Katech Chevy Camaro - DEATH PROOF
When I flew to Michigan in late May to sample Katech's LS7-powered Camaro, it was another track test in another city. Fly in, meet the crew, check out the ride, burn some rubber, have a few laughs, fly home. And this trip was starting out much easier than usual. My departure delay out of New York's LaGuardia airport was measured in mere minutes-a feat I'll be submitting to the Catholic church as an official miracle. My luggage was the first bag out on the belt in Detroit. The mapped directions were actually right for a change as I breezed through light traffic. And the good folks at Katech, in addition to arranging a shop tour, renting out Milan for a day, and pretty much giving me free reign with its LS7-powered Camaro, had also suggested a hotel close to its Clinton Township facilities. It had free cookies and drinks, and upon entering my third-floor room, I found it to be clean and deathly quiet-musta got a room facing away from the street. There were no horns honking, none of the noise typical to a hotel room near a major intersection. Elated with my continued good luck, I moved over to the window and drew the shades to inspect my surroundings. There was a road in the distance, some big shade trees-and hundreds of headstones right under my window.
Despite the restful benefits of sleeping next to a cemetery, I've seen enough horror films to know that this type of omen shouldn't be ignored. You don't go into the woods alone at night, you don't skinny dip at the creepy summer camp-pretty self-explanatory, right? The big question now was: Do you dismiss the superstitious stuff as simple coincidence, or are there repercussions of sleeping next to a boneyard if you are drag-testing the Frankenstein of LS7s the next day?Let's consider what I'd be up against: an LS7 is a force to be reckoned with in factory form, displacing 427 cubes, making 505 horses and 470 lb-ft of torque, and revving past 7,000 rpm in the blink of an eye. The LS7-powered Z06 is capable of mid-11s with enough traction and nerve, a bone-stock rocket with the torque to twist you sideways at every prod of the throttle. Now let's consider the company that modified the LS7 currently sitting in this Camaro's engine bay. Katech Inc. is best known for building the engines for the GM Racing Corvette team-yes, those Corvettes. The C5-Rs and C6.Rs have dominated the GTS/GT1 class of American Le Mans since 2001, laying waste to such rivals as Aston Martin, Saleen, Viper, and Ferrari. They won six ALMS championships between 2001 and 2006, and in that timeframe the Corvettes collected an astonishing 51 victories, including 34 1-2 finishes; multiple LeMans, Sebring, and Petite LeMans wins; and a boatload of ALMS records that may never be eclipsed.
So let me pose one for you: Do you think a company that screws together some of the most ferocious engines on the planet for the world-beating C6.Rs would rest on its laurels when it came time to build a devilish LS7 dubbed "Street Attack"? Not bloody likely.
Starting with an LS7 block and retaining the factory 4.125 bore and 4-inch stroke crank, Katech re-bushes the stock rods and tops them with custom forged pistons. This crew may have learned a thing or two about LS7 airflow during the C5-R/C6.R programs, so you won't be surprised to find a set of worked LS7 cylinder heads atop this mill. The 2.20-inch intake valves gulp air in mass quantities by way of an LS7 intake and UMI 90mm throttle body, and 1.615-inch valves expel air into 1.75-inch TPIS headers and a 3-inch exhaust just as quickly. The heads have been hand-ported to blend out the CNC marks in the runners, bowls, and chambers. Katech also did a little work on shaping the intake runners to extract the very last bit of power. And here's to hoping that all of these tweaks can keep up with the bumpstick, as a positively ginormous 233/276 at .050, .630-lift camshaft calls the shots to the LS7 rockers. Amazingly, a factory Camaro PCM barks orders to this behemoth's LS7 injectors through an assortment of adapter harnesses for the various sensors. Add all of it up, stick it on an engine dyno, and you're left with 640 hp and 555 lb-ft of torque. Yikes.
After sleeping like the dead, I met up with Katech's Director of Aftermarket Operations Caleb Newman and we headed to Milan. We were the last to arrive, as Katech staffers Jason Harding, Dan Shuler, Ken Helzer, and Kevin Pranger had trailered the Camaro earlier so test driver Mark Whitney could make a few half-track runs. A couple of suspension changes had been made since the last track day, and Katech wanted to ensure that the 'Maro was dialed in before I got behind the wheel. In charge of 640 horses, I glanced at Milan's hard retaining walls, remembered a spectacular Enzo Ferrari crash I'd seen on the Interet a few days earlier, and began to appreciate Katech's methodical approach to performance.
The car was ready, and I quizzed the Katech crew on the Camaro and its features. It had a 12-bolt with 4.10s to take hard launches, a Spec 3+ clutch, a new B&M shifter, and a line lock. A set of 325/45R17 M&H Racemaster "street" tires were currently mounted; Mark informed me that he had good luck leaving around five grand in the current trim. I was told that the shift light was set at 6,700 for the day's festivities; my previous experience with the LS7 reminded me that the revs climb so fast, setting a shift point a few hundred low might keep it off the limiter. But no time to digest this new info. It's already past 11:30 a.m., and the temps are in the mid-80s and climbing. Better jump in and make a hit.
