GM Records 7:41 Camaro ZL1 Nuerburgring Lap Time

General Motors took one of its new ZL1 Camaros to the Nuerburgring and put in a stunner of a lap. The 7:41.27 lap time around the 20.8km version of the course puts the car in the same range as a 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo S. The lap was driven by Camaro Performance Engineer Aaron Link. 

As we have already reported the Camaro ZL1 is basically a detuned Corvette ZR1. It gets the same supercharged 6.2 liter V8 making 580hp. It also gets the ZL1's transmission, suspension and traction control system. 

Its familial competition is still much faster though. Chevrolet tested the 2012 Corvette Z06 at 7:22.68 and did a 7:19.63 in the 2012 Corvette ZR1.

What is the value in Nuerburgring lap times? During the previous season of the British car show Top Gear, host James May said that development on the Nuerburgring ruins cars. He feels that it makes cars too stiffly sprung and that engineers ignore everything else to maximize times. 

May might be right but maybe for the wrong reasons. The problem with lap times around the course is that they often do not tell us much about the car, but tell us loads about the driver. If you really start watching videos of people lapping the Nuerburgring, you will see people driving Golfs and Clios passing M3s and Maseratis all day long. 

These times allow for a chance of comparison among high performance cars, but a low lap time does not necessarily indicate a great car.