Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R: Everything You Need to Know
First there was Z/28. Then IROC. Now, meet the GT4.R.
Chevrolet is arriving fashionably late to the GT4 party with a factory-built Camaro that's being sold as a turnkey race car.
General Motors was eager to join the GT4 class, which already includes the Mustang as well as the likes of the Porsche Cayman and McLaren 570S (see page 30). "GT4 is so closely tied to the production car that it gives us a wonderful showcase to demonstrate what the Camaro can do," says program manager Shawn Meagher.
The Camaro GT4.R benefits from several motorsport upgrades—an Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox and limited-slip differential, two-way adjustable Öhlins dampers, a front splitter, a rear wing, and so on. But it starts with the production body-in-white, uses the stock suspension attachment points, and incorporates a dry-sump version of the LT1, the muscular V-8 found in the Corvette and Camaro SS.
"The car is designed for customer race teams, so we want something that's reliable, that's easy to work on, that's not going to be a headache," Meagher says.
The cars are being assembled by GM's longtime technical partner, Pratt & Miller Engineering, which builds the Corvettes that have raced successfully at Le Mans since 2000. Specifications won't be finalized until Balance of Performance adjustments are made, and Chevy is being coy about pricing. (Somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 seems likely.)
Two Camaro GT4.Rs were scheduled to debut in March at St. Petersburg during the opening race of the Pirelli World Challenge season. GT4 models are also eligible to compete in the GS class in IMSA's Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Or at a track day near you, if you've got the money to buy one and the courage to tame it.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a33420/chevrolet-camaro-gt4r-specs/
