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2017 Camaro ZL1 with the Manual Can Hit 60 in 1st Gear

GM continues to offer up little bits of information on the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the most recent being the fact that when equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission, the 6th gen Camaro ZL1 will get to 60 miles an hour in 1st gear – which could lead to a 0-60 time below 4 seconds.

While speaking during the Camaro 50th anniversary festivities this past weekend, Camaro chief engineer Al Oppenheiser stated that the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with the 6-speed manual transmission will be able to accelerate from a stop up to 60 miles an hour in first gear. While that might seem like an unusual fact for someone who isn’t into high performance vehicles – anyone who has done any stoplight racing knows how significant it will be to get to 60 in first gear.

2017 Camaro ZL1 6-Speed – 60 in 1st
When launching almost any high performance car and dashing to 60 miles per hour as part of a normal test procedure, you almost always have to shift from 1st to 2nd gear. That shift – even when lightning quick – causes the vehicle to slow down a bit and that causes the 0-60 time to grow. It was recently announced that the 2017 Camaro ZL1 with the 10-speed automatic transmission will blast from 0-60 in just 3.5 seconds, but we can expect that the supercharged Chevy muscle car with the manual transmission will be a bit harder to launch and a bit slower. However, with the news that the Camaro ZL1 with the 6-speed transmission will hit 60 miles an hour without a shift, there is a chance that a well driven stick-shift car will run very close to the ZL1 with the new 10-speed automatic.

I would imagine that the 2017 Camaro ZL1 with the manual transmission will not hit 60 from a stop as quickly as the automatic transmission models, as they would have stated that when they announced that the 10-speed models could get to 60 in just 3.5 seconds.
Realistically, if GM’s internal testing found that the manual transmission Camaro ZL1 would routinely get from a stop to 60 in under 4 seconds, they would have announced that at the same time that they announced that it would get to 60 in under 4 seconds, but I would expect that the real world 0-60 of this new Camaro ZL1 with a manual transmission will be very close to that 3-second range.

The challenge in moving out from 0-60 in under 4 seconds with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be expertly letting the clutch out at launch quickly enough to get moving in a major hurry, but gently enough that you don’t just turn the rear tires to smoke. Someone with a great deal of launching a manual transmission car or someone with sticky aftermarket tires could stand a good chance of running up to 60 miles an hour in under 4 seconds without any concern of time lost during the shift – making it the quickest manual transmission muscle car from 0-60 ever.

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Comments

Ted Hoo (not verified)    August 23, 2016 - 12:01PM

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Back in the old days a 1968 Z/28 could hit 60 miles per hour in first gear with a 4.10 rear at 7,500 rpm. If you had a stock 3.73 rear it could do 70 miles per hour at 7,500 rpm in first gear. The best part about owning Z/28s then was that you could hit 145 miles per hour with 4.10 gears and 157miles per hour with stock 3.73 gears at about 7,500 rpm. With correct tuning and 41 to 42 degrees of advance with Sunoco 103 octane gas these engines could easily rev to 8,500 rpm. I ought to know. I spent 10 days in jail doing it.