Click Camaro for more.
The Garage 56 entry – a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – is at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race this weekend, so it was inevitable that punters will get to own a car “inspired” by the purpose-built race car. However, there appears to be remarkable restraint in the scope of the sales plan with only 56 versions planned?
Renderings of the 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition were shown publicly for the first time today in France during a “Meet the Team” event at Le Mans highlighting the race program and the race car. (AutoInformed: Le Mans 2023 – NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Entry Unveiled at Daytona; NASCAR – Johnson, Rockenfeller, Button to Drive Camaro ZL1 at the 24-Hour Le Mans Race in June; Hendrick Motorsports to Run Camaro ZL1 at Le Mans!)
“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said General Motors President Mark Reuss, who in AutoInformed’s direct experience losing to him on a track,* is quite an accomplished driver himself. If he can sit through interminable corporate meetings, we bet he could run Le Mans, but he isn’t driving.
Chevrolet associate Hendrick Motorsports, all-time leader in NASCAR Cup Series championships and race wins, was selected to field the team and construct the very expensive Garage 56 Camaro ZL1 race car. Drivers include Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion (but severally challenged driving on road courses); Jenson Button, 2009 Formula One World Champion; and multi-time Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller.
Goodyear, both the official tire of NASCAR and the tire manufacturer for all sixth generation Camaro variants, provides Goodyear Eagle race tires for the Garage 56 race car. The components of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 are largely unchanged from the Next Gen race car that competes weekly in the NASCAR Cup Series. Among the other changes made to prepare the car for an endurance race are functioning headlights and taillights – not decals – a larger fuel cell, and carbon brake discs.
Track testing for the Camaro began last August at Road Atlanta with two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, who will be joined by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button behind the wheel at the upcoming 100th anniversary of the endurance race. Altogether the test car and its previous iteration have logged more than 3600 miles at six separate tests (Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway, Goodyear Proving Grounds, Carolina Motorsports Park, Sebring International Raceway and Daytona International Speedway).
Chevrolet’s Performance Design Studio is responsible for the limited-edition road car. “When adapting a race car appearance into a production car, you want to showcase themes, proportions and colors without making the car look out of place on the street,” said Marc Mainville, senior manager, GM Motorsport Design Studio. “The Garage 56 Edition captures the feeling of the race car while allowing the car’s athletic lines to be in the forefront.”
The design starts with the new-for-2024 Riptide Blue exterior color and adds a graphics package that pulls in colors and themes from the race car, including thin gold stripes that accent a larger white stripe running from hood to rear decklid. On the hood, just beyond the nose of the Camaro, is the NASCAR 75th Anniversary logo — matching the logo’s conspicuous placement on the race car. The gold and white stripes become an accent to the monochromatic stars and stripes visuals that start on the engine cowl on the hood and extend to the roof.
A special Garage 56 badge is located on the front fenders, replacing the Camaro badging, and a Hendrick Motorsports logo is added to the sail panels in a “similar position” to the ones on the race car. Satin mirrors and a black fuel door with carbon fiber inserts are additional exterior highlights, while the interior receives Garage 56 emblems on the floormats and a Garage 56 steering wheel badge. In short, the usual special edition gimmicks.
Each car will come with three additional graphics that buyers can choose to equip their Garage 56 Editions with that represent the collaborators and are drawn from their decal positions on the race car: a NASCAR windshield header decal, white Goodyear front wheel arch decals and door decals displaying 24, the number run on the race car.
The Garage 56 Edition also has unique aerodynamic tweaks with the front fascia of the Camaro ZL1 1LE featuring dive-planes similar to the race car, and a NASCAR Cup car-style wicker bill spoiler on the deck-lid.
The production car’s power also comes from the Small Block engine family. The Camaro ZL1’s 650hp LT4 V8 is under the hood, and the Camaro rides on Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar rubber. The Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition will enter production later this year at GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly facility in Michigan.
Pricing, not yet. We wonder if it will have anything to do with the racing outcome at LeMans of another famous racing Chevrolet that you may have heard of – the Corvette? Corvette Racing says it “really, REALLY wants to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. So much so that after last year’s near-miss, there is a focused, full-team effort to put the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette in the best position possible to win the GTE Am category this time around.”
This just in (late Thursday 8 June) Corvette Racing ‘s Ben Keating put the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R on the GTE Am pole position during Thursday’s Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.Keating – teaming in the Corvette with Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone – posted a best lap of 3:52.376 (131.171 mph) to take Corvette Racing’s second straight pole position at Le Mans. The GTE Am championship-leading trio increased their points advantage by one with the P1 finish.
Much of the preparation centered around work at the GM Technical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina where Corvette Racing drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have helped their colleagues from the FIA World Endurance Championship in Chevrolet’s Driver in the Loop (DiL) simulator with multiple sessions to test different configurations for the C8.R around Le Mans. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, begins at 10 am. ET, Saturday, 10 June 2023. (AutoInformed: Le Mans – Corvette 1-2 on Grid, Porsche 3-4; Corvette Z06 GT3.R 2024 Racecar Shown at Daytona)
*Reuss once kicked the author’s butt at a closed track in New York State. It’s surprising when the North American president of an auto company appears at a race track to drive a car he worked on as an engineer. It’s embarrassing, though, when he’s as fast, well frankly faster, than any hot shoe out there. I was looking at Reuss’s taillights -\ in the distance – all the way round. (see AutoInformed on Driving the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe)
Annals of Marketing – Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition
Click Camaro for more.
