Motor Trend’s Jonny Lieberman wasn’t the only person astonished that we’d finally reached an age where a Camaro would ever go toe-to-toe with a Nissan GT-R. If you told us that a year ago, we would’ve called the statement crazy.
But, yes, it’s true.
On March 26, Motor Trend published their 52nd episode of “Head 2 Head,” pitting the famed monster, the Track Edition 2014 Nissan GT-R, against the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. The Z/28, Chevy’s newest beast, garnered some criticism when it debuted last year, mainly for its cost. People were outraged at its $75,000 asking price.
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But, keep in mind, the Z/28 houses one of the greatest hand-built engines ever made: the 7.0 liter OHV LS7 from the C6 Z06. In addition to that, this Camaro makes very good use of 14-inch front and rear carbon ceramic Brembos. The car is shoed with ultra-sticky 305/30ZR-19 Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R’s, reducing understeer to something a little more than a fleeting thought.
But even so, the Camaro still has the pure numbers stacked against it. Sending 505-horsepower to the rear wheels from a 6-speed manual, it shouldn’t seem like a fair opponent of the 545-horse, twin-clutch, all-wheel-drive GT-R. But it is. Oh, yes, it is. The joy is simply too great to contain here, can’t you tell?
We won’t say more – that’s Jonny Lieberman’s and professional driver Randy Pobst’s turf – but we’re sure we might have already made it pretty obvious which car won.
Special thanks to Jonny Lieberman, Randy Pobst, Corey Ulrich, Anthony Esposito, Kenneth Thompson, Mark Lenardon and the Motor Trend crew for making this happen.
(Source: Motor Trend / YouTube)