Corvette Racing's first GT2 race!

[David]

Originally Posted by chewymonster

The press release did say that the 5.5 will be production based. So I can only conclude that the GT1 derived isn't all that production based.

The GT1 and current GT2 engines do not use a production block casting, the 5.5 will use a production block casting.

[Dyson20]

Originally Posted by joeb

Read (or heard) somewhere in the last few days that only 2 cars have been built so far. Key words: so far. With the performance they are showing already, there will be people lined up at the chance to buy one of those beasts.

i talked to doug fehan during the tech talk today and he said that they have 2 more cars being built and there will be customer teams in Europe and in the United States next year.

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by Dyson20

i talked to doug fehan during the tech talk today and he said that they have 2 more cars being built and there will be customer teams in Europe and in the United States next year.

Good to hear about a second customer car. I'd read earlier in the week about the one Europe bound.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by chewymonster

I know the basic specs, but the amount of modification and displacement changes from the production model appear to be fairly open. For example Porsche running a 4 liter engine while no production 911 runs that displacement. So I guess Corvette can run an engine that appears to be the ZR1 engine without a supercharger, but is quite different in reality.

The press release did say that the 5.5 will be production based. So I can only conclude that the GT1 derived isn't all that production based.

Good performance in the first race.

The blocks are parts book specials but there they are not a secret weapon; if you wanted to you could take the race block and put all you street parts in (pistons might not fit without a boring or sleaving) ditto with taking the street block and putting the race parts on it. ( see pistons above).

Cylinder heads-- the GT1 heads were factory (not available in any way or matter to anyone else) only; have not heard or read about the GT2 versions.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Dyson20

i talked to doug fehan during the tech talk today and he said that they have 2 more cars being built and there will be customer teams in Europe and in the United States next year.

that's good to hear. I wonder which team(s) are buying them?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Oh yes they do, even a wounded lizard was leaving them behind

That is true. But the Lizards were implying the Vettes may not have been showing all their cards.
I don't know if I believe that - I mean if I were in a position to win I would sure go for it! But there could be some truth to it if they were trying to prevent any further tampering of their performance by the ACO

[Félix]

We've all seen the effects of bigger engines and superior torque under ACO rules (diesels; turbo R8 vs small Judd). The Callaway got GT pole at LM 2001 without much prior experience and we can only guess what Corvette can do with 50% more torque than Porsche and Ferrari... that's probably what the restrictor talk is about.

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by joeb

that's good to hear. I wonder which team(s) are buying them?

Deal was done a while ago, its a guessing game for the euro team, seems to be talk that the euro GT2 Vette is bound for PK Carsport but im unsure,i could however see a car in the hands of Alphand, especially considering how strong the team has been in LMS over the past few years.

[broadrun96]

Wouldnt be surprised if sales were part of allowing the program to continue. They may have had to prove other teams would want and could afford to buy the car to get the money to continue the program, even though some of the team sounded like they were upset by the test program's short length.

[HORNDAWG]

I do not think that the program was predicated on sales of the GT-2 car. Though customers wanting the product, could do nothing but help.




L.P.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

I do not think that the program was predicated on sales of the GT-2 car. Though customers wanting the product, could do nothing but help.




L.P.

I wonder if they have done the calculations to see how many they need to sell and at what price to turn this program into a money maker for P&M or GM or whoever actually makes the money on this.

[fjn356]

What interests me is what their speed will be down those long Road America straights. If the 'vettes can run that close to the best 430 and Lizard on that tight Mid-Ohio track, then I suspect it will blow everyone off the tracks at RA and other tracks with long straights and few passing zones elsewhere. Think Road Atlanta.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by joeb

I wonder if they have done the calculations to see how many they need to sell and at what price to turn this program into a money maker for P&M or GM or whoever actually makes the money on this.

They make money on it regardless of customer car sales. All of the talk about this program has pointed out that Corvette Racing generated the highest ROI of any GM racing program, and you know that's not predominately going to come from selling off old cars (though I'm sure it helps). It's not like they've made many purely customer chassis up to this point.

[David]

Originally Posted by cmk

....It's not like they've made many purely customer chassis up to this point.

They got jacked around pretty good the first time they tried to build first line cars for customers so they probably decided selling off the "last year's cars" was a better idea.

From my website:

There was an agreement in mid-2001 for Atomic Kitten Racing (!!) to buy two C5-R race cars (most likely C5R-006 and C5R-007, although C5R-008 was also a possibility). The deal was later cancelled. (Atomic Kitten was an all-girl British rock group.)



Above - Pratt & Miller - September 14, 2001 - Chassis Numbers C5R-006 (background) and C5R-007 under construction.

Then:

From dailysportscar.com: "Joost Custers brings us this exclusive, straight from Belcar team owner Patrick Selleslagh.
Selleslagh has bought Pratt & Miller Corvette chassis #7, which was lined up to be a spare car for Corvette Racing: it was purchased after long discussions and with the support of Sara Lee, the Belgian’s sponsor."

C5R-007 thus became the first car that went directly to a customer without being raced by the factory.

[pederb]

support of Sara Lee, the Belgian’s sponsor

Wow I did not know that Sara Lee had business in Belgium.

So they were running LS7 type motors at Mid Ohio? Are they going to run this the rest of the season? Why not use 5.5L they supposed to use next year? This year is done anyway in GT2 or why not take advantage and develop the new motor in a racing environment?

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by pederb

Wow I did not know that Sara Lee had business in Belgium.

So they were running LS7 type motors at Mid Ohio? Are they going to run this the rest of the season? Why not use 5.5L they supposed to use next year? This year is done anyway in GT2 or why not take advantage and develop the new motor in a racing environment?

The motor is in development at the moment on the dyno. They can put much more mileage on it on the dyno while being race simmed and not be burning up track time or chassis parts. Having it ready for some serious in car testing over the off season, while having a proven product in the chassis to develop it on track. Devide and conquer, so to speak!





L.P.

[pederb]

ahh, so will we see it this season?

[gucom]

^Sara Lee is really, really big in Europe (offtopic but ah well )

[David]

Originally Posted by gucom

^Sara Lee is really, really big in Europe (offtopic but ah well )

Sara Lee produces Williams Shaving products and Ambi Pur air freshners.

[Purist]

I was at the tech talk as well. I asked about the potential of a new GT1 Corvette, and though I'm not ecstatic about the new FIA race format by any means, I'm glad to hear that P&M is cleared to produce conversion kits, should that prove adequately lucrative.

The performance balance will be interesting. They also talked about the Porsches on the TV coverage, and that they are now running 25kg heavier. So, that adds another twist into the calculations of who is really where.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by pederb

ahh, so will we see it this season?

(Referring to the 5.5 liter Corvette V8.) No.

[pederb]

Originally Posted by David

Sara Lee produces Williams Shaving products and Ambi Pur air freshners.

So they do not only make delicious bread