The future of Corvette

[HORNDAWG]

Mid Ohio first week of August.




L.P.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I strongly suggest that your wide off the mark . How can you suggest that a team , new to a class will wipe anybody . Based on previous results they are very good indeed , but so are some of the Porsche and Fiat teams .

I reckon P&M will have their job cutout for them against Fiat and Porsche . Be a good battle whatever happens .

Because they're Corvettes man!

[AndrewF31]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I strongly suggest that your wide off the mark . How can you suggest that a team , new to a class will wipe anybody . Based on previous results they are very good indeed , but so are some of the Porsche and Fiat teams .

I reckon P&M will have their job cutout for them against Fiat and Porsche . Be a good battle whatever happens .

I tend to agree with the above. You just have to look at the Aston Martin years. It was really close so Corvette will have to work hard but I'm really confident that having Corvette in there will add even more spice to GT2, as they'll add a third element to the top gunners. No offence to Spyker which I really like but there are not enough of them and they still seem about one step behind. Would love to see them step up. BMW is still developing so we shall see how that pans out.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I strongly suggest that your wide off the mark . How can you suggest that a team , new to a class will wipe anybody . Based on previous results they are very good indeed , but so are some of the Porsche and Fiat teams .

I reckon P&M will have their job cutout for them against Fiat and Porsche . Be a good battle whatever happens .

Wide off the mark? Not!
As I expect them to come in with the GT-2 and be competitive but do agree that there will be some good battles. This is hardly a new team nor is it changing class of car, proto vs. GT, nor are they changing model of car. Albeit a new car, P&M/Corvette Racing have reams of relevant data and knowledge with the model and are Rocket Scientists.



L.P.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

I think that Pratt & Miller could probably come out and wipe the floor with everyone in GT2 if they wanted to, but they won't after seeing what happened with the Cadillacs in Speed GT a few years ago.

Risi, Flying Lizard, and Farnbacher are great teams, but none of them are remotely on par with Pratt & Miller and it may take them a bit to get the cars really running well, but I'm pretty confident they could clean house in GT2 if they really wanted to.

That's wrong on so many levels. "Wipe the floor?" "Clean house?" Risi doesn't build those cars, and neither does Flying Lizard. There's no reason to believe that Pratt & Miller will build a better race car "out of the box" than Weissach and Michelotto - or Munich for that matter. Is Pratt & Miller that much better "team at the track?" It's as good, it might even be a bit better in some areas, kind of like the difference between the Gators and the Dawgs, but "wipe the floor?"

For the other part, you're suggesting that Pratt & Miller will intentionally not do as well as they otherwise could (go in the tank), and use the SWC Caddy as an example. Nonsense again - the Caddy got huge rule brakes to start with, and no one in the SWC field was at the level of Risi, FLM, or Rahal, nor were there any other "full factory backed" programs in SWC like there are for ALMS/LMS/Le Mans. Nor were there the factory drivers in SWC that there are in ALMS. Audi had left, and BMW was running nothing but privateer programs. When Milner first took BMW to Speed, we was just as dominant as you claim Pratt & Miller were, and the same holds for the Champion Audis until they were reigned in/lost interest.

[pederb]

Have any new images surfaced of the GT2 Vette? The last one I saw was with the flat black paint job and some text stenciled on.

[The Badger]

I was chatting with some of the Pratt & Miller guys at a hotal .

I asked them if their C6GT2 looks anything like the Gogliotti example . They said that their chassis will look more on steroids and that Gigliotti's example is only a bag of wind !!!

[AndrewF31]

I think these photos were already posted a while ago but always worth revisiting:

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/15/c...d-in-zr1-body/
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=19657

"You will notice a modified front grille, new bottom diffusers, and a larger spoiler off the back. The current 6.0-liter LS7 engine will soon be replaced in 2010 by a 5.5-liter LS3 engine producing up to 500 horsepower!"

It does make the LG Vette look skinny:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/i...1136654_PV.jpg

[pederb]

Yea I seen those

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

I think these photos were already posted a while ago but always worth revisiting:

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/15/c...d-in-zr1-body/
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=19657

"You will notice a modified front grille, new bottom diffusers, and a larger spoiler off the back. The current 6.0-liter LS7 engine will soon be replaced in 2010 by a 5.5-liter LS3 engine producing up to 500 horsepower!"

It does make the LG Vette look skinny:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/i...1136654_PV.jpg

Wow....some idiot in the autoblog comments thinks that its for "a new GT class", which in his mind is Ratel's GT1


How stupid can you get?

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

I think these photos were already posted a while ago but always worth revisiting:

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/15/c...d-in-zr1-body/
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=19657

"You will notice a modified front grille, new bottom diffusers, and a larger spoiler off the back. The current 6.0-liter LS7 engine will soon be replaced in 2010 by a 5.5-liter LS3 engine producing up to 500 horsepower!"

It does make the LG Vette look skinny:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/i...1136654_PV.jpg

As they are both based on a LESS modified Corvette, I see no real difference nor should their be unless the rules are a farce.

[AndrewF31]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

As they are both based on a LESS modified Corvette, I see no real difference nor should their be unless the rules are a farce.

The bonnet of both cars are different, for instance, in the photos.

From http://corvettemotorsport.com/index.htm it seems LG is not directly related with Corvette, as the car is built and maintained by Riley Technologies.

It wouldn't be far fetched that the cars have a few differences between them. I'd think P&M have a better understanding of the car than Riley.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

The bonnet of both cars are different, for instance, in the photos.

