View Poll Results: Which one do you like/want ?

2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL`1

51.72%

2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

37.93%

I don't like either one...4 those $'s I'd get a (I will post it)

10.34%

Voters: 29. You may not vote on this poll

= The Competition for the Camaro ZL`1 ? =

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05-24-2012, 04:23 AM

Space

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Join Date: Jul 2008

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= The Competition for the Camaro ZL`1 ? =

The Competition for the Camaro ZL`1 ?
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First Drive Review

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<HGROUP>2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

No trust fund required for this blue-collar, 200-mph monster.

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May 2012
BY SAM SMITH

Voltaire once wrote, “The superfluous, a very necessary thing.” What, then, should we make of a warranty-equipped Ford Mustang with 662 hp and a claimed 200-mph top speed? Is there a deeper philosophical argument to be made about the necessity of a live-axle production car with more power than an overclocked supercollider? Does the vehicle in question—the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500—teach us about the nature of right and wrong, indulgence and restraint?
Perhaps. But mostly, it just hauls mind-bending ***. Be a good, excess-loving American, and don’t overthink it.
With a car like this, you inevitably focus on the numbers. The $54,995 GT500 coupe will likely turn in a 0-to-60 sprint of 3.7 seconds. Ferociously tall gearing means third gear is good for 140 mph and first gear is long enough to reach highway speeds. Even so, the quarter-mile should pass in 11.7 seconds. Slam a redline shift from second to third, and you’ll hear the rear tires chirp.
A college professor of mine once used the words “big juice” to describe America’s above-ground nuclear tests in the 1940s, the ones that vaporized entire Pacific atolls. I will now borrow the phrase: This car is big juice.
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Heart of the Matter
The GT500 was developed by Ford’s SVT division, the same loon lab responsible for the Ford GT and F-150 SVT Raptor. Like a lot of SVT products, it seems dominated by its engine. The 5.8-liter, supercharged V-8 with 631 lb-ft underhood is a punched-out version of the aluminum-block 5.4 used in the 2011–12 GT500, which was itself essentially a wet-sump evolution of the V-8 used in the GT. The previous engine’s massive 105.8-mm stroke remains, but the cylinder bore balloons from 90.2 mm to 93.5 mm. (Ford claims the block is now at its limit and can be stretched no larger.) The compression ratio rises from 8.4:1 to 9.0. Like its predecessor, the 5.8 uses plasma-transferred wire-arc bore coatings and billet main-bearing caps, but it also gets a larger oil pump, an aluminum sump, piston oil squirters, and additional coolant passages. The Eaton supercharger in the engine’s valley displaces 2.3 liters, spins faster than the last GT500’s blower, cranks out 14.0 psi at maximum boost (up from 9.0), and takes more horsepower to operate than is produced by the current Ford Fiesta. It looks big enough to inhale a small dog.
SVT chief engineer Jamal Hameedi says the 2013 program “started with an engine and then bled over to touch every part of the car.” Staring at the new car’s gaping front air intake—there is no real radiator grille, just a maw the size of Kansas that lets you reach in and molest a couple of heat exchangers—we find it hard to doubt him. (Question for future ’13 GT500 owners: How expensive is a bird strike on this thing? The intake looks capable of hoovering 100 pigeons.)
According to Hameedi, the GT500’s development team focused on three bogies: 650 hp, 600 lb-ft, and 200 mph. The production car bests the engine targets, but the added grunt required a host of driveline upgrades, and the 200-mph figure necessitated a heap of added cooling capacity. Twin fuel pumps (a Mustang GT’s single supply pump, twice over), larger fuel injectors, a grippier and larger-diameter clutch, a larger fan, a three-row intercooler (the previous car used a double-row unit), a beefed-up Tremec 6060 six-speed with an internal oil pump, and a single-piece carbon-fiber driveshaft come along for the ride. The carbon shaft is lighter and stronger than its two-piece steel forebear, but chiefly, it doesn’t use a center support bearing, cutting frictional losses. It also doesn’t go into resonance between 150 and 200 mph like the old unit. Larger Brembo front disc brakes with six-piston calipers, reinforced axle tubes, and countless tiny aero tweaks round things out for the base GT500.
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There is, unsurprisingly, more. The optional Performance package adds adjustable dampers and a Torsen limited-slip rear differential. Ordering the Performance package allows a buyer to select the Track package, which is aimed at road-course work and brings a transmission cooler, a nose-mounted differential cooler for the Torsen limited-slip unit, and an air-to-oil engine-oil cooler (the previous car used a water-to-oil unit). If you ask nicely, Ford will send out a technician to sit in the passenger seat, compliment your girlish figure, and mist lavender water on your face every time you try for Vmax.
Fine, I made that last one up. But the point is that if you want to make a blown Mustang pound out 662 ponies and hit two bills while carrying a warranty, the answer is apparently to build a heat exchanger on wheels with bigger everything. Then you throw more radiator at it. Possibly more after that.
The rest of the car is essentially a much-massaged 2012 GT500. The base cars get a larger front anti-roll bar and retuned springs. An rpm-adjustable electronic launch-control function is standard, as is four-mode electronic stability control. Continued...

