Fastest Chevrolet Camaro: 10 Camaros That Pushed The Boundaries Of Speed And Performance

Over the course of six generations, the Chevrolet Camaro has carved a legacy that is tough to ignore. While the Ford Mustang may be more popular, and the Dodge Challenger may offer more power, the Chevrolet Camaro has always been a tantalizing proposition, especially on the circuit.

The current Camaro is especially noteworthy as it may be the last version offered with a gasoline engine, possibly becoming an EV. But before we look to the future glumly, let's revel in the top-speed achievements of a V8 icon.

Below are the fastest Chevrolet Camaros ever made. While we will cover the acceleration of every Camaro generation, these are ranked in order of top speed. We're listing the fastest Camaros in order from 10 to 1 because ranking Camaro models fastest to slowest would be weird. We're also ignoring cars that aren't street-legal or that don't have factory backing, so your buddy's V6 won't make this list. Finally, there are obviously several models with similar performance figures, so we've singled out the most exciting to achieve a certain speed.

Thanks to numerous factors, including but not limited to the gas crisis, the first year of the second-generation Camaro Z28 package was the most powerful and the quickest. But it was not the fastest Camaro to date, as will be discussed shortly. The engine installed in this model was a 5.7-liter LT1 V8 producing 360 horsepower and 370 lb-ft of torque, enabling 0 to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 135 mph. But this was still something of a letdown, as the first-gen was capable of a higher top speed. It was a sad time for the large engine and for horsepower battles, and over the next few years, things would only get worse for the slowest Camaro, but the muscle car would also eventually be reborn with the performance it deserved.

Chevrolet released the first-generation Camaro in 1966 for the 1967 model year. Three trim packages were available: RS, SS, and Z/28, and you could order the first two together to create an RS/SS. The quickest model of this generation was the SS 396, which came with a 6.5-liter V8 engine borrowed from the 1965 Chevrolet Corvette sports car. This monstrous big block generated 375 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque - even more than its second-gen replacement could muster. This resulted in a 0 to 60 mph time of 6.8 seconds, which makes it less quick than the newer car, but it had a higher top speed of 140 mph, so it was ultimately faster.

The legendary Yenko Camaro should never have existed because corporate higher-ups at General Motors forbade the installation of engines larger than 400 cubic inches (6.6 liters). But Don Yenko, a dealer from Pennsylvania, had been installing enormous 427 ci/7.0-liter engines in the Camaro anyway. When Chevrolet finally caved to demand and offered models with more displacement, he ordered loads of them. Central Office Production Order 9561 was offered for the 1969 model year with a solid-lifter L72 big block rated at 425 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque.

Yenko ordered 201 of these models to convert them into Yenko Camaros, and eventually, other dealers caught on, resulting in roughly 1,000 Camaros being fitted with the engine. But it's the original Camaros built by Yenko that are especially scarce (roughly 54 made) and powerful, with early models getting as much as 450 hp, enabling 0 to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds and a top speed of 140 mph. Definitely a fast Camaro in its day, and Yenko is still going mad on Camaros now.

Thanks to a partnership with the International Race of Champions, Chevrolet offered an option package for the Camaro Z28 called the IROC-Z. Technically, that made it the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 International Race of Champions-Z - what a mouthful. Along with several handling upgrades, the package also offered the option of tuned port injection from the Chevrolet Corvette of the day. The most powerful and quickest version of this car arrived in 1990. The fastest model of the generation was also the final year of the IROC-Z because Chevy chose not to renew its contract with the International Race of Champions.

1990 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 IROC-Z trims equipped with the 5.7-liter TPI V8 engine produced 245 hp and 345 lb-ft of torque, translating to a 0 to 60 mph time of anything from 5.8 to 6.1 seconds, depending on the specification of the particular car. The IROC-Z made up for its poor sprinting with its long legs, achieving speeds of 146 mph. It's something of a bargain now if you can handle being beaten to 60 by a Golf GTI (any Golf GTI, almost).

The fourth-gen Camaro peaked with the arrival of the Camaro Z/28 SS, which could be had by adding the WU8 option pack to the Z/28. This added better tires, an upgraded exhaust system, and various other handling and performance updates. The cherry on top was the 5.7-liter LS1 V8 from the Corvette and the Pontiac Firebird. This supposedly produced 310-320 hp and 345 lb-ft of torque, but this was a lie to avoid cannibalizing Corvette sales; in truth, it made the same 350 hp. Despite this, many still saw the muscle car as a rebadged Pontiac Firebird, although the reverse was actually true.

In instrumented testing carried out by MotorTrend, the most badass fourth-gen Camaro achieved 0 to 60 mph in only 5.2 seconds. Finally, there was a Camaro quicker to 60 than the first-gen. Top speed was around the 160 mph mark.

