Camaro goes nuclear: Chevrolet escalates the muscle car war

We live in strange times. At one end of the automotive universe right now are pure electric cars rapidly approaching mainstream usability for anyone within a conventional gas tank's distance of a latte. Development of autonomous cars is plainly visible. Pickup trucks outsell everything in America and yet, there's still an appetite for 650 horsepower (485kW) track-day weapons. Chevy's new Camaro ZL1 1LE goes back to the well-understood niche of-comparatively speaking in sales numbers-a tiny portion of thrill-seeking track junkies who want to arrive and drive at the nearest circuit. To counter Steely Dan's debut album title, you can buy a thrill.

Rocketing around the new Area 27 race track in Kelowna, British Columbia (name hinting at the car number carried around by Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 Canadian F1 Driver's Champion, who helped design the course, as well as his father Gilles), it took a bit of effort not to simply bust out laughing at the stupid level of grip, acceleration, and never-quit braking performance of the 1LE over the 3.0-mile (4.8-km) circuit.

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