The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 officially joined the 11-second club. Chevrolet said on Friday that the ZL1 ran an 11.96-second quarter-mile at 117 mph.

It's a testament to the most powerful Camaro ever produced by the company. Not only will it tear up the quarter-mile, but it will also drop a 0-to-60-mph time of less than four seconds and lap the Nürburgring in 7 minutes, 41.27 seconds. Only a few years ago those lap times were reserved for race cars, supercars and cars that cost more than $100,000.

Chevy re-engineered the Camaro to withstand hundreds of launches from drivers at the strip. To cope with the heavy loads, the ZL1 has a 9.9-inch rear differential with a cooler than can lower temperatures by 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It also has asymmetrical half-shafts that work with the limited-slip differential to minimize wheel hop. Engineers modified the rear suspension to accommodate 18-inch wheels just in case drivers wanted to fit drag tires. Chevy does caution that adding drag radial tires would probably move the car's time to less than 11.5 seconds, which requires a new selection of safety equipment.

To test the chassis and suspension components, Chevy put the Camaro on what it calls the Woodward Avenue Schedule. Each cycle is a standing launch up to 100 mph. The company did this more than 1,000 times before the ZL1 went on sale.

The ZL1 matches up in the market against the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and the Dodge Challenger SRT. Automakers usually don't give out quarter-mile times, but slips at www.dragtimes.com show the current GT500's average in the high 11s and low 12s, while the Challenger SRT sits in the 11-to-13-second range.

For comparison, the ZL1 costs $54,995, the 2012 GT500 is $49,605 and the SRT Challenger stickers for $45,920.

Content provided by Autoweek.