The Garage 56 entry – a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – is at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race this weekend, so it was inevitable that punters will get to own a car “inspired” by the purpose-built race car. However, there appears to be remarkable restraint in the scope of the sales plan with only 56 versions planned?
Renderings of the 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition were shown publicly for the first time today in France during a “Meet the Team” event at Le Mans highlighting the race program and the race car. (AutoInformed: Le Mans 2023 – NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Entry Unveiled at Daytona; NASCAR – Johnson, Rockenfeller, Button to Drive Camaro ZL1 at the 24-Hour Le Mans Race in June; Hendrick Motorsports to Run Camaro ZL1 at Le Mans!)
“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said General Motors President Mark Reuss, who in AutoInformed’s direct experience losing to him on a track,* is quite an accomplished driver himself. If he can sit through interminable corporate meetings, we bet he could run Le Mans, but he isn’t driving.
Chevrolet associate Hendrick Motorsports, all-time leader in NASCAR Cup Series championships and race wins, was selected to field the team and construct the very expensive Garage 56 Camaro ZL1 race car. Drivers include Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion (but severally challenged driving on road courses); Jenson Button, 2009 Formula One World Champion; and multi-time Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller.
Goodyear, both the official tire of NASCAR and the tire manufacturer for all sixth generation Camaro variants, provides Goodyear Eagle race tires for the Garage 56 race car. The components of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 are largely unchanged from the Next Gen race car that competes weekly in the NASCAR Cup Series. Among the other changes made to prepare the car for an endurance race are functioning headlights and taillights – not decals – a larger fuel cell, and carbon brake discs.
Track testing for the Camaro began last August at Road Atlanta with two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, who will be joined by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button behind the wheel at the upcoming 100th anniversary of the endurance race. Altogether the test car and its previous iteration have logged more than 3600 miles at six separate tests (Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway, Goodyear Proving Grounds, Carolina Motorsports Park, Sebring International Raceway and Daytona International Speedway).
Chevrolet’s Performance Design Studio is responsible for the limited-edition road car. “When adapting a race car appearance into a production car, you want to showcase themes, proportions and colors without making the car look out of place on the street,” said Marc Mainville, senior manager, GM Motorsport Design Studio. “The Garage 56 Edition captures the feeling of the race car while allowing the car’s athletic lines to be in the forefront.”
The design starts with the new-for-2024 Riptide Blue exterior color and adds a graphics package that pulls in colors and themes from the race car, including thin gold stripes that accent a larger white stripe running from hood to rear decklid. On the hood, just beyond the nose of the Camaro, is the NASCAR 75th Anniversary logo — matching the logo’s conspicuous placement on the race car. The gold and white stripes become an accent to the monochromatic stars and stripes visuals that start on the engine cowl on the hood and extend to the roof.
A special Garage 56 badge is located on the front fenders, replacing the Camaro badging, and a Hendrick Motorsports logo is added to the sail panels in a “similar position” to the ones on the race car. Satin mirrors and a black fuel door with carbon fiber inserts are additional exterior highlights, while the interior receives Garage 56 emblems on the floormats and a Garage 56 steering wheel badge. In short, the usual special edition gimmicks.
Each car will come with three additional graphics that buyers can choose to equip their Garage 56 Editions with that represent the collaborators and are drawn from their decal positions on the race car: a NASCAR windshield header decal, white Goodyear front wheel arch decals and door decals displaying 24, the number run on the race car.
The Garage 56 Edition also has unique aerodynamic tweaks with the front fascia of the Camaro ZL1 1LE featuring dive-planes similar to the race car, and a NASCAR Cup car-style wicker bill spoiler on the deck-lid.
The production car’s power also comes from the Small Block engine family. The Camaro ZL1’s 650hp LT4 V8 is under the hood, and the Camaro rides on Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar rubber. The Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition will enter production later this year at GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly facility in Michigan.
Pricing, not yet. We wonder if it will have anything to do with the racing outcome at LeMans of another famous racing Chevrolet that you may have heard of – the Corvette? Corvette Racing says it “really, REALLY wants to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. So much so that after last year’s near-miss, there is a focused, full-team effort to put the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette in the best position possible to win the GTE Am category this time around.”
This just in (late Thursday 8 June) Corvette Racing ‘s Ben Keating put the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R on the GTE Am pole position during Thursday’s Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.Keating – teaming in the Corvette with Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone – posted a best lap of 3:52.376 (131.171 mph) to take Corvette Racing’s second straight pole position at Le Mans. The GTE Am championship-leading trio increased their points advantage by one with the P1 finish.
Much of the preparation centered around work at the GM Technical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina where Corvette Racing drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have helped their colleagues from the FIA World Endurance Championship in Chevrolet’s Driver in the Loop (DiL) simulator with multiple sessions to test different configurations for the C8.R around Le Mans. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, begins at 10 am. ET, Saturday, 10 June 2023. (AutoInformed: Le Mans – Corvette 1-2 on Grid, Porsche 3-4; Corvette Z06 GT3.R 2024 Racecar Shown at Daytona)
*Reuss once kicked the author’s butt at a closed track in New York State. It’s surprising when the North American president of an auto company appears at a race track to drive a car he worked on as an engineer. It’s embarrassing, though, when he’s as fast, well frankly faster, than any hot shoe out there. I was looking at Reuss’s taillights -\ in the distance – all the way round. (see AutoInformed on Driving the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe)