America's two newest and at the same time, most powerful series-production muscle cars are the 2013 Ford Mustang-based Shelby GT500 and the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
On paper, the $54,995 Camaro ZL1's 6.2-liter supercharged V8 produces 580hp at 6,000 rpm and 556 lb.-ft. of torque (754 Nm) at 4,200 rpm, while the $54,200 Shelby GT500's 5.8-liter supercharged V8 delivers 662hp at 6,250 rpm and 631 lb.-ft. (856Nm) of torque at 4,000 rpm.
Naturally, these numbers are at the flywheel so as with most new cars, Edmund's took them both to the dyno meter to see what they delivered at the rear wheels.
The Camaro ZL1 returned 497 horsepower and 497 lb-ft (673Nm) at the wheels, while the GT500 produced 105 lb-ft and 98 horsepower more at 595hp and 602 lb-ft (815Nm).
Edmunds engineering editor found that there is a "larger-than-expected gap in peak power between the two cars", which can be partially blamed to the ZL1's independent rear suspension that has more drivetrain loss than the GT500's live rear axle.
However, Edmunds believes that the true reason is that GM's engineers purposely softened down the ZL1's V8 as they did not want it to outperform the company's flagship model, the $111,600 Corvette ZR1, a problem Ford's engineers did not have to deal with.
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