The Camaro ZL1 1LE is officially the fastest ever

Camaro ZL1 1LE (Chevrolet)

Often when a car company takes an already fast car and re-tunes it for even better, usually track-focused performance, it's hard to really notice a difference. However, to prove that the changes its engineers have made to create the ZL1 1LE were anything other than cosmetic, Chevrolet has taken its latest Camaro to the ultimate testing ground -- the Nurburgring -- and in doing so has set a remarkable time of seven minutes, 16.04 seconds.

That figure makes it the 14th fastest car of any description ever to undertake the 20.8km Green Hell and, considering that the top 20 is littered with the rarest and most expensive automotive exotica money can buy, it is certainly the only affordable car in the top 50, let alone 20.

Until now, the fastest Camaro was the stock ZL1, which set a very impressive seven-minute-and-29.6-second lap time last year.

And, according to Chevrolet, the reason why the new model is so much faster is all down to chassis, suspension and braking set up.

"To make up more than a second per mile on the Nordschleife compared to the ZL1 automatic is a dramatic improvement and speaks to the 1LE's enhanced track features," said Al Oppenheiser, Camaro chief engineer.

The car uses Multimatic DSS dampers, front dive planes and a larger carbon fiber rear wing, as well as a special set of Goodyear Eagle tires, which though street legal are for summer use only.

But away from those track-focused touches, the Camaro could conceivably be used as a family car thanks to a generous trunk and rear seats. And at $69,995, it is an absolute steal considering the car directly above it in the Nurburgring standings, the Lexus LFA supercar, retailed for $375,000 when it was new and now is a collector's item, changing hands for twice that amount.

You can watch the Camaro's lap at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4zSIVpVMaw