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PHOTOS (76)

Last edited by Space; 05-24-2012 at 05:08 AM.

05-24-2012, 04:25 AM

Space

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Whose going to be the KING OF the Hill ?

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Specifications>

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe

BASE PRICE: $54,995 <~

ENGINE TYPE: supercharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection

Displacement: 355 cu in, 5812 cc
Power: 662 hp @ 6500 rpm
Torque: 631 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 107.1 in
Length: 188.2 in
Width: 73.9 in Height: 54.8 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 3850 lb

PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 3.7 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.7 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 11.7 sec
Top speed: 202 mph
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 15/24 mpg

05-24-2012, 04:30 AM

Space

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One-Off Shelby GT500 Created for Charity Auction

<SMALL>May 23, 2012 at 5:04pm by Sam Schembari</SMALL>

On September 22, the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan will auction a one-off 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 at the “Get Your Heart Racing” fundraiser at Ford’s Dearborn test track. This unique Shelby will feature a white exterior, contrasting white graphics, white 20-inch wheels, and white-leather Recaro seats with contrasting black stitching. Beneath the skin-deep changes, the one-off keeps all the 662-hp goodness that makes the GT500 the beast that it is.
This GT500 was designed by Melvin Betancourt, a designer at Ford. Betancourt was a patient at Henry Ford Hospital and whipped up the auction car’s design as a thank-you gift. At last year’s event, a Boss 302 was auctioned for $300,000. All proceeds go to the Edith and Benson Ford Heart & Vascular Institute at Henry Ford Health System. For information on how you can get your hands on this one-of-a-kind Shelby and benefit the Henry Ford Health System, click here.
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05-24-2012, 05:10 AM

Space

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Instrumented Test
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<HGROUP>2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Chevy's most powerful Camaro ever brandishes more than just a big engine.

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January 2012
BY MICHAEL AUSTIN
MULTIPLE PHOTOGRAPHERS

ROY RITCHIE AND
THE MANUFACTURER

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Midway down the main straight at Inde Motorsports Ranch outside Tucson, Arizona, the shift lights on the head-up display flash. At 106 mph, we grab fourth gear, and another wave of ferocious acceleration propels the car forward. We graze 130 mph before hitting the brakes and downshifting for Turn Three, a fast right-hand sweeper that puts the coupe’s stability—and our own intestinal fortitude—to the test. As soon as we get back on the throttle and glance at the windshield-projected speed, we’re already doing 110.
The car in this scenario is the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, the long-rumored, much-hyped Killer Camaro. It features GM’s second-most-powerful engine: With 580 horsepower, it’s behind only the truly absurd, 638-hp Corvette ZR1. No surprise that during its development it was known simply as the “HP.” And it carries the most sophisticated adjustable dampers and stability-control system any amount of money can buy. For this, GM asks a base price of $56,295, which includes a $1300 gas-guzzler tax; all the go-fast parts are standard issue.
The ZL1 is not your old-school, all-ate-up-with-motor muscle car, although its name derives from such a vehicle. It is built with the GM Performance Division mantra of “go, stop, and turn” in mind. Track ability was always part of the HP program from back when everyone assumed the car would be called the Z28. But highlighting that point is more important now that Ford stole GM’s big, SAE-net thunder by announcing the 650-hp 2013 Shelby GT500. Having already placed second in the realm of public perception and internet-forum keyboard racing, the ZL1 needs to be about more than just straight-line speed.

