May Car of the Month - Camaro, Then and Now!

[Bowtie-muscle]

I believe I have all tunes linked up to date, and reviews as well. Short on time yesterday/today/and next two but will get back to tested/reviewing bu the weekend. @GhostRider65 @brian wolf you guys are up next followed by another one or two of @CSLACR . Wanna thank you all for joining in, lot of tunes submitted and plenty of reviews:tup:, so to @TurnLeft @Woodski_427 @shaunm80 @mgo @Rush471 and @Soren Jacquet You guys are keeping this month fun and keeping these threads going. I appreciate the time and effort, thank you thank you thank you!

 

[Woodski_427]

If you've ever driven a ute with no payload in the wet or on gravel, (doesn't even have to be a V8) you'll find a Camaro a piece of cake. It just takes control & skill

I wasn't suggesting you were a Bogun , merely referring anyone who didn't get the Aussie slang .

As it happens I did once drive a battered Toyota with flat leaf springs on a banana farm up Tully way. I thought it would be fun to prod the gas on a bend (there was a river 20ft below on the outside of the bend). It caught me out but I didn't spin, and no I didn't do it again .

 

[Pete05]

I wasn't suggesting you were a Bogun , merely referring anyone who didn't get the Aussie slang .

As it happens I did once drive a battered Toyota with flat leaf springs on a banana farm up Tully way. I thought it would be fun to prod the gas on a bend (there was a river 20ft below on the outside of the bend). It caught me out but I didn't spin, and no I didn't do it again .

No offence taken, we're all sweet mate 👍
Aussie slang can be confusing for people at times. I've known city dwellers that get lost in conversation with country folk

When I was 15, I 'borrowed' a Datsun cab/chassis for a day instead of going to school. This thing was a diesel with four speed manual on the column and did about 90km/h flat out. Take one narrow gravel road, earth bank on one side, 30ft drop down to train tracks on the other and more enthusiasm than skill.... + = 🤬 +

 

[Woodski_427]

All this talk of Hoonery and dirt roads...💡

Eiger K with @Bowtie-muscle 500pp tune and only dirt tyres. Not bad at all actually, a bit bouncy over the jumps, but not overpowered so good traction .

I reckon at least another 5 secs maybe 10 for a good run. But no match for @krenkme's truck .

edit: added pic

 

[Pete05]

All this talk of Hoonery and dirt roads...💡

View attachment 369784

Eiger K with @Bowtie-muscle 500pp tune and only dirt tyres. Not bad at all actually, a bit bouncy over the jumps, but not overpowered so good traction .

I reckon at least another 5 secs maybe 10 for a good run. But no match for @krenkme's truck .

Man up & take an El Camino

 

[cbarbosa]

I have been failing with CoTM thread... 24H days are not enough...

 

[Woodski_427]

Drifting now:

@shaunm80 drift setup at the Nurb GP got 5563.

I don't normally bother with designated drift tunes, as they're not really needed to get the money in the seasonals. However things were pretty straightforward with this car.

Very nice balance, easy to initiate the drift and steers well on the throttle. Nice close gearing so the rears keep spinning and don't bite and snap back.

This hasn't got crazy power, so is easily controlled and would be a good starter car for the novice drifter.

I thought I'd use a 'control' to validate the test. @CSLACR 525pp Camaro was the closest match.

Equipped with CH and a FD of 3,500 for close gearing netted 5345.

As I normally find, any well balanced car can be drifted easily enough, although Shaun's dedicated setup was certainly easier. A bit more fight with this, a bit of snap back When modulating the throttle. Decent score though.

More to come on this car!

 

[Woodski_427]

@CSLACSR 525pp SH

After the drifting I headed back to the Deep Forest Reverse Camaro test track. I set the FD as per tune, and put on some SH tyres to compare with with the other tunes.

We are starting to feel pretty quick now, with 430BHP. First couple of times round, I got a bit of understeer into the faster corners, especially turn 1. With more of a slow-in approach, I could get power on early enough and it held well on full throttle through the corners. Nice lift off rotation again into slower corners, and bit of care was needed to keep the back end from over-rotating under power on exit, although it doesn't easily light-up.

Another great tune, but this drive invokes the furrowed-brow-of-concentration rather than the inane-grin-of-hoonery, and encourages you to try harder.

Best time was 1:21.593 but should have been into the 1:20s - I lost time and speed running wide out of the second forest tunnel, then wheelspinning as I took off .