From http://corvettemotorsport.com/index.htm it seems LG is not directly related with Corvette, as the car is built and maintained by Riley Technologies.

It wouldn't be far fetched that the cars have a few differences between them. I'd think P&M have a better understanding of the car than Riley.

There is damn little to understand, it is a SUPPOSED to be a lessor than GT1 modified PRODUCTION Chevrolet Corvette.
Riley is at least as informed on Detroit items as P&M is, funding is another thing.

Unless there are modifications allowed that make these supposed privateer class cars a farce, it should be impossible to build one wrong.

[AndrewF31]

So you're saying that Riley is just at good building a Corvette racing car as P&M and GM?

I never said this would be a mini GT1 car. It'll be different than the Riley one. We'll see in Mid-Ohio if they're both on course if there are performance differences.

Corvetteracing.com

[fiend540]

I would think alot of the differences between the two cars will come down to the little details and tricks P&M have developed over the past years with their gt1 program resulting in a better and more developed car. Just my 2 cents

[dxk1]

I believe the Corvette GT2 effort will be competitive but they certainly won't run away from the Lizards, Farnbacher/Loles, Risi and the lot. They will just give them good competition and have a reasonable shot at some podiums, maybe even a win or two.

DK

[Félix]

A big V8 in a decent chassis could go a long way against the small-engined Porsches and Ferraris...

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

So you're saying that Riley is just at good building a Corvette racing car as P&M and GM?

I never said this would be a mini GT1 car. It'll be different than the Riley one. We'll see in Mid-Ohio if they're both on course if there are performance differences.

Corvetteracing.com

It would serve you well to check on Riley's history.
He helped design John Greenwood's and Greg Pickett's Corvettes.

I want to know what is different betweent the Riley and P&M Corvettes that only one can be homologated-- something ain't right.

[David]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

It would serve you well to check on Riley's history.
He helped design John Greenwood's and Greg Pickett's Corvettes.

And......

2000-12-15 SuperSportsCarWorld.com
Interview with Bill Riley
Riley & Scott In Other Series?

"Pratt and Miller still run the Corvette program. In 1999, we had a team sitting here with nothing to do and Pratt and Miller were really busy, so we ran one Corvette and they ran the other. We ran the Daytona 24 hour, Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Now Pratt and Miller runs the whole team. My father had been partners with Gary Pratt at a company in Detroit called Protofab. That is where we built quite a few Trans Am cars. We get along very well with them.”



Above and below - The actual car (C5R-002) at the 1999 Daytona 24hr.



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Above and below - Close-ups of the R&S logo on a diecast model of the #4 1999 Daytona car.

[fiend540]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

I want to know what is different betweent the Riley and P&M Corvettes that only one can be homologated-- something ain't right.

I thought the issue was with the ACO's homologation where they only let one company develop a car and since P&M are a factory backed team it would seem they get preference over Lou/Riley. Kind of a shame if this is true as I had hoped Lou would continue to run the vette but it seems that won't be the case.

[TWK]

2000-12-15 SuperSportsCarWorld.com

Brings a tear to my eye.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by fiend540

I thought the issue was with the ACO's homologation where they only let one company develop a car and since P&M are a factory backed team it would seem they get preference over Lou/Riley. Kind of a shame if this is true as I had hoped Lou would continue to run the vette but it seems that won't be the case.

Not an ACO issue, rather FIA. Lou's biggest complaint seemed to be more about allegedly being blocked from obtaining Michelins..

[AndrewF31]

According to this article, there were some problems between Riley and GM which meant the GT2 Corvette wouldn't be homologated since GM wouldn't allow it to be "the" homologated GT2 Corvette, especially with the new GT2 in their minds.

http://www.thatsracin.com/140/story/4598.html

Fehan also mentioned this in the interview I posted: "I'm curious about homologation of the new car, specifically related to the fact there is a GT2 Corvette that Riley built that ran a portion of this season. There is also a Dutch Corvette that ran the LMS series last year as well. With a few different versions of Corvette running in GT2, how is that going to be consolidated or not, at least for next year?

Fehan: "As it exists right now, in the eyes of the FIA, there isn't a Corvette homologated. Ours will be the first and the only homologated car.""

My main issue with comparing Riley with P&M is Riley's Corvette hasn't really done that great and I doubt the Corvette is really 3 laps behind in full race performance (their top finished were 4 at St Peterburg this year and a top 8 at Salt Lake City last year) compared to the Ferraris and Porsche.
I don't know Gigliotti or Curran or the other guys who've driven that car but I'd suspect guys like Beretta, Magnussen, Gavin, O'Connell can probably pull out a bit more from the car.
If Riley is really that good with the Corvette, surely insider knowledge from GM gives you something extra over the rest.

[Fogelhund]

Let me repeat... the singular Homologation rules are for FIA -> FIA GT. The article plainly states such as well.

There is not currently an issue with the ACO, with multiple homologations.

[AndrewF31]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Let me repeat... the singular Homologation rules are for FIA -> FIA GT. The article plainly states such as well.

There is not currently an issue with the ACO, with multiple homologations.

Well, it seems Lou Gigliotti posted this on another forum: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1569168073-post4.html

It's just odd what Lou apparently said in light of a number of articles posted around the web saying the ACO homologation process had begun already before the 2008 Sebring race.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...gt2_corvettes/

The Corvettes are being built by Riley Technologies and will be powered by CRD built Chevrolet engines. The cars are in the process of gaining ACO homologation in GT2.

Can ACO homologation take more than a year?