Could this be the most American race? Think about it – it is illegal, it happened on public roads and two fascinating V8 engined cars were put against each other. Welcome the Ford Shelby GT350 racing the Chevrolet Camaro SS. Obviously, the Ford should be a winner here as it has a more powerful engine, much better power to weight ration and it is, more or less, a muscle car track weapon of sorts.
On the other hand, the Camaro SS is a proper muscle car. It had its engine borrowed from the Corvette. The power sits at 455hp and 6.2 liters of capacity is better than 5,2 liters you can find in the GT350. What is interesting, on the other hand, is that the 5,2-liter flat plane crank V8 in the Ford develops far more power. It is rated at more than 520hp which should give the Pony car an edge in this race. However, the Camaro SS has a nicer (and faster) eight-speed automatic transmission, while the Ford is stuck with “driver favourite” six-speed manual.
Despite the power premium and less weight, it seems that the Ford has a lot of problems keeping up with the Camaro SS. The owner of the Camaro SS said its car is not tuned or modified in any way. It is bare stock. Considering that the SS costs a lot less than the GT350, it is quite surprising to see these results. True, in a proper race on the track, the Camaro SS would not have any chance against the high-end track machine GT350 actually can be.
We cannot wait to see what the Z/28 will bring to the streets. More than 600hp? Better suspension? Far more advanced driving characteristics? Sure it will. It could, potentially, attack the Hellcat.