Which is not to say the ZL1 neglects single-vector velocity. Top speed is a claimed 180 mph with the manual transmission. With 580 horsepower and 556 pound-feet of torque from the supercharged 6.2-liter LSA V-8, eye-popping acceleration is also a given despite the ZL1’s hefty 4120-pound curb weight. The engine is carried over from the CTS-V, with a two-stage exhaust system borrowed from the Corvette and a revised intake responsible for the extra 24 horsepower. Two bits of technology aid in the quarter-mile fight: “No-lift shift” allows you to crack off upshifts without easing off the gas, and launch control manages wheelspin and helps 0-to-60 consistency (although we were able to beat the system after a few attempts). Get everything right, and the ZL1 hits 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and passes 1320 feet in 12.3 seconds at 119 mph—or better, as the cold and dusty track at Inde was less than ideal for acceleration runs. Few cars costing less than $60,000 can claim such feats. And the ZL1 sounds angry, with a throaty bass-boat rumble backed by a faint supercharger whine. The V-8 fires up with a roar, and the exhaust crackles when you back out of full throttle.
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Thirty percent of the parts in the ZL1 are new or reengineered, says Camaro chief engineer Al Oppenheiser. New, third-generation magnetorheological shocks [see below] control the 20-inch forged-aluminum wheels and Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar G: 2 tires (which together save 22 pounds of unsprung weight versus the Camaro SS). A strut-tower brace spans the engine bay, and the rear anti-roll bar is attached to the suspension farther outboard (a change folded back into the 2012 SS). The brakes use the same calipers as the CTS-V but have two-piece rotors that perform slightly better, though they’re a bit noisier than the twin-cast discs in the Cadillac.
Unlike the rest of the Camaro lineup, the ZL1 has electrically assisted power steering (EPS). The unit found here can differentiate between forces on the front wheels and those coming from the helm, and it accordingly stifles any kickback. We suspect the EPS system also dampens some steering feel, but we drove a Camaro SS around the track shortly before sampling the ZL1; had we not been told about the electric boost, it would be hard to tell the difference.
Starker is the transformation of the ZL1’s handling characteristics from those of a stock SS. In the latter, the driver is always fighting the car—it understeers on turn-in and oversteers on corner exit, all served up with a healthy dollop of body roll. The ZL1 does exactly what you want all the time, with no surprises. Front grip is tenacious enough that you actually get a sense of the tires biting in as you turn the wheel. Power comes in so creamily and with such linearity that it’s easy to forget you’re driving a 580-hp car. The brake pedal feels solid but still offers enough travel for smooth application, and it shows no fade. The ZL1 goes around the track with a composure that would shock many BMW M3 fans. Our only complaint is that the seat, adequate in the SS, lacks the lateral support to cope with the ZL1’s higher limits. We saw 0.98 g on a dusty skidpad (did we mention Tucson is in the desert?). This is supercar territory. Continued...

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05-24-2012, 05:13 AM

Space

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Test Sheet

Specifications >

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe

PRICE AS TESTED: $56,795 (base price: $56,295)

ENGINE TYPE: supercharged and intercooled V-8, aluminum block and heads

Displacement: 376 cu in, 6162 cc
Power: 580 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 556 lb-ft @ 4200 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 112.3 in
Length: 190.4 in
Width: 75.5 in Height: 54.2 in
Curb weight: 4120 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.1 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.9 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 14.7 sec
Street start, 5–60 mph: 4.6 sec
Top gear, 30–50 mph: 7.8 sec
Top gear, 50–70 mph: 6.7 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.3 sec @ 119 mph
Top speed (drag ltd, mfr's claim): 180 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 165 ft
Roadholding, 250-ft-dia skidpad: 0.98 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 14/16 mpg
C/D observed: 13 mpg Power cost $'s 4-Sure