|
C5-R Corvette’s ’99 RACE
SEASON CONTINUES Proud Heritage OF PAST GENERATIONS
DETROIT
-- The latest addition to Corvette Racing’s stable, the C5-R Corvette
GTS racer, added a new chapter to Corvette’s storied history this year.
Building on the dream the legendary Corvette chief engineer Zora
Arkus-Duntov worked so hard to realize throughout his career with General
Motors, and drawing on the Corvette’s long and distinguished competition
record in all forms of motorsports, Chevrolet showcased America’s only
true production sports car with Corvette’s historic return to road
racing.
Starting with the new C5 Corvette, which is
equal or superior to any production car built in the world today, GM
created the C5-R that made its debut with a two-car effort at the Rolex 24
at Daytona in January. The #2 GM Goodwrench Service Plus C5-R Corvette
with drivers Ron Fellows, Chris Kneifel and John Paul Jr. led over half of
the 24-hour marathon before an oil consuming problem dropped it to third
place, but a podium finish was quite impressive in the C5-R’s maiden
contest. The #4 GM Goodwrench Service Plus C5-R Corvette with drivers John
Heinricy, Andy Pilgrim and Scott Sharp started third and also led part of
the race, but minor teething problems required unplanned pit stops during
the night and relegated the #4 C5-R to 12th place.
"The return of Chevrolet Corvette to
the racetrack reinforces everything Corvette stands for -- we owe this to
Corvette and to Corvette owners around the world," said Kurt Ritter,
marketing general manager, Chevrolet Motor Division.
"The racing program we’ve created
reinforces and underscores our commitment to the Corvette and its
magnificent heritage," Corvette brand manager Jim Campbell adds.
"Corvette is America’s performance icon, and all of us feel a
responsibility to preserve and enhance the car’s image. The racing
program is designed to help us fulfill that responsibility.
But the story goes beyond the Detroit
automaker’s desire to win races. "Our primary focus is to improve
the breed," says Campbell, whose brand team is directly responsible
for the sales and marketing of the new fifth-generation Corvette, as well
as funding for the racing project.
The C5-R Corvette continues a decades-long
tradition of exciting Corvette road racers. Under the guiding hand of
engineering genius Zora Duntov, Chevrolet first thrust its then fledgling
sports car into competition in 1956. At the NASCAR Speedweeks run on the
sands of Daytona Beach in February of 1956, a trio of Corvettes set
numerous acceleration and speed records. Corvette’s successes on Daytona
Beach led to a factory-supported assault on the Sebring 12-hour race the
following month. In this first foray into the international racing arena,
Corvette put the world on notice that it was a genuine contender as the
John Fitch/Walt Hansgen entry finished first in class.
In 1960 three Corvettes were brought to Le
Mans by team owner Briggs Cunningham. With a remarkable demonstration of
endurance and speed, the #3 car, driven by John Fitch and Bob Grossman,
finished eighth overall, well ahead of many of the finest and all-out
racing cars of the era.
The third-generation Corvette, introduced
in 1968, continued the winning ways of its predecessors. In fact,
Corvettes were totally dominant in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, winning
sixteen SCCA national A- and B-Production titles and finishing as high as
third overall at both Daytona and Sebring. In the late ‘70s and early
‘80s Corvettes went Trans-Am racing and though the competition was
formidable, Corvettes continued to finish in front. By the end of 1978
they earned the SCCA Trans-Am Category II title, and at the conclusion of
the 1979 season they did the same in Category I.
In addition to racing in production classes
as it had done for decades, a more exotic Corvette-based car took to the
track in the late ‘80s. The incredible IMSA GTP
Corvettes reached speeds well in excess of
200 mph by virtue of their 1200-horsepower, turbocharged Chevrolet engines
and thrilled fans from coast to coast. In 1988 and 1989 Corvettes were
pitted against each other in a tremendously exciting new contest called
the Corvette Challenge Series, where some of the world’s best drivers
competed against one another in identically-prepared fourth-generation
Corvettes.
But wheel-to-wheel racing was not the only
place the cars continued to shine in this decade. As they had done on the
sands of Daytona and the Salt Flats of Bonneville generations earlier,
Corvettes once again set new marks for speed and durability. Of particular
note were the many records established by two Corvettes -- a ZR-1 and an
L98 -- at the Firestone tire test track at Ft. Stockton, Texas, on March
1-2, 1990.
In addition to its podium finish in its
debut at Daytona, through five races this season the C5-R also has a
season-best second-place finish in the Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sears Point
Raceway and a matching second place at the VISA Sports Car Championships
at Laguna Seca Raceway. The GM Goodwrench Service Plus C5-R Corvette
concludes its race season at the Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway on Nov. 7.
The C5-R hasn’t been the only Corvette
posting podium finishes this year. John Henricy, GM vehicle chief engineer
for Firebird and Camaro, drove the #39 Rowleys Pennzoil C5 Corvette to a
win in the season-ending Speedvision World Challenge GT Championship race
at Laguna Seca. It was the second series win for the C5 Corvette as Scotty
B. White scored the C5’s first win earlier this year at Vancouver.
Chevrolet was also awarded the 1999 Speedvision World Challenge Special
Achievement Award for its efforts in returning the Corvette to competition
through its support of the GT competitors racing C5 Corvettes.
Those C5 racers are a fully race-prepared
car built from the C5 Corvette Racer parts kit sold to professional teams
through Chevrolet dealerships. Heinricy’s winning C5 also used C5 Racing
anti-roll bars, shock absorbers and other parts available through the GM
Performance Parts catalog.
Jeff Altenberg also captured the C5’s
first national title in amateur road racing with by winning the SCCA
Touring 1 Championship at the Valvoline Runoffs at Mid-Ohio Sports Course.
He qualified his #72 Phoenix American Motorsports C5 Corvette on the pole
and led all 19 laps en route to the win. The SCCA Valvoline Runoffs has
evolved into what is commonly agreed to be the Super Bowl of amateur road
racing. All six C5 Corvettes in the Valvoline Runoffs ran the T1
suspension kit that is available for amateur race teams and sold through
the GM Performance Parts catalog.
"We hope to use the Corvette race
program to illustrate the great characteristics of the Corvette as both a
sports car and a race car," says Dave Hill, vehicle line executive
and chief engineer, Corvette. "This should cause new people to take a
look at the Corvette as an alternative to other sports cars. And we've
found that once we get people to take a look at the new Corvette, the car
sells itself."
From a marketing standpoint, GM wants to
show America and the world that they can modify a $40,000 production car
to successfully compete with the best in the world at 1/3 the price.
As in the past, the production-based race
car will accelerate the development of existing components, as well as the
creation of new technologies, which will help keep the production
Corvettes driven on the streets today at the forefront of the world’s
great performance cars. |
