Chevrolet has introduced the 2017 COPO Camaro, ahead of its 2016 SEMA Show debut.
Extending the production legacy that was restarted in 2012, the new COPO Camaro will once again be designed to compete in NHRA’s Stock Eliminator classes. For this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the American automaker took serial number 01 of 69 and turned it into a bit of a show car with a unique “anodized” concept version of the production Hyper Blue Metallic paint. It also features a supercharged 350 engine and custom Weld racing wheels. The production race cars will be fitted with racing chassis and suspension components, including a solid rear axle system in place of the regular production independent rear axle.
Other details on the 2017 Chevrolet COPO Camaro include lightweight, adjustable coilover front suspension, four-link rear suspension with double-adjustable coilover shocks, Panhard bar and stabilizer bar, rear axle with an aluminum center section featuring a lightweight steel spool and 40-spline gun-drilled axle shafts, lightweight drag-race manual four-wheel disc brakes, custom manual steering rack, fuel cell with built-in high-pressure fuel pump and unique racing wire harness.
Racers can select from a variety of supercharged and naturally aspirated engines, including a supercharged 5.7-liter engine, a naturally aspirated 7.0-liter mill and a 6.2-liter direct-injected engine. All engines are backed by an SFI-approved ATI TH400 three-speed automatic transmission.
In keeping with another tradition, the SEMA COPO Camaro will be sold at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction early next year with proceeds benefiting United Way.
2016 SEMA Show Coverage
Also heading to the 2016 SEMA Show is the Camaro SS Drag Race Development Program test vehicle. According to the American automaker, the “test vehicle was built to mimic the typical stair-step enhancements many amateur racers make with their production Camaro SS models, including swapping the differential for a numerically higher ratio and adding horsepower-building components such as a cam-and-heads package to push the SS’s LT1 engine to more than 530 horsepower – and about 600 horsepower with a power adder.”
Chevrolet engineers have made over 100 passes down the quarter mile with the development car with a best quarter-mile time of 10.685 at 125.73 mph. In addition, the test vehicle has achieved a best 60-foot time of 1.425 seconds and an eighth-mile time of 6.764 at 100.85 mph.
Both vehicles will be part of Chevrolet’s display at this week’s SEMA Show.