After confirming 15 psi rear-tire pressure with Dan, I donned a fire jacket, jumped into the driver seat and adjusted it, then snugged up the five-point harness. On the steering column in front of me sat a round tach and a shift light, and within arm's reach, the line-lock switch snaked out of the console ashtray. I threw on my helmet, rowed the B&M a few times, and cranked 'er up. The Katech LS7 fired off, sending deep bass notes and vibrations through the Simpson padding and into my skull. The 7.0L mill quickly dropped into what could technically be called an idle-the 233/276 duration, 107 LSA cam was chosen for power, not commuting-and I selected First, did a quick spin to kick the pebbles off, and shallow staged. I figured the first run would be a good throwaway; I'd never raced on M&Hs, so I'd leave soft, get used to the launch and tires, shift nice and easy, and feel the car down the track. The light went green, and with the tach on 5,000, I let out the clutch. The tires hooked and the Chevy bogged for a split-second before the LS7 wailed to life, resulting in a ho-hum 1.79 60-foot. It was seven grand before I pulled Second, and a few hundred feet later Third engaged cleanly. The eighth was crossed in 7.4 seconds at 101.3 mph, and a quick shift to Fourth completed the run. No muss, no fuss, 11.39 at 124.9. I immediately rolled back around, intent on upping the revs to leave harder. After a longer spin I rolled up, and when the tree dropped, I had 5,500 waiting for the M&Hs. This launch was smooth, with a 1.61 60 to show for it, but the shifts were not-run over. I missed the gates again 40 minutes later, this time with a 1.69 60 ... and just like that, it wasn't going to be that simple.
Though I slowed down and made damn sure I hit all the gears in the next few passes, two were mid-11 runs and only one improved on my best-a 1.72 60 with some wheelspin resulted in an 11.34/124.3.
At this point, the smart move was to put Mark in the driver seat; he had the most time in the Camaro, and if we were to see a 10 on the street tires, he would do it. His first run was a throwaway, but the next one was solid-he really punished the M&Hs off the line, feeding in more throttle and letting them spin, as opposed to my using less throttle until I knew the meats were planted. And it worked. A 1.66 60-foot resulted, and an 11.15 at 122.8 flashed. His next was even better, as the hard launch ripped the Camaro sideways to a 1.61 short time, and it blazed through the traps in 10.94 seconds and 126 mph!
The ad jockey posted a hell of an e.t.; it was now time to mount the slicks and save a little face. Even though the M&Hs were damn sticky, I felt much more at ease with the slicks on. The Katech Camaro possessed way too much power for some editor with only a few minutes behind the wheel to roast the hides and skate down a dragstrip on treaded tires. To be honest withyou ... this car was a bit scary. Not poor-suspension scary. Not even Christine scary (though both Steven King's '58 Plymouth and Katech's Camaro have the power to easily do you in). No, this kind of demented power meant dancing with the devil at every throttle prod, and on treaded tires, the devil had the edge.
The Hoosiers were bolted on and it was back to the staging lanes-our track rental was coming to a close, and I had about 15 minutes to wring this sucker out.
Now packing front skinnies and 28x10x15 slicks, I pulled into the box, set the line lock, and did a massive burnout to fully heat them. The first run was nothing special, an 11.4. While coming back around, I decided to take the same approach with Katech's LS7 as I did with the GMPP LS7 Camaro: big burnout, near redline launch, quick shifts. After the big smokey, I shallow staged, took a deep breath, selected First, and let the revs climb past 6,000 before dumping the clutch. The Hoosiers bit hard, but still not as hard as I was hoping for, and propelled the F-body to a 1.61 short time. The LS7 was liking the higher-rpm launch, and sang loud through three gears, banging out a 10.97/124.63.
But as great as that 10 felt, there was more in it. Though we were officially done for the day, the Milan staff was cool enough to let me make one more hit. A five-second burnout and I was shallow staged and waiting for the tree to come down. Once it did, I took a deep breath ... flattened the throttle until I saw seven grand...and sidestepped the clutch.
The nose shot into the air-it was a perfectly straight launch that yanked the front tires up a couple inches, giving me a priceless view of blue sky. When the front end came down, the Hoosiers screamed bloody murder and struggled to grip Milan's sticky surface. The monstrous LS7 needed another gear, so I fed it Second in a hurry. When it got Third, I'd passed the eighth-mile in 6.9 seconds. The only hiccup happened at the top of Third gear, as the shift light never blinked for Fourth and it hit the limiter. I quickly banged the last gate, and the clock flashed 10.86 126.4.
Three hot laps in the span of eight minutes. Ninety-degree temps. High density altitude. 10.8s...
The next day, the Katech crew offered me the keys to the Camaro as we headed out for lunch. The adrenaline and elation of the previous day had passed, replaced with New York skepticism. It was possible that in the next hour, I'd be breaking out the old "No! No problem that your thinly veiled race car died in traffic ... I'll call AAA ... Don't worry about it, I've got 'em on speed dial. By the way ... those shocks are hooked up, right?"
Standing in front of the building, I heard the unholy beast start up, then it rumbled around the corner with Jason driving. He hopped out, and I navigated myself through the 'cage and reached for the seatbelt. "Does this have the factory belts?" I asked. "Nope, you'll have to use the harness." And it begins ...
But two hours, four tacos, and one personality-delete waitress later, I arrived back at Katech with a smile and without a good amount of tread on the tires. It didn't stall (though with that cam, it had every right to), handled fine, braked well, and scared the bejesus out of the Mustang driver behind us as I went WOT through two gears.
Which begs the questions: Do we really need 427-powered Katech Camaros terrorizing the streets? Cars that'll do 10s at the strip on your choice of tire, and are a cam, a seat belt, and a catalytic converter away from a commuter car? Should the public even be allowed to buy one of these minions, able to tempt good God-fearing folk with the dark power trip of opening this LS7's throttle, hearing the Flowmaster shriek, and feeling like they just opened up the gates of hell?
I'll struggle with my demons ... good luck with yours.

Photo Gallery: Katech Chevy Camaro - DEATH PROOF - GM High Performance Magazine



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