Chevrolet continues to present the features that make the 2014 Camaro Z/28 the fastest production Camaro ever and, believe it or not, the brand’s bowtie is one of them. In developing the car, the team analyzed every component looking for ways to improve performance, and even the iconic Chevrolet bowtie was scrutinized.
Aerodynamic tests revealed that the bowtie on the Z/28’s grille was displacing air away from the radiator, which can affect engine cooling. Powertrain Cooling Development engineer Richard Quinn came up with the solution: replacing the full golden bowtie with just the chrome outline of the iconic shape. Quinn installed the prototype on the grille and retested to see the results.
“There are engineers in our team that race as a hobby and we used that racer’s mindset to look for ways small or large to get better performance out of the Z/28. Even the smallest details on the Z/28 were weighed for cooling benefit, and this is one that stuck,” Quinn says.
While the “Flowtie” would appear as a minor detail to many, it proved to improve cooling efficiency by allowing three additional cubic meters of air into the engine per minute. Engineers found the Flowtie dropped the temperatures of the engine coolant and engine oil by 2°F (1.2°C) during extended track sessions, so they decided to make it a standard feature on every Camaro Z/28.
As a reminder, the performance-oriented Camaro Z/28 arrives in dealerships this spring with a $75,000 price tag, including a $995 destination charge and gas-guzzler tax, but excluding state tax, title, license and dealer fees.
By Dan Mihalascu
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