And just to reciprocate the test I ran @shaunm80's drift tune on SH and a longer FD: 1:23.008. I think it's only a diff' setting away from being nicely useable .


As I was in it at the time, I went to the 500pp Silverstone seasonal in @Bowtie-muscle's 500pp car to stretch its legs. I knew it would be way too easy, so I put on CS - which led to some silliness

and errr, hang on, this wasn't supposed to happen .

I still won by over half a second over a DB9. The only real issue on CS tyres was the outside rear would light-up, otherwise being relatively sensible gave a good drive.

-
I wasn't sure if I'd be too bothered about the modern Camaro but the tunes have proved very addictive so far. Time to up the ante...

 

[CSLACR]

I have the rest of the month off work, so I should get some time for reviewing this month.

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

@CSLACSR 525pp SH

After the drifting I headed back to the Deep Forest Reverse Camaro test track. I set the FD as per tune, and put on some SH tyres to compare with with the other tunes.

We are starting to feel pretty quick now, with 430BHP. First couple of times round, I got a bit of understeer into the faster corners, especially turn 1. With more of a slow-in approach, I could get power on early enough and it held well on full throttle through the corners. Nice lift on rotation again into slower corners, and bit of care was needed to keep the back end from over-rotating under power on exit, although it doesn't easily light-up.

Another great tune, but this drive invokes the furrowed-brow-of-concentration rather than the inane-grin-of-hoonery, and encourages you to try harder.

Best time was 1:21.593 but should have been into the 1:20s - I lost time and speed running wide out of the second forest tunnel, then wheelspinning as I took off .

And just to reciprocate the test I ran @shaunm80's drift tune on SH and a longer FD: 1:23.008. I think it's only a diff' setting away from being nicely useable .


As I was in it at the time, I went to the 500pp Silverstone seasonal in @Bowtie-muscle's 500pp car to stretch its legs. I knew it would be way too easy, so I put on CS - which led to some silliness

View attachment 370850


and errr, hang on, this wasn't supposed to happen .

View attachment 370851

I still won by over half a second over a DB9. The only real issue on CS tyres was the outside rear would light-up, otherwise being relatively sensible gave a good drive.

-
I wasn't sure if I'd be too bothered about the modern Camaro but the tunes have proved very addictive so far. Time to up the ante...

Looks like a fun ride and sounds like the 2010 Camaro is starting to grow on you
Hope this does not mean your enjoyment in the lesser used/loved cars is not fading

 

[Woodski_427]

Looks like a fun ride and sounds like the 2010 Camaro is starting to grow on you
Hope this does not mean your enjoyment in the lesser used/loved cars is not fading

Certainly not But yes, the '10 Camaro has been a revelation! I've got one more write up to do 👍.

 

[Woodski_427]

@Bowtie-muscle and @CSLACR 600pp/600pp Flat Floor

I went to the top of the tree here - I chose these pairs as it was good opportuntiy to do a direct comparison with the flat floor. I'm checking my hastily scribbled notes and I didn't oil change on the standard car, so it looks like they came out as:

@Bowtie-muscle car at 700bhp and 593pp
@CSLACR at 700bhp and 595pp

The car was equipped with Sports Soft tyres and back to Deep Forest Reverse. Some serious power here now, and I'm reaching the limit of this track: in Reverse, I'm hitting the the hill before turn 1 and taking off . It is quite hard to be consistent to get the right dab of brakes to control the jump but not lose too much time. Fun though! Same on the drop into the last hairpin.

The pattern between the tuners was the same as before: Bowtie's tune being the safer and more consistent and CSLACR's, looser with more potential but a bit of wallbanging. That said, my final times were less than half a second apart, both tunes are very well behaved for the beasts they have become, and great to drive at Deep Forest.

Occassional glitch with CSLACR tune

Next up, I got yet another '10 Camaro and went for the works in the aero department, and a garish paint job since we are essentially creating a racing car here. At 600pp and the flat floor installed we are 100bhp down with 599bhp. So I was expecting the usual experience of poor acceleration and top speed compared to the standard 600bhp.

What can I say? These cars really do stick, and so much stability. It took a few laps to trust in the downforce and really push them. There is no taking off at the end of the start/finish straight into T1, and I could carry so much more speed through the corner. Again half a second between the cars, but I think I preferred the CSLACR tune for this one - the looseness worked well with the extra downforce.

I was a bit surprised by the results: not a big difference but on this track the flat floor cars pulled ahead. Obviously enough high speed cornering to gain the advantage and as the cars don't reach max speed on the straight they don't lose it.


