Bought fresh off the showroom floor in 2013, Gary Coyne’s 2013 Chevy Camaro ZL1 is just as intense in how it drives as the bright red pigments sprawled across its externals. At the time, Gary merely wanted something “a little different than a regular Camaro” and was completely satisfied with what the nearly decade-old platform had to provide. Fast forward nine years and this Vengeance Racing built ZL1 has taken on its third iteration that lives up to its license plate.
At 56 years old, it’s safe to say that Gary was raised in an era where things were done a bit differently. He grew up in a time when lap belts were the only safety feature on a vehicle, ashtrays were still being integrated into door cards, and bumpers were built from massive slabs of chromed steel.
It was a magical time, especially when young Gary was on a road trip with his father. Apparently, Gary’s old man always insisted on taking road trip vacations and intentionally booked small motels in rural towns along the way. This way, both father and son could sit on the front porch of the roadside motel and name all the different makes and models of vehicles driving by as they sipped soda pop and soaked in the scenery.
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Fired Up And Pushing For More Power
As Gary grew, so did his need for speed. This addiction to performance was further amplified by his attendance at a local technical college. There he dove head-first into the school’s automotive program. Around that time, he also got into road racing motorcycles, which quickly evolved into drag racing bikes. The young Mr. Coyne soon found this fast-paced form of adrenaline infinitely addicting.
While the string of automobiles that followed would provide various levels of exhilaration, frustration, and financial investment, it was not until Gary took possession of his 2013 Camaro ZL1 that things really got heated.
Long known for being one of the East coast’s most reputable and knowledgeable power shops, Vengeance Racing takes performance package installs to whole new levels.
Many years and multiple builds later, Gary Coyne’s Camaro is now holstering over 2,063 horsepower at the wheels on just 25-pounds of boost. Built by none other than Georgia-based Vengeance Racing and powered by a boosted Late Model Engines built LS, Gary and the guys down at Vengeance feel that a whopping 3,000 rwhp is entirely feasible.
However, this isn’t the first time that Vengeance Racing has put this ZL1 under the knife. Back in 2019, LSX Mag covered Gary Coyne’s record-holding Camaro. At the time, it sported a very different engine configuration. This latest incarnation retains many of the previous build’s worthier engine mods, with the 427 block from LME retaining its place as the cornerstone of the project.
Everything north of the block (which did receive a bump in compression) has been updated or completely overhauled. Beefier snails in new locations, a Vengeance Racing/Late Model Engines custom solid roller camshaft setup, and LS7 heads are all new to the vehicle. The old air-to-air intercooler setup was also dumped for a 3,000 horsepower rated air-to-water unit from No Corners Cut. A Holley Dominator PCM tackles the tuning side of things. Naturally, a lot more went into this ZL1 3.0 build from Vengeance Racing (third times the charm, right?), which has been encapsulated within the spec sheet below for the sake of time and space.
From a performance standpoint, this has translated to a best quarter-mile time of 8.0 seconds at 178.9 miles per hour, with word of there quickly being low 7s in the car’s future once the boost gets turned up a dash more. So naturally, these bowel-shaking figures are accompanied by a near-equal amount of torque, with a reported 2,000 lb/ft of the membrane melting stuff on tap.
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As mentioned previously, Coyne’s ZL1 held the half-mile record for a fifth gen Camaro before its latest rebuild. Needless to say, it is a title that Gary hopes to retake during his next half-mile event. The goal? 220 mph or better.
Hold On To What We’ve Got!
When asked how something so virile handles and what form of driving technique must be implemented to keep everything safely under control, Coyne nods nonchalantly and merely says that his Camaro “…handles like it’s on rails most of the time.”
Scoff if you must, but a quick glance at the spec sheet below proves that Vengeance Racing took a plethora of additional steps to make this monster feel as planted as possible, regardless of what speed the Holley Dash gauge cluster proclaims at that particular moment. Vengeance Racing’s attention to detail and dedication to its craft is second to none. They have recently produced everything from LSR-swapped Pontiac Firehawk T/A sleeper builds to Late Model Engines (LME)V8-powered Cadillac CTS-V street sweepers.
It goes without saying, Gary is a highly focused driver. When there is a soon-to-be max total of 3,000 horsepower readying for wheels-up action, you freakin’ better be!
This leads us to our closure on this build and one hell of a humorous side story. Apparently, during one of its earlier incarnations, Gary’s then 1,000 horsepower Camaro ZL1 served as the morning shuttle to school for his youngest. Both classmates and teachers alike would stop and gawk as the Coyne kid came peeling into the school parking lot, his mama grinning ear-to-ear from behind the wheel.
To this day, humorous memories such as these remind Gary and his wife that keeping their red-hot Chevy Camaro street legal for as long as possible was indeed a wise decision.
