So I bought a v6 1le and I...

...plan to track the hell out of it.  Track mode is excellent, sound is great, this thing sticks so hard it makes you feel like having a superpower...grip.  I don't plan to DD it so track days here we come!

Great track car, we had one at work that we beat the hell out of. Keep an eye on your oil temps or think about an oil cooler if you're driving on the pointy end in summer.

Oh man. You're gonna have fun. Isn't that v6 sound surprisingly good? The fact that the v6 sounds so good is honestly the worst thing about the 2.0. 

Raze said:

...plan to track the hell out of it.  Track mode is excellent, sound is great, this thing sticks so hard it makes you feel like having a superpower...grip.  I don't plan to DD it so track days here we come!

I GOT SOMETHING TO SAY

I bought a 1LE today, and it

Doesn't matter much to me

As long as *mumble mumble* I get to track the hell out of it

morello159 said:

Great track car, we had one at work that we beat the hell out of. Keep an eye on your oil temps or think about an oil cooler if you're driving on the pointy end in summer.

Doesn't the 1LE come with that, though?  Or is it some weird tier thing where the 1LE is just the next model up's package minus the engine?

/old enough to remember the '92 1LE, and the Konami Code of options you had to order/delete in order to get it, because they didn't want just anyone to get the 12" brakes and stuff.  Now they put a berking badge on the car to advertise that you got it.  What's next, a revival of the ZL1 option code that is something other than a base 6 cylinder car with zero options except for the most ridiculously out-there engine in Chevy's arsenal, at a cost of doubling that base model Camaro's MSRP?

In reply to Knurled. :

I see what you did there.

In reply to Knurled. :

Ironic you say that, in this case this is a base LS car with only the A1X option which basically spells out the strange combo of options, including as Morello pointed out,e oil cooler.  The number of coolers up front is ridiculous, oh and there's no badging anywhere on this car except the Camaro side badges:

LT 1LE Performance Package, includes (J55) Brembo 4-piston
front, performance, 4-wheel antilock, 4-wheel disc brakes, (KC4)
external engine oil cooler, (V03) extra capacity cooling system,
(KNR) rear differential cooler, (G80) limited slip differential, (NPP)
dual-mode performance exhaust, (Y4Q) Heavy-Duty Cooling and
Brake Package, (FE3) performance suspension, (FTF) Satin
Black front splitter, (T4F) high intensity discharge headlamps,
(DSM) Satin Black hood wrap, (D5S) Satin Black rear blade
spoiler, (R0F) 245/40ZR20 front and 275/35ZR20 rear, blackwall,
summer-only, run-flat tires, (56Z) 20" x 8.5" front and 20" x 9.5"
rear Black forged aluminum wheels, (N26) sueded-wrapped,
flat-bottom steering wheel and (KS9) sueded-wrapped shift knob
1 - Requires (H1T) Jet Black interior trim, (LGX) 3.6L V6 engine and
(MN6) 6-speed manual transmission. Not available with (WRS) RS
Package; the following stripes: BO3, C2U, C3O, DUU, DUV, DW7;
and the following LPOs: 5JL, 5JW, 5K2, 5V5, 5VM, 5ZB, 5ZU, RXH,
RY2, RZ3, SB7, SFA, SG3, SHH, SHL, SHR, SNG, SNH, VPW, VTE,
VTF, VUP, W1V, WGL.
2 - Requires (H0Y) Jet Black interior, (LGX) 3.6L V6 engine and
(MN6) 6-speed manual transmission. Not available with (WRS) RS
Package; (H50) 50th Anniversary Edition; the following stripes:
BO3, C2U, C3O, DUU, DUV, DW7; and the following LPOs: 5JL,
5JW, 5K2, 5V5, 5VM, 5ZB, 5ZU, RXH, RY2, RZ3, SB7, SFA, SG3,
SHH, SHL, SHR, SNG, SNH, VPW, VTF, VUP, W1V, WG

Didn't realize it came with an oil cooler - I guess the stock one isn't sufficient. We were hitting 280F+ oil temps lapping at VIR (a track with plenty of straightaway to cool things down), but that was with pro-level drivers. 

In reply to Vigo :

I drove a 6th gen 4cyl stick for 6 months and owned a 5th gen previously and loved the v6 sound with npp and the Dynamics of the 6th gen...married together is great.  It's slow compared to an SS but it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow...and I have more money for track time and tires.

In reply to Raze :

Hnng.

Nice! I test drove an SS 1LE at the end of 2017. Loved it. Just couldn't bring myself to spend $45k on it. 

Sorry so long, wasn't able to get on track until now, life and all that and I want to cover while thoughts are fresh.  I just finished a long weekend at Road Atlanta with Just Track It and NASA, enjoyed both for different reasons, that in a second, first consumables for first time out with the car: 

Car is bone stock, I had the brake fluid flushed with DOT3 right before the event - will switch to DOT4 next event at AMP.  Stock pads 80/60% F/R when I started and tires around 50% which are Goodyear F1 asymmetric something or other.  I started at 45psi and backed down 5 psi somewhere middle of day 1 and then again by end of day 1.  I took a few more out beginning of day 2 so I ended up cold around 32 which was good because I was getting them to 39 hot and that's right where the track prep guide says.  Also watched the progression of the rollover to the little markers which was nice to see. It was wet for 4 out of 12 runs, and I skipped last two (13 and 14) runs because it was really wet, I was tired, I just started soloing on Sunday, and really didn't want to push my luck.

By the end of the weekend front brake pads still had just under 80% and backs were down to 30%.  Tires were at 30%.  Never experienced brake fade but RA is a big track and really only has 3 hard brake zones, 1, 6 10a...5 and 7 aren't near as hard.  I also only used a half tank of gas for 4 runs per day and I was not timid with the throttle.

