The future of Corvette

[The Badger]

I dont think its a problem with supply , if the money is there .

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by NelisB

Would be great to see P&M supply more c6r's for racing in europe and possibly the ILMC/WEC next year. I think american manufacturers should be in international endurance racing as much as I think there should be European and Japanese manufacturers. If you commit to a World championship series that is apparently on the up again, seeing they are going from ILMC to WEC next year, being there would only attract more manufacturers and thus create good racing and a nice competitive atmosphere to develop new techniques.

If they follow past form, it's more than likely that one or both of the cars that the factory team are using this year are going to be sold off to privateers for next year. Larbre's car is one of the first two GT2 factory cars.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

If they follow past form, it's more than likely that one or both of the cars that the factory team are using this year are going to be sold off to privateers for next year. Larbre's car is one of the first two GT2 factory cars.

That's only if P&M are intending to build two new factory chassis for next year - which is very likely indeed. In fact the only time Corvette went to Le Mans with same exact chassises than previous year were 2009 and 2002 (C5R-005 and 006 were still being prepared for ALMS campaign while the older cars were shipped to France). Needs of privateers are never top priority here.

Factory-supported WEC campaign would be interesting for sure, but not if that means the end of ALMS program. Seeing as the factory outfit is already competing in half of the current ILMC / potential future WEC rounds, parallel program alongside ALMS shouldn't cause too much of a hazzle I suppose. Althou there would be inevitable conflicts with tight schedule, shipping the cars, budget etc.

[Deleted]

There was this little doom & gloom and GA bit on Murphy blog I wanted to post here:

Chevrolet isn’t happy with the performance of its American Le Mans Series road racing adventures. It’s believed that Corvette Racing is on a two-year “watch.” That may seem like an oddly long period of time – it certainly does to the Bear – but if true it indicates “official” concern for the first time since the auto industry melt-down. Is another driver turnover likely? A Dane and a Monegasque have been mentioned.

Though locked in close contests for manufacturer and team titles in both classes over in Grand Am, the Bowtie is concerned about its program there, particularly since the competition – particularly in GT – is expected to stiffen considerably in 2012. One change widely expected is the assignment of factory drivers to more Chebby Grand Am teams full time rather than this season’s part time loans on ALMS open weeks. It’s even rumored that a Corvette Racing regular will be subbed for at Laguna Seca so he can join Autohaus at Grand Am’s final event. The Bear thought that was a non-starter for a whole raft of reasons, including the fact that the Autohouse drivers lead the GT championship. But since it’s possible to use three drivers in a Grand Am sprint race because each needs only a minimum of 30 minutes, a driver could be added to “save” the GT championships, now down to a scant three-point lead. In any case, It seems there will be a significant reshuffling of Chevrolet’s road racing “assets” before the 2012 season.

Will Corvette move to the WEC? Some say that’s unlikely, since the racing program is supported solely by the North American sales division. But what happens if the competition goes away? Will Corvette be willing to go down that road again?

[AndrewF31]

A lot of ifs and buts there, and a bit to be worried about, and discovered over the coming months.
But I'm surprised about the comments towards Jan and Olivier. They nearly did a 1-2- at Le Mans. And the car has looked good, normally, on long, fast courses.

[Deleted]

Line-up of #4 has been superior in every single race meeting this season. Too soon to talk about Milner but if one of the 'old' regulars had to go, I'd point at Beretta

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Line-up of #4 has been superior in every single race meeting this season. Too soon to talk about Milner but if one of the 'old' regulars had to go, I'd point at Beretta

As far as Milner goes, I wonder if O'Connell ever sits up in the booth and thinks to himself "Gee, I could have done at least as well as this guy...." And, at least for now, he probably would have been right if he did think that! But maybe he will get more comfortable as time goes on. Aside from Le Mans, it has been a tough season for Milner. As far as Beretta goes, he was once one of the best in the business and maybe he still can be in a prototype or GT1 type car, but he has never been lightening quick in the GT2 Corvette. It would not shock me if they are looking at possible replacements for his seat.

