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How confident is Chevrolet that the Camaro SS can withstand the worst punishment its owners can dish out? The car maker is so bullish on their V8-powered muscle car’s capabilities, it will happily pick up the tab if any mechanical malfunctions arise while running hot laps around a track.
That’s direct from Camaro chief engineer Al Oppenheimer, who handed the word down to Motor Authority at the 2016 New York Auto Show. “[If] you take your production car to a track day and you have an issue with one of your parts, it’s covered under warranty,” Oppenheimer told the website.
Chevrolet has covered track-related malfunctions on the Camaro in the past, but in previous-generation vehicles, it only did so on the ZL1 and Z/28 models. As of 2016, though, Oppenheimer says the generous umbrella of track-day GM warranty coverage extends over every model from the SS on up. For now, that includes the SS, the ZL1, and the 1LE. (Interestingly enough, the 1LE is covered in both V6 and V8 forms.)
There is, of course, the usual caveat: Any Camaros that have been modified by their owners aren’t eligible. “We know when somebody changes their ECM calibration and we know if they changed to a cold-air intake, we can tell all that,” Oppenheimer said. “But driving it as you break it in from the dealership, if you have a half-shaft or whatever, it’s covered.”
GM is able to offer the warranty protection on the sixth-generation Camaro SS thanks in large part to the rigorous track-testing program the car was subjected to during its development. The SS, along with the 1LE and ZL1 models, had to suffer through 24 hours of hot laps at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds before it could be certified for public consumption, with only consumables being changed—brake pads, tires, drivers, etc.
The turbo four-cylinder and V6 Camaros were also tested on the track during development, but as they lack the heavy-duty brakes and cooling of the SS, 1LE and ZL1 models, they’re S.O.L. when it comes to track-related warranty coverage. So if you’ve been waffling as to which ‘Maro is indeed more bitchin’, this might be just the news to push you over to Team V8.
