Camaro SS aspires to greatness with Chevrolet's Ultimate Street and Track packs

Chevrolet's 1LE and Z/28 suspension kits upgrade current Camaros to trackday terrors

The 2015 Chevrolet Camaro SS weighs in at 3,908 pounds. "But wait, there's more!" Chevrolet said, while at SEMA. "What if there was a way you could shed pounds on a racetrack, instantly?!"
Like most weight-loss solutions, it's all smoke and mirrors: Chevrolet's formula doesn't actually shed poundage. But there are two new suspension packages from Chevrolet Performance, both guaranteed to sharpen your cruiserweight SS: what if Chevrolet told you that with a few thousand dollars, your Camaro could feel newer, sprightlier, and even closer to the almighty Z/28? What if your musclecar SS could feel like a real sports car?
As always, there's two paths to glory. How much are you willing to spend?

This is the Ultimate Track Camaro SS, which gets a Z/28 aero kit, an LS3 head and cam upgrade, and the Z/28 suspension consisting of fancy DSSV dampers, higher-rate springs, solid sway bars, and higher-rate suspension bushings. Photo by Blake Z. Rong

The Ultimate Street Package is exactly the same as the Camaro SS 1LE minus the Recaro seats. This full 1LE kit includes 27mm and 28mm stabilizer bars, front and rear, respectively; new monotube rear shocks; and revised toe links and rear shock mounts from the ZL1. On Chevrolet's website, the 1LE suspension package costs $1,500 -- one of the better bargains in this sometimes-expensive, usually-foolish world of automotive enthusiasm.
The cars we later drove at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch were also equipped with Goodyear Eagle F1 tires (285-width), wrapping 20-inch wheels; a strut tower brace; an exhaust and short-throw shifter from Chevrolet Performance; and parts stolen from the ZL1 bin (air filter, wheel hubs, and brakes front and rear).
This was all well and good. But the Track Pack -- oh, mama, that's when the big guns come out. How does a ported LS3 head and a hotted-up camshaft sound? Good for 40 horsepower and a 7,000 RPM redline! How about the trick spool-valve dampers from the Z/28, race-proven in SCCA's T2 class, well-beloved by us and Andy Pilgrim? How about an aero package with Gurney flaps, a splitter sharp enough to split logs, and a spoiler that Chevrolet engineers claim adds 110 lbs of downforce?
Chevrolet estimates that this package will cost $12,000, before installation. A Camaro 1SS starts at $33,505. How about all of that on your late-model SS for less than $50,000?

The rear spoiler and extra Gurney flap combined are good for 110lbs of downforce, according to Chevrolet's testing. Photo by Blake Z. Rong

A stock Camaro SS is a fine car. Oh, sure, it wallows a bit, and there's some body roll that makes it a little tricky to push confidently -- but it makes a nice noise, and with 426 horsepower it's fast out of the corners. At Spring Mountain's West Course there's a gnarly dip before the first corner, though a gentle right-hander, designed to unsettle everything short of a Cessna. The SS bounces over this like it's going over the heart-wrenching drop at Splash Mountain, and the ensuing squat and motion towards the apex feels unnerving.
We soon learn that this corner is key.
Into the Street Pack SS now, which gets sharper dampers; the changes are subtle but utterly confidence-inspiring. Body roll is all but absent. Turn-in is far more composed, the steering builds up more feel, and the rear plants down upon corner exit, enabling us to jump onto the power sooner as we head out. It's more confident. It hides the SS's bulk. Optional bigger brakes are sturdy and effective. In general, it's the perfect baseline: it's what every SS should have.
Want more? The $12,000 Track Pack is worth every single penny.
Here, the Camaro feels positively telepathic. With a helical limited-slip differential, one can turn in as late as possible and hold a decreasing radius for nearly forever -- until the rear announces, finally, that it's giving up. Then the traction control sets in, for just a split second. With it off, one can get the chassis to do wonderful, smoke-inducing tricks. Run, push, push, rotate, gentle slide, and bring it back into place -- this is what a sports car with a V8 should feel like: friendly, manageable, and with the hot cam, a wicked sound at idle.
The best part: through the downhill drop, the car hugs the pavement tight enough to bring to mind the proverbial cliché -- "it rides on rails!"

Around GM's road course at Milford, the Track Camaro SS was nine seconds faster than a stock SS, and only three seconds behind the almighty Z/28. Photo by Blake Z. Rong

Chevrolet tested both packages at Milford Proving Grounds' Road Course. For 24 hours straight. An entire endurance race, simulating a year of amateur racing punishment, driven by a dozen of GM's top wheelmen -- drivers so good that each lap they turned was within 2% of the fastest lap. "No excuses," said a Chevrolet engineer. Only brakes and tires were changed. And not a single one broke.
Around the Road Course, a stock SS set a laptime of 2:05.10. The Ultimate Street SS shaved six seconds off: 1:59.30. The Ultimate Track: three seconds faster still (1:56.43). A Z/28: three more seconds from that (1:53.71).
Camaros with either package may not be as fast, focused, or futures-friendly as a Z/28. But in our mind, they're a bargain: 1.) both are far cheaper; 2.) both are less compromised; 3.) and neither will induce pangs of guilt if the numbers don't match. Your results may vary. But there will be few aftermarket solutions that can touch Chevrolet's warranty -- track time included.
And until the sixth-generation Camaro comes out, this is Chevrolet's best chance at sticking it to the 2015 Mustang. We asked Chevrolet Performance director Mark Dickens whether they had tested Ford's latest yet. "No comment," he grinned. But they did test the outgoing Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca Edition around Milford -- where the track-day special set a laptime of 1:59.05.