Biggest car eye opener was tires and braaaaaakes, I had no idea you could stop that hard, that late, without engaging T/C without race pads on stock tires, losing it or getting into trouble.  admittedly I inched up to being able to do that one session at a time and still have a looooong way to go, especially on tires and grip. I was very uncomfortable at first with late, hard braking but got used to it, it's really not the same as karting or AutoX in my experience and I'm no expert.on either.

Biggest on track eye opener was the shear quantity of things going on and how to process all of it at once.  I found the wet sessions much more useful in this as I focused more on surroundings since I couldn't go as fast.  This helped a lot when it got dry, it was much easier to watch what was happening, and payed off when there was a red flag on my first solo, in the esses right behind another vehicle I would have passed into the 5-6 straight.

In car instruction, I liked JTI more than NASA as I had a very experienced instructor who was clear on what I needed to stop, start, and keep doing.   He could anticipate based on where I setup lines and gave feedback ahead or during so I could adjust or learn my mistake on the spot.  If you're one of those people who can only do one things at a time it would be overload, but I found it to be like a second voice in my head trying to adjust ahead.  I felt fortunate to get that type of instruction.

NASA instruction was good as it was a different point of view, I also did ride alogs and found that more instructivr.  I wouldn't say the in car was bad, but it was more after the fact and more show with ride along vs read ahead and instruct, not bad, it was more coaching.  I did have a couple of missed sessions by my instructor that wasn't great, but NASA had fill-ins and I made the most of it to get different viewpoints which I found more valuable as I got different lines and variations to try.

Last thing and it's the biggest to me was the experience.  I went to learn and was rewarded with 4 instructors, 12 runs, 4 hours on track across 3 days plus ride alongs in different cars, running with different orgs, in different weather conditions, learning the car, consumables.  It was not cheap as I had track insurance on top of entry fees, but I feel like I experienced a huge range in 72 hours.

I'm hooked, AMP in April, RA in July, I may be adding more in between and definatley more later this year.

​​​​

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Vigo said:

Oh man. You're gonna have fun. Isn't that v6 sound surprisingly good? The fact that the v6 sounds so good is honestly the worst thing about the 2.0. 

I disagree if it's straight piped. There's a riced out black one around here and the guy leaves it in 3rd on the freeway and it sounds like sh1t

In reply to morello159 :

shoot, does that mean I should attach a nice oil cooler and temp gauge before I slam my car into a wall.... errrrr try and track a mk1 turbo focus?
I've only ever tracked my car when it was NA. I can only imagine that turbos add a ridiculous amount of more heat.

It's got the active exhaust and can drone if you unplug the fuse at low rpm, high speed, it sounds better screaming.

I forgot to mention temps, coolant never got above 209 and oil 260, trans temp 160, but all are cooled stock, so I forgot about it after day 1.

These v6 camaro's are relaly incredible. 

On a recent car and driver Lightning Lap test, the 1LE V6 was faster than the Mustang 5.0 with the best performance package option it could be had with. (Not a GT350). 

^ As much as the V6 1LE punches above its weight, that is not true. It was faster than the regular GT, which is still an impressive feat. The GT PP2 was faster than the Camaro SS 1LE: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a23132512/2018-ford-mustang-gt-performance-package-2-lightning-lap-2018/

ChrisLS8 said:

Vigo said:

Oh man. You're gonna have fun. Isn't that v6 sound surprisingly good? The fact that the v6 sounds so good is honestly the worst thing about the 2.0. 

I disagree if it's straight piped. There's a riced out black one around here and the guy leaves it in 3rd on the freeway and it sounds like sh1t

I think there's atleast 2 of those in every town.

In reply to Loweguy5 :

That was my logic, it's cheap for what it does, and I don't feel bad using it as intended.

When was the weight reduced Camaro released? 
Was the change between 2015 and 2016?

Nice buy- those are really great on the track.  I stepped up for a "nice" car last year and was very tempted to get the V6 1LE.  Ended up with a Cayman instead.  I'm in love with the Cayman but there's no question that the Camaro beats it in the performance/dollars category.

ShinnyGroove said:

Nice buy- those are really great on the track.  I stepped up for a "nice" car last year and was very tempted to get the V6 1LE.  Ended up with a Cayman instead.  I'm in love with the Cayman but there's no question that the Camaro beats it in the performance/dollars category.

I had trouble keeping pace with a couple of the Caymans in my group because I'm still working on braking really late.  I noticed they could get under power sooner without braking loose so I have to work on carrying more speed and trusting the tires and keeping the car from unsettling, I loved following them because they were very composed through the turns.

Another weekend at Road Atlanta, car remains stock except for the track alignment...thanks to Gran Turismo East and some Motul 600 brake fluid, and I have replaced rear stock pads and another set of stock tires.  I put together the data capture with my phone on a RAM X mount, Garmin GLO 2 GPS receiver and an OBDLink MX+. 

Fun facts from this weekend:

1 - the stock Goodear runflats like to be lowered to a cold pressure of 24-26 psi for max grip hot around 35 psi, in the video on 10a I'm braking after the 100 mark  (been testing the limits) and end up putting the car sideways, it held but it was a pucker moment.

2 - trail braking is hard to get right but wow how much more momentum you can carry

3 - I still need to learn heel toe

4 - recording runs really does help make adjustments, I never had downtime as I studied each session, by the end I ran consistent 1:46/7s with situationally aware traffic

In reply to Raze (Forum Supporter) :

dude, *i* puckered watching it on my laptop!  8-|