Deep Forest Reverse, Sports Soft.

600pp
@Bowtie-muscle 1:16.149
@CSLACR 1:15.714

600pp Flat Floor
@Bowtie-muscle 1:15.455
@CSLACR 1:14.945

Great test this one, those flat floor cars are really addictive 👍.

I think that'll be it for this COTM - I got pretty sucked in! Looking foward to the next

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

@Bowtie-muscle and @CSLACR 600pp/600pp Flat Floor

I went to the top of the tree here - I chose these pairs as it was good opportuntiy to do a direct comparison with the flat floor. I'm checking my hastily scribbled notes and I didn't oil change on the standard car, so it looks like they came out as:

@Bowtie-muscle car at 700bhp and 593pp
@CSLACR at 700bhp and 595pp

The car was equipped with Sports Soft tyres and back to Deep Forest Reverse. Some serious power here now, and I'm reaching the limit of this track: in Reverse, I'm hitting the the hill before turn 1 and taking off . It is quite hard to be consistent to get the right dab of brakes to control the jump but not lose too much time. Fun though! Same on the drop into the last hairpin.

View attachment 377061

The pattern between the tuners was the same as before: Bowtie's tune being the safer and more consistent and CSLACR's, looser with more potential but a bit of wallbanging. That said, my final times were less than half a second apart, both tunes are very well behaved for the beasts they have become, and great to drive at Deep Forest.

Occassional glitch with CSLACR tune
View attachment 377063


Next up, I got yet another '10 Camaro and went for the works in the aero department, and a garish paint job since we are essentially creating a racing car here. At 600pp and the flat floor installed we are 100bhp down with 599bhp. So I was expecting the usual experience of poor acceleration and top speed compared to the standard 600bhp.

View attachment 377065

What can I say? These cars really do stick, and so much stability. It took a few laps to trust in the downforce and really push them. There is no taking off at the end of the start/finish straight into T1, and I could carry so much more speed through the corner. Again half a second between the cars, but I think I preferred the CSLACR tune for this one - the looseness worked well with the extra downforce.

I was a bit surprised by the results: not a big difference but on this track the flat floor cars pulled ahead. Obviously enough high speed cornering to gain the advantage and as the cars don't reach max speed on the straight they don't lose it.


Deep Forest Reverse, Sports Soft.

600pp
@Bowtie-muscle 1:16.149
@CSLACR 1:15.714

600pp Flat Floor
@Bowtie-muscle 1:15.455
@CSLACR 1:14.945

View attachment 377066

Great test this one, those flat floor cars are really addictive 👍.

I think that'll be it for this COTM - I got pretty sucked in! Looking foward to the next

Great review and comparison, Glad to see you really enjoying the Camaro . I actually liked the flat floor better myself, even better than the PD Touring Car version. Never thought of Deep Forest to test it though. And to be honest, not totally surprised it was a tad slower than CSLACR's. Now I do hope to see some tunes or reviews next , was great having you put the time in this month

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

@brian wolf 505pp 69 Z28 Review:

This will not be a long review, so my apologies in advance.

I took this beast out for a joy ride around the Ring, but on SH tires. But I did give it the proper paint job.
An amazing ride it was, my time spent on the Ring is not nearly as much as others so I'm not as familiar as most. Still some places where I lose too much time, and never run Muscle Cars there, well, not since GT4 anyway. The setup was great and made for great fun once I learned what the brakes limits were, and how the suspension wanted to be treated. I could over cook a corner but that is more my driving than the tune. When driving it proper, it was very rewarding indeed. The gearing was spectacular, and set up just right for this track. I can see how you can find yourself drawn back to run laps over and over again with this tune. It will never be the best choice at 500pp but not many will put a smile on your face as you tackle the back half of the track. Throttle control is needed, but what muscle car doesn't demand a little? Even painted Silver with black stripes, it had me long before the carousel. I only ran two laps but the they were both under 8 minutes, the second was a 7:51.479. And I know where i left 2 or 3 seconds . I may have to hold on to this for awhile and try to get a better time, then try mine to compare the two. As is, I give this tune an 8.0 lap time but that's with my driving skill. As for DC though, 10.0 with a big grin.

And if this was not enough torture, I tried the EAG 300SL on CM tires, that lap was insanely slow and embarrassing. If you need more of a break from the understeering cars at Monaco, try that baby out. I promise you will not be disappointed and I'm sure @TurnLeft and @Thorin Cain would love your feedback.

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

Month is quickly getting away from us, @GhostRider65 , I have not forgotten you. I will still be getting to your tunes before the end of the month.

And on another note, either no one noticed or no one mentioned the photos in the OP. RED/WHITE/BLUE.

 

[TurnLeft]

And on another note, either no one noticed or no one mentioned the photos in the OP. RED/WHITE/BLUE.

Were they there at the beginning ? If so well no I didn't , I'd like to believe that it was subtle but it's really evident. To my defense I'll have you know that it took me a month before I noticed my girlfriend had painted the kitchen from white to red , every night at supper both my son and his mother would stare at me to see if I noticed, they even had a bet on which they both lost because it took way more time than they believed it would, so that's my excuse ... not really good at noticing things like that , but skirts and high heels I notice right away ... and my girlfriend notices I noticed .

 

[brian wolf]

@brian wolf 505pp 69 Z28 Review:

This will not be a long review, so my apologies in advance.

I took this beast out for a joy ride around the Ring, but on SH tires. But I did give it the proper paint job.
An amazing ride it was, my time spent on the Ring is not nearly as much as others so I'm not as familiar as most. Still some places where I lose too much time, and never run Muscle Cars there, well, not since GT4 anyway. The setup was great and made for great fun once I learned what the brakes limits were, and how the suspension wanted to be treated. I could over cook a corner but that is more my driving than the tune. When driving it proper, it was very rewarding indeed. The gearing was spectacular, and set up just right for this track. I can see how you can find yourself drawn back to run laps over and over again with this tune. It will never be the best choice at 500pp but not many will put a smile on your face as you tackle the back half of the track. Throttle control is needed, but what muscle car doesn't demand a little? Even painted Silver with black stripes, it had me long before the carousel. I only ran two laps but the they were both under 8 minutes, the second was a 7:51.479. And I know where i left 2 or 3 seconds . I may have to hold on to this for awhile and try to get a better time, then try mine to compare the two. As is, I give this tune an 8.0 lap time but that's with my driving skill. As for DC though, 10.0 with a big grin.

And if this was not enough torture, I tried the EAG 300SL on CM tires, that lap was insanely slow and embarrassing. If you need more of a break from the understeering cars at Monaco, try that baby out. I promise you will not be disappointed and I'm sure @TurnLeft and @Thorin Cain would love your feedback.

Isn`t she lovely! 👍 Thanks for the review and I`m glad you enjoyed the ride!
I will check out the EAG 300SL when I get a chance.........

 

[Thorin Cain]

And if this was not enough torture, I tried the EAG 300SL on CM tires, that lap was insanely slow and embarrassing. If you need more of a break from the understeering cars at Monaco, try that baby out. I promise you will not be disappointed and I'm sure @TurnLeft and @Thorin Cain would love your feedback.

Did I just read that right I thought this was Camaro month You really must have enjoyed kicking my Tailpipe if you're in here telling your friends about it

... not really good at noticing things like that , but skirts and high heels I notice right away ... and my girlfriend notices I noticed .

...I will check out the EAG 300SL when I get a chance.........

It would be our honour to have you visit The no ABS is optional BTW, but if you want to follow @Bowtie-muscle's example and knock me down the leaderboard a bit further Then I'm afraid the Grand Tour Organiser has already ruled on that one . And he notices these things too .

Have fun

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

My oh my, where has the month gone? I guess time flies when you're having fun and this has been a fun one for me.

@GhostRider65 Z28 500pp review:

I am known by now for loving American Muscle Cars, and if they look good in blue, all the better. You painted yours yellow, still looks good to me

I read other reviews of this tune so I was aware that it was perfectly capable on SS tires as well as the RS it was tunes on. Looking st the settings though, I was unsure of what to expect. Stiff springs, low ride height, and low LSD accel. But it did not disappoint, the handling was great and I found it easy to get the power down without the rear dancing too much. Always,expect some looseness on exit from a muscle car, but this was pleasant. I want to Midfield, allow it to stretch it's legs a little and was amazed at the grip level, and smooth flowing heard. Found nothing to complain about at all and ran a lap of 1:16.381. Not bad at all since I really was not pushing hard at all.

Then I decided to really check out its potential by throwing on SH tires. Most times built on CS or SH will always improve when given the extra grip of SS or Racing tires, but not m a my work well going the other way. I have tuned cars on SS that needed adjustments when down grading to SH. Not this tune, there is less grip in the corners of course and a touch more throttle control is needed in exit. But surprisingly, not much. Grip level was still really good and the handling did not drop of much at all. I'd say that makes this tune amazingly versatile. Even the time drop off was not as bad as one might think, only dropping to 1:18 .186! A very respectable time indeed and quite an enjoyable drive.

I do look forward to more of your tunes moving forward, and still have your 2010 SS to review. So glad you joined in the fun this month as a thoroughly enjoyed this Z28. Keep up the great tunes

 

[GhostRider65]

My oh my, where has the month gone? I guess time flies when you're having fun and this has been a fun one for me.

@GhostRider65 Z28 500pp review:

I am known by now for loving American Muscle Cars, and if they look good in blue, all the better. You painted yours yellow, still looks good to me

I read other reviews of this tune so I was aware that it was perfectly capable on SS tires as well as the RS it was tunes on. Looking st the settings though, I was unsure of what to expect. Stiff springs, low ride height, and low LSD accel. But it did not disappoint, the handling was great and I found it easy to get the power down without the rear dancing too much. Always,expect some looseness on exit from a muscle car, but this was pleasant. I want to Midfield, allow it to stretch it's legs a little and was amazed at the grip level, and smooth flowing heard. Found nothing to complain about at all and ran a lap of 1:16.381. Not bad at all since I really was not pushing hard at all.

Then I decided to really check out its potential by throwing on SH tires. Most times built on CS or SH will always improve when given the extra grip of SS or Racing tires, but not m a my work well going the other way. I have tuned cars on SS that needed adjustments when down grading to SH. Not this tune, there is less grip in the corners of course and a touch more throttle control is needed in exit. But surprisingly, not much. Grip level was still really good and the handling did not drop of much at all. I'd say that makes this tune amazingly versatile. Even the time drop off was not as bad as one might think, only dropping to 1:18 .186! A very respectable time indeed and quite an enjoyable drive.

I do look forward to more of your tunes moving forward, and still have your 2010 SS to review. So glad you joined in the fun this month as a thoroughly enjoyed this Z28. Keep up the great tunes

Thanks a lot for your review Bowtie_muscle !! I participated with pleasure in the COTM, unpretentious, but to have the opinion and advice of the tuners and GTPlanet testers that i consider the best of all known sites for Gran turismo !! Above all, thank you for your patience and indulgence about my many errors Long life to GTPlanet, tuners, testers, finally EVERYONE !! !!

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

@GhostRider65 Camaro SS 2010 520pp Review:

Well how do you finish off a month of just some done right really good tunes? With one more of course!

So I understand that some changes have been made since originally posted, and the tires were downgraded to Sport Soft. No matter, this is a lovely and quality tune non-the-less. I found it to be very stable at my first test track of choice, Silverstone International. First corner tends to be a good spot to test for entry oversteer, followed by a left handed sweeper where understeer seems to be prevalent. But no with this tune as I could make it to the hard braking right hander quickly and with out issue. The next right hander shows off the need for throttle control and loose on exit will appear, but again, not so much with this tune. The end of the back straight showed off the tunes desire to just flow through the corner, as long as you did not over dive entry. The gearing was just right for this course, and helped the final section to be without issue as well. Did not record my best time, but was in the low 1:08's if I recall.

So I then went to Tour of America, and a trip in the desert. Here the tune was slightly different, could be a little more tail happy but that actually helped in most corners. Also could push wide mid-corner if late braking and driven in too deep. Still an enjoyable drive, So much so that I did it twice. No lap time to record again, what's wrong with me .
All I can say is, does not really matter as I enjoyed the races regardless.

Final destination was a trip down to Laguna Seca. This may have been the most fun with the tune yet! 👍
Nothing more to had, and nothing to complain about either . Whether you want to discuss the brakes or gearing, the amount of grip or rotation, this did the trick as asked.

The only thing I noticed that may be brought up, was the occasional light up of the rear tire on exit due to LSD accel be so low. It by no means hindered the ability to exit smoothly or to get through any corner, but you may notice it turning red before the outside tire. Might have even aided to be honest. A tune I would use again, even at Laguna where I tend to struggle sometimes. Job very well done . Now please do not forget about these threads moving forward, would be my pleasure to try more tunes from you.

 

[Bowtie-muscle]

Sorry boys, but I ran out of time to get any other tunes tested. Quite the pleasant turn out with lots of tunes and plenty of reviews. I look forward to seeing you all again next month, which begins tomorrow already , and hope you all enjoyed half as much as I did .

Thanks again to @shaunm80 for am extremely enjoyable suggestion. 👍