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Throttle House puts the 2020 GT500, Camaro ZL1 and Challenger Hellcat Redeye on the track

Hack

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I see it as the tester's responsibility for the equipment to be fresh if they are going to present the information that way.

Since the testers explained that the tires were worn on the GT500, I think they did their job. Basically they decided it wasn't worth replacing tires to get the most accurate possible test of the cars' capabilities versus each other.

What this says to me is that the goal of the test is entertainment, not an absolute measure of which car is better. And we all realize that car reviews are almost always more about entertaining than about perfect objectivity or accuracy. The cars are so close that in an amateur's hands lap times are more of a driver's race than anything else.

To me perfect objectivity and lap times down to the tenth of a second are not that important (other than for bragging rights). People are going to have to drive the cars and decide for themselves what they want. Tests/reviews like this are a data point, nothing more.

Sometimes car reviewers love a car and I drive it and think they must be insane. We all have different tastes in what we like.
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crimson_crowd_eater

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Overall, good video. However, I wish that they had the same base model for the GT500 as they did for the ZL1 in the drag race. I've seen a bunch of drag racing videos between the two and the GT500 has never lost. Also, they made it clear that with fresh tires, the GT500 would've smacked the ZL1 1LE on the track, and I wish they would've had fresh ones.
Other than that it was a pretty good and fair comparison.
 

mdmoore23

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I love the times that we're in and as a ZL1 owner, it's good to see those bad boys still able to hang in the pony car wars. I really hope GM keeps the Camaro going, because you really do get a phenomenal vehicle for the money. I also love the niche that the Hellcats operate in, just big, bold, and don't care. The GT500 is also cool, but trying to navigate adm is always a hindrance in average buyers accessing those. But these tests make it easy to see why the Corvette is going mid engine. It seems we are at the very limit of what the pony cars can do without their costs going astronomical to get their weights down. Good to see solid offerings all around though.
 

mdmoore23

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Overall, good video. However, I wish that they had the same base model for the GT500 as they did for the ZL1 in the drag race. I've seen a bunch of drag racing videos between the two and the GT500 has never lost. Also, they made it clear that with fresh tires, the GT500 would've smacked the ZL1 1LE on the track, and I wish they would've had fresh ones.
Other than that it was a pretty good and fair comparison.
It seems the GT500 mainly lost because of the launch control delay.
 

Epiphany

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WTF is this shit?

zzz wtf Capture.JPG
 

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millhouse

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James from Throttle House just chimed in on the C6G version of this thread. I thought about copying and pasting his response here, but I think that is questionable etiquette. I’ll let him come over and say it directly. TLDR.,..He said Ford gave it to them with worn tires and that they were extremely disappointed in that. I stand by post #54.
While you're over there, do you wan't to ask them why they used a standard ZL1 for the drag race?

They are using a GT500 with a CFTP with all of it's massive aero.

I'm sorry, this is complete BS.
 

Big Boss

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Gotta disagree here. They did everything they did to all of these cars on the tires they rolled in the door with. It was on Ford to provide them with fresh tires rolling in the door. And if they did provide fresh tires at start of test and the tires were that degraded by the time they did the track test, then that says a lot (not good) about what owners can expect from the special compound formula for the GT500 Cup 2s. If you can wear them low on the drive to the track to the point where you can’t get 100% out of them on the track, that would suck.

The other two (three counting the base ZL1) came in on tires of undisclosed condition. Did the owners put new tires on before the event? Where those month old tires? Week old? Same tires they came off the lot with? We don’t know. Ford had an opportunity to put their best foot forward and punted the tire fitment. That’s on Ford.
Is that why for certain reviews GM sends a team of engineers? IIRC Wasn't there a review of the C7 Z06 a few years ago and it kept losing power so the GM engineers on hand messed around with it and later had MT retest it because something was off?

Ont he video at hand, I am glad someone else got a RE, ZLE and CFTP together and tested them. Results were close to what I expected. Seems like that 1 second delay on the 500 is a killer. Had the driver known about it(it was mentioned they didn't) I think the 500 might have won the drag race.