I don't know why they would want to get rid of Jan though. Ok, he made a mistake at Le Mans, but he is still as fast as anyone out there in GT. I'd probably rate him as being the best of the Corvette drivers, but Gavin certainly gives him a run for his money.

Maybe the team would be interested in bringing up Westbrook or Antonio Garcia full-time? I think both would be pretty good hires. As far as American drivers go if that is what they want, is there any possibility of Graham Rahal becoming available? There were rumors that P&M were pretty high on him last year. I also think that Lawson Aschenbach is a young American sports car driver with huge potential. He is young, well spoken, an accomplished championship winning driver, and has an engineering degree from a top university (Vanderbilt). I believe he also has a contract with GM at the moment.

As far as GM being unhappy with the performance of the program, maybe GM should do what VW did to Audi and threaten to replace P&M's services with someone else (perhaps Hendrick, RCR, Penske, or someone like that). Hopefully they won't take their threats to the ACO/IMSA in the hopes of gaining some sort of rules advantage, but who knows.

Of course, these are all rumors at the moment so who knows what exactly is going on. I can't imagine that GM would pull their ALMS drivers from ALMS races to do Grand-Am races because the ALMS program has their own sponsors and they can't make them mad. Although the #3 is getting dangerously close to Jaguar-land (at least in qualifying), the #4 still has a good shot at winning each of the remaining races. Plus, all of the remaining races are important ones. Ok, maybe not Baltimore, but the Baltimore race highlights are on ABC so it is a highly public event.

[Deleted]

GM tolerated the last two years of GT1 when they were picking up 1-2s without any kind of competition or motivation (expect Le Mans), so I can't see why they would pull the plug now. Granted the expectations were a bit higher than what we've seen so far and the car is certainly not as solid as the old one, but it hasn't been a disaster either. Especially since their closest competitor is running with waiver that excludes them from losing the championship

O'Connell could've probably continued for a while (and in fact I was expecting him to follow Fellow's footsteps and do the ocassional races as third driver) but the time was as good as any to move on. The pace of car #3 hasn't been what was expected but Milner will get better as the time goes on. At least that's the plan, current gap between them and sister car is just a bit too much, especially in quali trim.

Westbrook would be an AWESOME additition to either of the full-season line-ups but I doubt that's ever gonna happen, he's too busy racing in 150 other series. We should be happy for enduros alone

[arakis]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Especially since their closest competitor is running with waiver that excludes them from losing the championship

their closest cometitors are porsche and ferrari, there is only 3 and 5 pt differecnce to them while there is 27pts to the bmws, and also with the victories its the same: porsche, corvette and ferrari each have one victory, while bmw has 3.

[joeb]

I don't know why GM would be upset with the alms program, they won petit last season, have an alms win this year, and oh did they forget about winning LeMans??? They have real competition now, you can't expect to win every race.

[Sellysell]

Originally Posted by arakis

their closest cometitors are porsche and ferrari, there is only 3 and 5 pt differecnce to them while there is 27pts to the bmws, and also with the victories its the same: porsche, corvette and ferrari each have one victory, while bmw has 3.

I kind of have to disagree, bmw is probal there closest competition or the other way around. The vettes finished second at sebring, and long beach. Lime rock nobody could tell because of some armatures, won mosport, but probably would of finish second if bmw didnt get a penalty, mid ohio probably had the best car till the rain, Road america, they wernt the best and ferrari and porshce had a better car, I think the beemers sandbag a little to long to take the win. They also pretty much dominate le mans with the 74 till the crash, and with ferraris malfunction took the win with the 73. So what i am trying to say is that the vettes have not been that bad this year, then been up front the whole year, and on what Murphy said, i think gm is just trying to jump on the grand am bandwagon, so if and i mean a strong if, if the alms collapses, they will have some were to go.

