If you live your life a quarter-mile at a time, Chevrolet would like 10 seconds of your time. To be unveiled at SEMA this week, the latest COPO Camaro is aimed at NHRA’s Stock Eliminator class. If you aren’t familiar with the program, Chevrolet offers turn-key race cars loaded with potent drag racing components. Although COPO cars are not street legal, they take the heartache out of cutting up a daily driver in order to go racing.
But unlike the 5th generation Camaro, a new Drag Race Development Program was tested alongside the race cars to validate potential upgrades for production cars. The development car was camouflaged and loaded with the beefy axles and differential of the Gen 5 ZL1. A 3.73 gear and 4,200 rpm torque converter make quick use of the 8-speed automatic transmission and probably sent fuel mileage into single digit territory.
The menacing car was given the name “Grave Digger” because it proved to be indestructible, even after 100 passes. After the computer was tuned for high RPM launches, the car passed the 60′ mark at 1.45 seconds. On the top end it went 10.68 @ 125.7 mph, powered by a modified version of the 6.2 liter LT1. A hotter cam shaft and ported heads allow the naturally aspirated engine to make 530 hp on pump gas. Purely a concept at this point, we hope the parts become available for order in the near future.
Beside Grave Digger will be 2017 COPO Camaro #01. Like the previous cars in 2012, each car will arrive with a solid 12 bolt rear axle, coil over suspension, Weld racing wheels, manual steering, and a TH400 automatic transmission. The first car is finished in an anodized version of Hyper Blue Metallic, which is guaranteed to make quite a scene at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Only 69 examples will be produced, so we hope Gas Monkey Garage doesn’t buy them all in order to corner the market. We’re heading to SEMA tomorrow, so stay with us for complete coverage.
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