Now that we're done with the five slowest Camaros on the list, it's time for reminiscence. This writer was the perfect age to be the target audience of the Transformers films, and while I had already fallen in love with McQueen's Ford Mustang in Bullitt, I felt that the modernized Dodge Charger and Challenger, along with the Ford Mustang, were either trying too hard or not hard enough to be retro. For me, the fifth-generation Camaro SS hit the sweet spot, melding modernity with classic cues. And with its appearance as an intergalactic alien machine, it looked faster than anything else.

Thanks to a 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 making a healthy 426 hp, I was not disappointed. At least, not at first. The car could do 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and topped out at 165 mph. But then I discovered that this was only with the six-speed manual. If you chose to have a more relaxed pony car, the six-speed automatic transmission only availed you of 400 hp. I jumped the fence back to the Ford Mustang right away, but GM would later impress muscle car enthusiasts new, old, fairweather, and loyal. It just took one more year of patience.

Come 2014, enter the return of a legend. The good people over at Corvette Racing helped develop a 7.0-liter V8 engine called the LS7, and they shoved it down the throat of the Camaro Z/28. Chevrolet estimates that it produces 500 hp on the dot and 470 lb-ft of torque.

No disappointing slushbox was offered; the Z/28 was exclusively available with a Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual, which sent power to a helical gear set residing in a proper limited-slip differential. The glass was made thinner, the battery was made lighter, and even the HID headlamps and foglights were thrown back on the parts shelf. The redline was at 7,100 rpm, 0 to 60 mph was dispatched in four seconds flat, and the top speed was a theoretical 172 mph, making it potentially one of the fastest Chevy Camaros.

In 2010, Chevy offered the ZL550 and ZL575 as limited editions that were fettled by SLP Performance. These two are very similar. The first gets the six-speed automatic transmission, which, as we've already discussed, was incapable of handling all the horsepower that the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro could generate. The ZL550, unsurprisingly, produced 550 hp from its 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine, but we're already bored because of that six-speed automatic.

The ZL575, on the other hand, with its six-speed manual transmission, produced 575 hp (duh) and 550 lb-ft of torque. This is from the same basic V8 you got in the SS, where it made 426 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. The ZL575's numerous modifications allowed it to achieve its scarcely believable 0 to 60 mph time of 3.8 seconds, but it was factory limited to 158 mph… unless you optioned Brembo brakes, in which case you unlocked a supercar-bothering 190 mph. That makes it one of the fastest Camaros of all time, but if Camaro history has taught us anything, it's that these cars can always take more punishment.

What is the fastest Camaro model? Well, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is the fastest stock Camaro and has the fastest Camaro 0-60 so far, although it was built for corners. It has third-generation magnetic ride suspension, Brembo brakes with six-piston calipers in front and four-piston calipers at the rear, 20-inch forged aluminum wheels, the Performance Traction Management system originally engineered for the Corvette ZR1, and more.

But the highlight has to be the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine. The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was originally introduced during the fifth-gen lifecycle and sold from 2012-2015, but that only made as much as 580 hp. For the 2017 model, much changed. This sixth-gen street-legal track toy produced 650 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque from its LT4 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine. That was enough for a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 193 mph, making it the fastest production Camaro to date. Looking at the wing of the ZL1 1LE package, it's no surprise that Chevy quoted that speed without it. Instead, the regular car gets a stanchion spoiler, hailed for its good lift/drag ratio. The stanchion spoiler is also found on Corvettes.

Including a tuned car as the fastest Chevy Camaro is a little cheeky, but we did preface this listicle by saying that we'd only include cars with factory backing - we didn't say the factory backing the Camaro had to be based in Detroit. The tuning experts at Hennessey Performance took a look at the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and decided to do what Chevy couldn't: crack 200 mph by creating the Exorcist. Hennessey threw out the factory 1.7-liter supercharger, put in a 2.9-liter unit with a bigger intercooler, and bolted on a high-flow induction system. An improved exhaust also found its way to the car, as did ported cylinder heads and a custom camshaft.

The result was given a name meant to strike fear into the hearts of Dodge Challenger Demon drivers at the drag strip, and it did. The 6.2-liter V8 made 1,000 hp and a stunning 966 lb-ft of torque. If only they made another 34 lb-ft. Regardless, the car could do 0-60 mph in 2.1 seconds, clock a quarter mile time of 9.57 seconds at 147 mph, and keep going all the way to a top speed of 217 mph. It's not a Chevy project, but it's worthy of being crowned the fastest Camaro - not just of the current generation but of all time. Are Camaros fast? Yes - it just depends on how far you're willing to go. For Hennessey, 217 mph was the limit.