I think the fact a 4K pound Mustang can hang with a ZLE (or beat it on fresh tires) is impressive but that price tag...ouch
 

Classic Lover

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Overall, good video. However, I wish that they had the same base model for the GT500 as they did for the ZL1 in the drag race. I've seen a bunch of drag racing videos between the two and the GT500 has never lost. Also, they made it clear that with fresh tires, the GT500 would've smacked the ZL1 1LE on the track, and I wish they would've had fresh ones.
Other than that it was a pretty good and fair comparison.
Maybe so but it’s hard to call the race unfair when the Camaro only has 650 HP. Only 650 hp lol hard to believe.
 

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Just so everyone is clear and this is based on new information -

The GT500 was supplied by Ford. It had the 'track' alignment.

The ZLE was supplied by a viewer. It had the 'street' alignment.

Any discussion about the tires should be moot at this point.

The ZLE was short 110hp, No DCT and no CF wheels. The Alpha chassis + ZLE specific kinematics won the game here.

Before anyone starts questioning the Throttle House team, they also had Jason Camissa and Randy Pobst on hand to ensure everything was fair and balanced.

Camissa as we know is a huge GT500 fan and is usually picky as hell about everything being on point.
 

newmoon

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While you're over there, do you wan't to ask them why they used a standard ZL1 for the drag race?

They are using a GT500 with a CFTP with all of it's massive aero.

I'm sorry, this is complete BS.
My guess is because the Camaro6 crowd has been crying that the Zl1-A10 (non-1LE) car is the faster in the 1/4 than the 1LE option. Which is right as it is the better car! This being said poor showing for the GT500 in the track, drag, and roll racing comparisons, whether that is on the car, the tires, or the driver, maybe all the above, it still wasn't very impressive.
 

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Wolfe

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I always think these guys videos are fun and I'm glad to see the Jason + Randy combo back for these Head to Heads.

Aside from the track times, I think these results were pretty much expected? They never claimed to be using any of the results of these tests as a final verdict and 3 of the 4 chose the GT500. We can argue all day about who "should've" been responsible for providing tires on the GT500 but every single person acknowledged this in regards to the results, before & after. We've already seen the car run better times from some of the other media outlets. Randy, himself, already got a track time for the GT500 within tenths of a second or so of the GT3RS which he admitted to being like "the" benchmark for track performance so even he knows how capable the car is. He's completely valid to have his personal preference in choosing between the two.

Is it that hard to appreciate the excellence we have on display by all the vehicles featured here?
 

Rodan

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It's becoming clear that you can throw a blanket over the ZL1 (/1LE) and GT500 (/CFTP) in just about any contest other than high speed roll racing or on a prepped dragstrip. It's gonna come down to the driver, or the tires, the alignment, or some other miniscule variable that will put one car or the other ahead by a few tenths, and the forums will argue about the "advantages" 'till hell freezes over.

It's an amazing level of performance for a factory stock Mustang or Camaro. One thing is obvious though... you do get a lot more for your money with the ZL1.
 

ALUSA

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While you're over there, do you wan't to ask them why they used a standard ZL1 for the drag race?

They are using a GT500 with a CFTP with all of it's massive aero.

I'm sorry, this is complete BS.
Man you gotta chill. It’s not just this review. CarandDriver tested both cars on track and they said the ZL1 1LE is the better car for track, Edmunds did lap times comparison on a small autocross setup and ZL1 1LE put better times. Now this comparo. You are not going to be happy unless the GT500 CFTP gets at least one win against the camaro. We get that. Now. Let’s go back to you calling the GT500 a failure since even the CFTP version couldn’t beat the ZL1 1LE!
 

Checkmate

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While you're over there, do you wan't to ask them why they used a standard ZL1 for the drag race?

They are using a GT500 with a CFTP with all of it's massive aero.

I'm sorry, this is complete BS.
They did it right. The base ZL1 has Mag ride and they wanted to test it against the GT500 which also has Mag ride.

The ZL1 1LE on the other hand is engineered as a track day weapon.....just like the GT500 CFTP.

At some point, let's all agree the Alpha chassis of the Camaro is amazing for what it is. GM has done a terrible job marketing this product.

We all forget the ZL1 1LE (Manual) did 7:16 at the Nurburgring. Think about what a feat that is.
 

Bangarang

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I’m tired of the more for your money argument. The Camaro is obviously not a good deal for your money because they’re awkward looking and exterior/interior design fails. They can’t give them away
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