[ZRacerLE]

Originally Posted by racer01

Funny how everyone has such a different threshold for certain compromises as well as how high they rate looks, perceived sportiness, having the "top model", etc. Maybe even more interesting in that I was in the same boat and surprised myself which one I eventually decided to purchase.

I have a truck I can daily drive, have ability to afford either, and have 20 years track experience and plan to track the car.
I went with the "regular old" ZL1 with manual transmission and have zero regrets. I drove a friends ZLE (he bought it for 90+% track use) and it pushed me over the edge to trade in my 2020 Supra for the Camaro. Like most, I love the track but still have 90+% of my driving on the street. I can drive my truck to work, but I'd much rather be excited to drive my $60k+ sports car on normal streets.

Just food for thought:
-ZLE really needs a separate set of wheels and tires for the street. Waste to not have the SC3R's on the track and they are really not good for normal street use. You kinda waste the whole engineering point of the ZLE package (stiff shocks, big wings, tons of neg camber and solid bushings) by not running SC3R or equivalently sticky tires and at some point you realize the ZLE package is really really meant for the few % who are really buying the car for 70+% track use.
-Spool dampers are ROUGH on the street. I'm 45 and I'd maybe have lived with it 15 years ago. Hell I drove a spec miata to work quite often 15 years ago...the ZLE would have been more than fine.
-ZLE aero looks really, really mean and works great but you have a big wing in your review mirror on the street and you loose ability to get rear camera rearview mirror.
-I really like the shorter 6th gear in the ZLE. Win win.
-For me and my skill level (20 years as solo DE driver...not a pro racer or racing for $$) the "regular" ZL1 with alignment and SC3 tires should be plenty fast. Probably really needs a cage and race seat to be honest. If I get passed on the track you better bet it is likely the driver's fault not the car.

Just interesting seeing everyone's opinion and just my $0.02 for my personal situation. For what is is worth my last few cars were 18' GT350, 17' M3 comp, 14' GT3, 18' NSX, and 2020 Supra so maybe that helped my normal desire to get the "fastest" model of Camaro and helped me be ok with just getting the one that suited my needs the best. Really appreciate a good ride with roads being crap these days, but really like the fact it is a great manual transmission (rev match is awesome), sounds great in track mode, and has all the cooling and brakes for doing track days while keeping the car 100% stock and in warranty.
Good news is you can't go wrong either way.

Good post