0 To 60 As Advertised?
Scouring the magazines and the review sites, it seems that the most common rating for the 0 to 60 MPH time for the 2010 V6 Camaro is 6.0 seconds. I have found a couple of places were it is listed at 6.1 seconds. Since I have an MSD Dashhawk, which has a number of performance tests including a 0 to 60 MPH test, I figured I would try out my new Camaro to see if it lived up to the reviews.
A bit of background information on the Dashhawk. The Dashhawk plugs into the car's ODB-II port and montiors the information coming from the car's computer. So for the performance tests like the 0 to 60 test, it does not depend on accelerameters, which need to be properly calibrated and mounted correctly. In my uneducated opinion I believe the Dashhawk to be very accurate assuming things like your speedometer is accurate (which based on our GPS and radar signs it is) and you don't spin your tires crazily (which i think would only really be relevant in the 1/8 and 1/4 mile tests). I actually did a more in-depth write up for the Dashhawk when I originally bought it for my Mustang. My original article is HERE.
So with the Dashhawk plugged in and ready to go I decided to see just what kind of times I could pull in my new Camaro. First couple of tries I was a bit to agressive on the throttle... trying to run the RPMs up a bit before letting off the brake. The car simply didn't like that and ended up with times in the mid-six seconds. I finally tried just leaving from idle, basically letting off the brake witht my left foot while hitting the throttle with the right foot. I also found that traction control did a nice job of preventing the tires from spinning while not completely killing the car's performance! The results... 0 to 60 in 6.0 seconds! Just like the reviews!
 The MSD DashHawk |
 0 to 60 in 6.0 seconds! |
These tests took place on a nice warm summer afternoon. Not HOT but definitely Warm. Tempertures were in the upper seventies and inlet temps were in the low eighties. Not the best conditions for testing but not terrible either, especially since I was able to duplicate the results I had been reading about. But Summer is winding down and the mornings are cool and clear. The lower temps were definitely making the Camaro feel a lot more lively! In fact I think the LLT responds better to the cooler air than most any car I have ever owned. While the cooler, denser air definitely is a big factor, I suspect that the low inlet temps allow the car to run a bit more timing. I do believe that once the inlet temps climb the car's computer starts to pull timing rather quickly. Remember the LLT has a 11.3 compression ratio and runs on 87 octane gas!
So with that in mind I decided to try my 0 to 60 test on a nice CRISP 50 degree morning! Now not only was the ambient temperture low but the car's inlet temp was staying low at 54 degrees. Also helping was the barometer which was at 30.1 inches! Humidity however was up around 90%. So given the condition and the local elevation I calculated the DA at about 230 feet! Typically this summer my track visits have had DA's ranging from 1650 feet up to 2200 feet.... so 230 was a dramatic change from the summer conditions I had been facing...
Time to do my test. Once again I stalled the car up a bit, reving the RPMs up before letting off the brake... the result was the same for that kind of launch, mid-sixes! ARGH! What the heck! I'm now starting to wonder if the Torque Managment system is kicking in preventing the car from getting an agressive launch! So I go back to my tried and true method of simply launching off of idle! So with a nice easy take I start the test.... AND...
 0 to 60.9 MPH in 5.63 seconds! |
 60.9 MPH is 2nd gear at 5872 RPMs |
WOOHOO! 0 to 60 in 5.63 seconds! Heck, almost 61 MPH! No wonder the car feels so strong on the nice cool mornings! That's .4 faster... that may not seem like a lot but it's actually pretty huge!
So with the 5.6 on my mind, I am really looking forward to the cooler days fo Fall!
