I know Chevy spanked Chysler at the Challanger intro on Woodward. The drive by with the 2010 on the truck was just a great move.

Now yesterday the new ZR-1 not yet intro'ed comes off the transporter and rips off some fast laps at Laguna Seca on a American Lemans weekend. There are some cool videos on the web and a lot of cool pix from the crowd at the track. This was one cool way to sneak a good look to the public.

Chevy seems to be on a roll in some cool marketing moves what could they have planned for the Camaro in the next year?

Any good ideas on what Chevy could so for this car?

 

I agree with you, Chevy(along with GM) has started to get their act together in terms of products and marketing. I mean, I saw the MB C300 and saw the 2008 CTS and I was just Awe struck when i saw the CTS. That Car is beautiful. I hope this marks a new era in GM Quality and performance. Good Job GM!

 

I wouldn't say the laps at LS was a marketing move.

 

There is a pic of a white production prototype that i've seen.

 

If it was not marketing or promo to get the public and press attention, what reason would they have to drive some fast laps with a unreleased car infront of the the public?

Just like to hear what your take is.

I know this was done with the Vette Boss program but it could have been done so much more privately at a closed track away from a large event.

They were wanting the car seen for a reason and in action. To me it appeared to be a good press lead in to the intro at Detroit.

God knows it created a great buzz on the web and will fill most January magazines.

 

I wished they'd ship the show car out here to Phoenix for the Arizona auto show in november!

 

Simple answer: Engineers wanted to get some feedback and fine tuning done.

Laguna Seca is one of America's most difficult speedways, and it has a unique and rather nasty corkscrew coming off of a curve starting down the back streach that puts quite a demand on brakes & suspension at the same time, and is the perfect place to get a grip (unintentional pun) on steering feedback and precision.

There was no press or VIP ride-along as there was when Chrysler had their ME-412 mule out there, or when Ford had ther GT. This was simply GM taking the thing off a trailer, having their driver run 2 laps, and loading the thing back in the trailer.

Because the car was out, there were people who were tipped off to come down and were free to snap pictures or shoot film. Same thing happens whenever any car under development comes to a race track (which are by no means highly secured enviroments or staffed by guards the way Automotive test facilities are). I've had quite a few tip offs myself that "I might want to be at a certain place at a certain time" which happened to be a car undergoing a test lap, or a realworld test route, or a publicity shot at a secret location. And I'm certain I'm not the only one here who has.


But, no, it wasn't designed as a publicity event. There was actually a concrete reason Corvette did a couple of laps at Laguna Seca.

 

I just don't see why GM didn't just rent out Laguna Seca for the day and test the car and others w/o anyone else there. Na I think they wanted "some" publicity

 

Yeah, its not like there wasnt anything going on this weekend. There was a big race. GM isnt dumb, they knew this. I think that they are slowly just letting out info, not much, but enough to keep people happy and excited. They also wanted to test the car, but you see that they still had minor camo on the hood, enough to not give the whole car away.

 

You are aware this was a American Lemans race weekend? Or the fact this car just went out and did a few very fast laps after the race cars practiced infront of a paying crowd on the same race event weekend. Also the Cameras caught all of laps on video.

It just struck me as if they were doing engineering work they would do it at a track on a non race weekend with no TV camera's I know Mid Ohio and Road Atlanta were fairly empty this weekend. Besides I did not see any equipment in this car.

My hunch is they may have wanted to get some fast laps for the TV cameras that may or will be used at the intro. Besides a few hot laps infront of the taget market for this car would not hurt and get a lot of blog sites posting.

By the way the ALMS people were aware of what GM had planned so I think the TV cameras were being used for a future use for GM press event.

I wonder if there really is a clear hood dome under the hood camo as rumored?

 

Im also guessing this was filmed for either the intro or some other tidbit for the ZR1, not to mention the free publicity of running hot laps in front of an ALMS crowd.

If they were testing something, it had to be something incredibly minor, like a suspension rebound characteristic or something because 2 laps around laguna seca is barely enough to heat the tires up let alone get any real hardcore testing done.

Would be kinda cool to see something like this done with the Camaro in about a year. Take a production ready Camaro out on a track like laguna seca, sebring, or road atlanta on a race weekend and run some hot laps after practice while the crowd is still there. Actually show the car in a more aggressive environment than a turntable at an auto show

 

Doesn't look like it. It DOES look like there's a C6.R-style heat vent in the hood, though:





C6.R, for comparison:

 

If they aren't going to run a clear or polycarb window in the hood why get caught with one installed on a car in the first place? DC's has what is supposed to be an uncamoed ZR-1 in there header. It shows the hood with window and the cove behind the front wheels.

 

It looks kinda stupid, if you ask me. I thought it would be an autoshow display-type thing, not an actual production piece.

 

I am not sure on the lap time but I saw someone timed the video at 1:38 based on the video. But with the muliple shots the time can vary.

This compared to a Daytona Riley Pontiac prototype runs a 1:25 and a Ford GT at 1:52 with a non race driver behind the wheel.

I hope someone will get a accurate time that was run at the track and it will give us a clue for what to expect.