2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE | Track Test

MotorWeek puts the 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE through its high-speed track test at Roebling Road Raceway, and even loyal BMW M3 owners in the comments admit this might be the car GM should have built decades ago. Between the factory exhaust note, the Multimatic dampers, and lap times that rival cars costing twice as much, this segment became a rallying point for Chevrolet, BMW, and Pontiac fans alike. Watch the corner-by-corner test that convinced skeptics.

There’s a particular high-speed sweeper at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia that has humbled plenty of cars that looked fast on paper. MotorWeek has been putting vehicles through that same set of corners for decades, which makes it one of the more honest proving grounds in automotive television — no closed course built specifically to flatter a manufacturer’s press car, just a real road course that rewards genuine chassis balance. So when the network’s cameras pointed a Camaro ZL1 1LE into that same corner, longtime viewers already knew this wasn’t going to be a puff piece. The only question was how good the numbers coming out the other side would actually be.

Why Roebling Road Doesn’t Lie

MotorWeek has used Roebling Road Raceway as one of its primary track-test venues for years specifically because its high-speed, sweeping turns expose weaknesses that a shorter, tighter autocross course never would. A car with a soft chassis or an undersized brake package can look impressive in a straight line and still fall apart the moment it has to hold a committed line through a fast corner at sustained lateral load. That’s the exact scenario this video puts the ZL1 1LE through, and it’s the reason the show’s track tests carry more weight with enthusiasts than a simple 0-60 run in a parking lot.

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The 1LE Package, Explained

The ZL1 1LE badge represents the most track-focused specification General Motors has ever offered on a production Camaro, layering the 1LE’s stripped-down interior, adjustable aerodynamics, and Multimatic DSSV spool-valve dampers on top of the ZL1’s supercharged LT4 V8 and Magnetic Ride Control-based chassis. Viewers in the comments repeatedly credit GM for getting it right with this specific combination, and the praise isn’t just enthusiast hyperbole — the 1LE package was developed using extensive input from GM’s own road-racing programs, tuned specifically for lap times rather than showroom comfort.

An Exhaust Note Viewers Can’t Stop Talking About

Almost as much attention in the comments goes to how the ZL1 1LE sounds as to how it performs, with one viewer singling out the exhaust note during the track segment as reason enough to want the car. That reaction matters more than it might seem — MotorWeek’s test cars are bone-stock from the factory, meaning that aggressive, high-revving snarl is coming straight off the showroom floor, no aftermarket exhaust required. For a segment of buyers cross-shopping European sports coupes, a factory soundtrack that competes with cars costing twice as much is a genuine selling point, not just a nice-to-have.

Measured Against the BMW M3 and Shelby GT350

What elevates this test beyond a simple lap-time exercise is how directly commenters compare the ZL1 1LE to established European and domestic rivals, specifically the BMW M3 and Ford’s Shelby GT350. One self-identified M3 owner in the comments concedes the ZL1 1LE belongs in the same conversation as his own car and the GT350, adding that he wishes American manufacturers had built cars like this decades earlier rather than only catching up recently. That’s a notable admission from inside a rival fanbase, and it reflects just how seriously the 1LE package changed the Camaro’s reputation among cross-shopping buyers who previously wouldn’t have considered it.

The Manual Transmission Question

MotorWeek’s test also reignites a debate that follows every high-performance Camaro release: whether to spec the manual gearbox at all. Commenters explicitly cheer the continued availability of a manual ZL1, with one calling the manual Camaro the king outright, even though a modern automatic would almost certainly post quicker straight-line numbers. That tension between outright performance and driver engagement runs through the entire enthusiast response to this video, and it’s part of why the 1LE, in either transmission, has become such a talking point rather than just another fast Camaro variant.

A Bittersweet Nod to Pontiac

One comment thread takes an unexpected turn into nostalgia, with a viewer wishing Pontiac still existed just to imagine what a modern Firebird built on this same platform and powertrain might have looked like. It’s a reminder that the Camaro’s current dominance in this segment exists partly because its historical rival didn’t survive GM’s post-2008 restructuring — the Firebird was discontinued in 2002, and Pontiac itself was shuttered in 2010, leaving the Camaro to carry the torch for GM pony car performance largely uncontested from its own stable.

Where the ZL1 1LE Sits in 2018

By the time this test aired, more than one commenter was already calling the ZL1 1LE the best gasoline-powered Camaro GM would ever build, predicting — correctly, as it turned out in the years since — that nothing with an LT5 or LT6 engine badge would arrive to top it before the sixth-generation Camaro’s production run ended. That kind of real-time prediction, made the same year the car was tested, gives this MotorWeek segment an unusual historical weight: it’s not just a review of a fast car, it’s a snapshot of enthusiasts recognizing a high-water mark as it happened.

A Track Test That Earned Its Praise

Taken together, the response to this segment shows a rare consensus in car enthusiast circles, where BMW owners, Pontiac loyalists, and lifelong Chevrolet fans all found something to agree on. MotorWeek’s Roebling Road test didn’t just confirm the ZL1 1LE’s on-paper specs — it demonstrated, corner after corner, that GM’s most track-focused Camaro could hold its own against cars that cost significantly more, cementing a reputation that has only grown since this test first aired, and giving longtime host John Davis one more genuinely memorable segment in a career full of them.

Value Performance Nobody Expected

It’s also worth putting the Roebling Road number in context against the ZL1 1LE’s own price point. Chevrolet positioned this package well below six-figure exotic and European rivals, yet the lap times and braking performance MotorWeek recorded here routinely get compared favorably to cars costing two or three times as much. That value proposition is a recurring theme across the show’s Camaro coverage over the years, and it’s a large part of why enthusiast forums still reference this specific test whenever the value-versus-performance debate comes up among shoppers cross-referencing the ZL1 1LE against pricier European coupes.

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