500 would have none of it, charting 603 hp and 497 lb-ft. It gives up less than 10-per cent of its hp, leaving an on-the-road gap of 105-hp to the ZL1, and even though it loses more torque percentage-wise, it comes out even with its rival on the (dyno) road.
This latest info gives a new round of ammo to the armchair testers until the comparos start rolling in. But as numerous folks have commented on the dyno tests, what's really important is this: this is a great time to be a muscle car enthusiast.
By Zach Bowman, Autoblog.com - International man of mystery Chris Harris recently abandoned his duties in the UK for a trip to America. Why? Because of two very important pieces of machinery: the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500. Harris took charge of both cars in Manhattan to evaluate their on-road manners before heading to the track for a little showdown. What did he find? On the street, the Camaro is actually easier to live with than its Ford rival thanks to a more comfortable seating position, friendly clutch and easy torque curve.
