Chevrolet will be offering the RHD Camaro in the United Kingdom starting from 2011, so it’s just about the right time for them to start promoting the car. They will begin with a special treat at this weekend’s Silverstone meeting of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, where the new Chevy Camaro will be displayed along with two unique models, the 1970 Works Camaro replica and the 1976 ‘Bumblebee’ at Silverstone BTCC Round.
The UK special Camaro will get the most powerful engine of the range, apart from the upcoming Z28 model, which is a 6.2-litre V8 engine developing 426bhp. Even though muscle cars have never been successful in Britain, mainly because they won’t blend in, but Chevy is confident the new Camaro will change things.
The new Camaro is powered by a 6.2-litre V8 engine developing 426bhp – a figure not significantly different from Stuart Scott’s 1970 car.
But the oldest Camaro of the trio is not a standard road car – it’s a faithful replica of the former Richard Lloyd British Saloon Car Championship Camaro Z28 from the early Seventies, which won a number of races against smaller domestic market cars. Powered by a tuned 5.7-litre V8, the race-bred engine produces 470bhp. Indeed, the Camaro is the only Chevrolet ever to win the title in Britain’s biggest ever tin-top series, in the hands of Australian Frank Gardner back in 1973.
Joining the racer, which is next to be used in anger in the 2010 Tour Britannia next month, will be a 1976 Camaro created by Chevrolet to commemorate the launch of Transformers the Movie in 2007. With a slightly more sedate road-tuned 165bhp under the bonnet, albeit still with a 5.7-litre V8, the car echoes the look of ‘old’ Bumblebee in the movie – the car that morphed into the beefy new model as part of the movie’s storyline.
The three cars will be the focal point of the Chevrolet stand at the race meeting, and will be home to a live Q and A session with Chevrolet BTCC drivers Jason Plato and Alex MacDowall, who will be answering questions from the public between races two and three.
