Here's a nice "LS1 story" for all of you.
So, it's late 1997 and the LS1 F-Bodies just made their debut. Motor Trend had just tested one and busted out a 13.7x.
There I am, cruising "Highway 100," otherwise known as "Route 100" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I'm behind the wheel of my 1994 B4C with its
Flowmaster muffler, Moroso CAI, throttlebody airfoil, and Hypertech Power Programmer when I spot a brand spanking new Z28 sitting in the Super America gas station. I pull in, and start talking to the owner. "Hey man, nice car! What's it run?" He tells me, "13.7x." I say, "Cool, what'd it trap?" He leans over into his car, and when he climbs out, to my surprise, he's holding a trusty old copy of Motor Trend in his hand. "It traps 10x." I said, "I thought you ran it?" He replies, "Well, Motor Trend ran a 13.7x, so I didn't need to take it to the track."
Well, the word was already out that these LS1 cars were crazy-fast, and destroying everything in their wake. I had to see what they were made of. I went out gunning for them, searching high and low, because I just had to have a piece of one of them. And so it was...
The LS1 Z28 yelled out a shriek as it dropped down a few gears, and I watched out the side window as the front end lifted, and then I watched as the nose slowly disappeared behind the passenger seat of my Camaro.
The race was over, and there I was, tickling nearly 100 mph. We slowed down, and the defeated LS1 owner asked me to follow him into a gas station so he could check out my car. I obliged.
"How...but....I don't understand! I have an LS1! They're supposed to be faster than an LT1! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY CAR?"
Well, like a good sport, I told him, "Nothing's wrong with your car. It's simply just not as fast as mine." Poor fellow...
Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this particular Z28 never made it to the track, and after catching wind of Evan Smith running a 12.87, I'm sure he's telling everyone that his LS1 ran a 12.87 in the quarter mile, and if not, I'm sure he's telling everyone he dynoed 300 rwhp and runs a 13.2 @ 107 mph.
Well, everybody, I guess that means that LT1s must run 14.90 @ 93 mph, because that's what R&T got out of one in a test. I guess I owned a factory freak, because I consistently turned in 14.60s @ 98.x mph, and I know it was due to my lack of experience on the track. The fastest I ran in the car was a 14.1x @ 99.7 mph, and even then, I swear this car was capable of 13s with a capable driver. BUT, it's my car, and I ran a 14.1x. That's the way it is. If that's what I ran while driving it, that's what it runs, period. It wouldn't matter a bit if Evan Smith drove it and turned a 13.5x out of it, or whatever, because Evan Smith doesn't drive my car.