Camaro steps up to Supercars

Chevrolet Racing launches with all-new Gen3 Camaro ZL1 Supercar

CHEVROLET RACING SET TO CONTINUE GM’S 50 YEARS OF HOLDEN MOTORSPORT SUCCESS

GM has launched a new chapter in the history of motorsport down under with the unveiling of the first Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Supercars racing. The new Camaro has been created to carry the Chevrolet Racing flag into the next generation of Supercars from 2023.

It also marks the arrival of Chevrolet Racing as the new home for the fans who have followed and celebrated more than 50 years of Holden success in touring car racing.

One of the most important requirements was that the Camaro Supercar for 2023 accurately reflect the design aesthetics of the regular roadgoing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Work on the project has been handled by Triple Eight Race Engineering, working closely with the GM Design and Racing division in North America.

“The collaboration between Supercars, Triple Eight, and GM on the Camaro has been very precise,” said Steve Byrne, the Gen3 Camaro Program Manager for GM Australia and New Zealand.

As the future motorsports brand for General Motors Australia and New Zealand, Chevrolet Racing will sit alongside the company’s other business units: GM Specialty Vehicles (GMSV), Holden Certified Service, GM Trade Parts, and ACDelco.

GLOBAL EFFORT

Fresh from completing the design of the next generation Camaro ZL1 for Nascar, the GM Design team in Detroit took on responsibility for the overall appearance of the Camaro racer for Australia. This global approach means Gen3 Camaro for Supercars is now fully recognised as part of the GM global racing effort.

Powering the Gen3 Camaro is the Chevrolet Racing 5.7-litre LTR V8 from GM’s family of the aluminium small block engines. GM motorsport Supercars homologation partner, KRE Race Engines, is tasked with the development of the engine — work that will continue throughout 2022.

The engine underwent early testing and track laps through 2021 in a heavily camouflaged mule car.

CAMARO VS MUSTANG

As a successor to the Holden legacy, the Camaro name is new to Supercars, but it is not new to touring car racing. It will effectively reignite one of the oldest rivalries in Australian motorsport: Chevrolet versus Ford, and Camaro versus Mustang.

Fifty years ago, in 1971, tyre magnate Bob Jane used an imported Camaro to claim the Australian Touring Car Championship in an epic shootout with the Ford Mustang of Allan Moffat at the Oran Park circuit in Sydney.

Jane and the Camaro, also wearing the classic ZL1 badge, did the job again in 1972 as touring car fans were treated to some of the most intense and exciting racing in the history of Australian motorsport.

Bob Jane won back-to-back championships with his Camaro but he wasn’t the first to race the car in Australia, as Melbourne driver Terry Allen first competed in a Camaro SS in 1967.

CAMARO ENTERS A NEW ERA DOWN UNDER

“The look and sound of the new Gen3 Camaro is just incredible,” said Marc Ebolo, managing director of GM Australia and New Zealand.

“The passion and excitement of success on the track have been such an important part of our Holden brand DNA for so long,” he said. “The high-performance demands of racing align with our vision for GM Australia and New Zealand and will continue to be a significant reflection for all our brands, including GM Specialty Vehicles, Holden Certified Service, GM Trade Parts, and ACDelco.”

GMSV has just celebrated 12 months of operation in Australia and New Zealand, offering customers a portfolio that includes the Chevrolet Silverado, the Corvette Stingray, and the new trackfocused right-hand drive C8 Corvette Z06.

50 YEARS OF RACETRACK SUCCESS

Holden has been a winner in the Australian Touring Car Championship and at Bathurst for more than 50 years.

In 1970, touring car legend ‘Stormin’ Norm Beechey took his iconic yellow HT Monaro GTS350 to a famous ATCC victory, the first for a locally built Holden car. On the way to the title, Beechey also won at Mount Panorama with the thundering Monaro.

Beechey’s greatest competitors were often driving Fords, and it was Allan Moffat who became the ultimate rival for Holden fans when he wheeled out his Trans Am Mustang and Ford Falcon.

From showroom-based Series Production cars through to the heavily modified Group C era of locally developed cars, then on to the international Group A regulations, followed by a return to the Australia-first V8 Supercars, and now Supercars, Holden has competed in Australia and around the world.

Over the years, Holden teams have taken more than 20 combined ATCC and Supercar championship series wins.

Holden has also been dominant at Bathurst in The Great Race each October, racking up a total of 34 wins in the Bathurst 500 and Bathurst 1000. Holdens have scored many more wins on ‘The Mountain’ than any other manufacturer, Ford coming in second with 20 victories.

A new range of Chevrolet Racing merchandise is already on sale at www.gmsvstore.com.au, and will be sold at Bathurst and at Supercars events next year.