Buyers looking at the 2014 Chevy Camaro Z/28 are only really concerned about one thing – speed. GM’s engineers know this and sought out every possible way to make the Camaro Z/28 faster, which even included modifying the iconic Chevy bowtie.
Buyers looking at the 2014 Chevy Camaro Z/28 are only really concerned about one thing – speed. GM’s engineers know this and sought out every possible way to make the Camaro Z/28 faster, which even included modifying the iconic Chevy bowtie.
During aerodynamics testing, Powertrain Cooling Development engineer Richard Quinn noticed that the bowtie on the Z/28’s grill was displacing air away from the radiator, which was negatively impacting the Z/28′ engine cooling.
Of course fans would never allow the bowtie to be removed from the Camaro’s face, so instead, Quinn took a cut-off wheel to the gold fill of the bowtie, leaving the silver outline intact.
“There are engineers in our team that race as a hobby,” said Quinn, “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.”
The end result is what GM’s engineers are calling the “Flowtie,” which is just the chrome outline of the traditional bowtie, with the center removed. This simple solution alone was enough to allow three additional cubic meters of air into the engine per minute. Engineers found the Flowtie dropped the temperatures of engine coolant and engine oil by 2°F (1.2°C) during extended track sessions.
Source: Chevrolet
