Today’s installment of “minor yet awesome news” comes to us via Chevrolet. As it turns out, the 2017 Chevy Camaro ZL1 actually makes 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque—10 more of each than originally anticipated.
The good word comes to use via a leaked 2017 Camaro order guide that surfaced this weekend on the Camaro6.com forum. Hidden deep within the option package breakdowns and the nigh-on-endless list of order codes lay a sweet nugget of truth sure to warm the cockles of any Camaro fanboy: “Engine, 6.2L supercharged V8 (650 hp [485 kW], 650 lb-ft torque [881N-m].” The missing right parenthesis, presumably, left off by a GM middle-manager too excited about the additional power to remember to close the phrase.
General Motors previously announced the 2017 Camaro ZL1’s supercharged 6.2-liter V8 would crank out 640 hp and 640 lb.-ft. of torque—the same number of ponies as (and 10 more torques than) the Cadillac CTS-V, but slightly less power than the Corvette Z06 it will share a showroom with.This latest bit of engine output information, however, means the full-bore Camaro and Corvette alike will both make identical figures from their shared eight-pot.
The news isn’t entirely unexpected; Chevrolet had previously mentioned that the Camaro ZL1’s engine output was preliminary, and subject to change before the car’s launch.
Granted, considering the Camaro ZL1’s prodigious output, this bump works out to roughly a 1.56 percent increase in horsepower and torque. For all intents and purposes, a 640-hp Camaro ZL1 would likely be every bit as fast as an otherwise-identical 650-hp ‘Maro, so the change makes effectively zero practical difference. But we’d be lying if we said our inner Tim Taylor didn’t make an animalistic grunt at the news.
(Also, if you’re curious to see if you can snuff out any other news in the 100-page 2017 Camaro order guide, you can download the entire thing here.)