Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 Testing With, Without Huge Rear Wing

A pair of camouflaged Chevrolet Camaro test cars which we believe are new Z/28 models were recently spotted testing in Virginia and what a test car being seen on the road really isn’t big news – the key fact here is that they were being tested with and without the huge rear wing that we saw in the infamous Z/28 Nürburgring crash video from earlier this year.

Back in May, a video surfaced showing a Chevrolet Camaro test car crashing hard at the Nürburgring in Germany (the video is included at the bottom of this piece). This Camaro, shown in the image above from that video, has an ultra-aggressive front fascia and a large rear wing – one which is far more pronounced than anything we have seen on a production road-going Camaro.

In fact, a rear spoiler like this has never been offered on any production road car from General Motors, but it is similar to the wing seen in the recent videos showing what is believed to be the C7 Corvette ZR1. Part of the story with those ZR1 test cars is that they are being tested with the huge wing, with smaller wings and without anything on the trunk. Based on the images from Jalopnik showing a pair of Camaro Z/28 test cars in Virginia, it appears as though GM is testing the next high performance Camaro with a variety of aero packages as well.

Maybe the Big Wing Won't be Standard
When the first spy shots surfaced showing what is believed to be the 6th generation Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 with a rear spoiler sitting high off of the trunk lid, it generated a tremendous amount of discussion.

Could General Motors really offer up a full production Camaro Z/28 with the same huge rear wing as the car we saw crash at the Nürburgring?

Even among the highest performance road-going American cars, the rear spoilers have been far smaller than what we see on the Camaro Z/28 and because of that, some people doubt that the big wing will make it to production. While those critics have a point, the folks who believe that the 6th gen Camaro Z/28 will have this serious aero bit by stressing the fact that we have now seen this wing tested on the road and on the track.

Would GM really spend this much time testing the wing if they weren’t going to include it in the package? Probably not, and now that pictures have popped up showing a Camaro with similar front end body work but no rear spoiler, I have to wonder if there will be some sort of premium aerodynamic package for the Z/28. In much the same way that Ford has the Shelby GT350 and GT350R, the Camaro could get a Camaro Z/28 without the big rear wing and another package with the big rear wing – and likely some other features like stickier rubber and lighter wheels.

Of course, the other option is that the Camaro will have some sort of detachable rear wing, which will allow the driver to remove it for daily driving and replace it for track time. That would make some sense, with the Camaro being tested on the Nürburgring with the big wing, but without one on the roads of Virginia.

Click here to check out the images at Jalopnik.