Monday, July 16, 2012

SAY HELLO TO THE MOBIL 1 CHEVROLET PROJECT CAMARO


So what exactly is a Camaro? Yes, yes, it’s a cult classic that many of us go nuts over and can’t get enough of. But is there more to it than that? Well, according to the original Chevrolet Camaro team, who crafted this American icon back in ’66, it’s “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.” Now, c'mon—it doesn’t get much better than that, right?

Flash forward nearly 50 years, and today we're taking a sneak peek at another pony-hungry beast, courtesy of our friends at Mobil 1.

“Our aim is to build an everyday street car that would turn heads not only on the street but on the track as well. The vision is to follow an old school Pro Touring Motorsport feel, using new technology and top-notch functional parts, but at the same maintain its street car drivability. We want to make a good amount of power with this car to show off the capability of the LS3 engine, as well as some Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 Racing products," said Andy Williamson, ReFuel Motor Culture.

The project at hand started its life as a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible. That means from birth it already boasts a stout 428 hp and 420 lb.-ft of torque, which pours out through a 6-speed manual transmission. To complement that pristine experience, Summit White paint adorns the exterior while an Inferno Orange interior sets the rest of the mood.
We've always loved watching builders put their signature touches on the Camaro. And we're really excited to see what a brand like Mobil 1 does with their Camaro build. After all, this is a brand that has champions like the 7-time 24 Hour of Le Mans winning Corvette Racing team and 3-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart on their roster, when Mobil 1 steps up the plate— it’s game on.

This project vehicle, officially designated the "Mobil 1 Chevrolet Camaro," is a take on a muscle car so often customized, hot rodded, tuned and tweaked that it seems as though once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But as you’ll see in our exclusive coverage of this build, you haven't seen everything yet. With such a great canvas it's really no surprise the Camaro has been the "it" car at the SEMA show for the past couple of years. And in this ongoing build feature, we'll get to see Mobil 1 take this 5th gen Camaro from stock to shock via their very stylish, straightforward approach.

We asked Mr. Williamson what we could expect in regards to the build of the Mobil 1 Camaro:

“To give you a very brief glimpse, we're working side by side with Chevrolet Performance on some performance parts that they have in the works for the Camaro. We are also working with a great wheel partner in fifteen52 Wheels in order to help us achieve a custom, classic motorsports wheel that will be in style, years down the road. The wheels will be paired to Nitto Tires, and you can expect to see this car sitting very aggressively, as we are working with KW Suspension for the best setup on the street and track. Sicom Brakes is developing a custom ceramic composite brake system for the car, as well, that will be very unique.

As a focal point of power, we're working with Turbonetics on a custom, single turbo setup for the LS3, as well as working with our Mobil 1 Racing team on using Mobil 1 Racing Oil when we set up the car for track use. We want to show real world enthusiasts our take on the Camaro and the steps we took to accomplish it.

We're working with the great guys at Lashway Motorsports in Pompano Beach, Fla. on the build. They're a young group that specializes in LS engines and especially Camaro setups. And they've got some serious tricks up their sleeves for this project. We'll be cataloging everything along the way to help educate real deal, everyday enthusiasts on how they can achieve similar results for their projects. It will be a fun project to follow.”

We're excited to see how this car comes together. Now that the introduction is done, we can focus on the next steps of the build. Stay tuned for all that and more to come in Part 2.

In the meantime check out the images below, then we suggest you jump on over to the Camaro Forum and place your bets on how all of the above is going to go down— or maybe even let us know how you’d do a build like this if you were behind the wheel!

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