Edit: I understand were you are coming from with the points, but with bmw taking 1-2 so many times, there is not that many points at to gain( i cant get out what i am trying to say.)

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Especially since their closest competitor is running with waiver that excludes them from losing the championship

.....

[Carsandmotorracing]

I don't think Corvette is going anywhere.

[arakis]

Originally Posted by Sellysell

I kind of have to disagree, bmw is probal there closest competition or the other way around. The vettes finished second at sebring, and long beach. Lime rock nobody could tell because of some armatures, won mosport, but probably would of finish second if bmw didnt get a penalty, mid ohio probably had the best car till the rain, Road america, they wernt the best and ferrari and porshce had a better car, I think the beemers sandbag a little to long to take the win. They also pretty much dominate le mans with the 74 till the crash, and with ferraris malfunction took the win with the 73. So what i am trying to say is that the vettes have not been that bad this year, then been up front the whole year, and on what Murphy said, i think gm is just trying to jump on the grand am bandwagon, so if and i mean a strong if, if the alms collapses, they will have some were to go.

Edit: I understand were you are coming from with the points, but with bmw taking 1-2 so many times, there is not that many points at to gain( i cant get out what i am trying to say.)

your comparison of previus races is somewhat flawed, since in all of the previus races neither Porsche nor Ferrari didn't have trouble free races. And the impresion that I got is that over a whole race stint the corvettes lag behind Ferrari in pace.

[dxk1]

This is just a ploy to scare the ALMS into giving them a bigger restrictor like BMW got.

DK

[Audi Racer]

The way i see it. corvette, Porsche and Ferrari mucked up in every race they didnt win. They races they won are the ones they did not muck up in.

porsche and vettes and ferrari mucked up at sebring with electrical glitches and crashes.

ferrari mucked up at long beach quali. porsche mucked up in the race at long beach

at lime rock, ferrari, vettes,and porsche all mucked up in the race.ferrari had misfire, vettes hit eachother, porsche penalty or something of the sort.

at mosport, BMW mucked up, porsche and vettes won.

at road mid ohio the rain changed everything and it became a matter of who had falken tires and who didnt.

at road america, vettes mucked up,Finally BMw drivers mucked up(the mosport incident is controversial, ferrari picked up the pieces
at road america BMW.

Gt has basically become the DP of grand-am. they guys rub and bang in the early part, then their an hour of mucking up, and then usually the chip gannasi car wins(i.e BMW M3-BMW Riley.)


Risi is suntrust, vettes are the michael shank boys,

[JHamilton]

Ron Fellows will be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame this weekend. Congrats to Ron!

2011 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductees AnnouncedThe National Corvette Museum is pleased to announce the 2011 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductees. Each year individuals are selected in the areas of GM/Chevrolet, Enthusiast and Racing...

Ron Fellows - Racing
Ron's impressive skill as a driver for the Corvette Racing Team has earned him the respect of Corvette fans everywhere. His 27 wins, three ALMS championships and two wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, along with his unprecedented four consecutive "Most Popular Driver" awards from ALMS fans, testify to his track record of success. Although he has not raced for the factory team since 2008, he remains one of the most recognizable, respected and popular personalites to ever represent Corvette's racing heritage. As evidence of his enormous popularity, GM paid tribute to Ron by creating the "Ron Fellows ALMS GT1 Champion Corvette Z06" in 2007.

[Deleted]

I hope O'Connell makes the list as well, in time.

So if anyone has noticed, the trio of #4/74 Corvette will be present at the Surfers Paradise V8 Supercars weekend in october. Very excited over the whole thing, I love the series already but having some of my favourite drivers competing in it makes it even better... here's Olly's preview thingie.

The entire crew of the #56 BMW will be there as well, so we've got all kinds of rivalries going on Too bad Priaulx got lucky again and has all-conquering Whincup as his co-driver

[MitchZ06]

#4 landed some s*** drives....

[Deleted]

Arguably Ingall has seen his best years and Murphy & Todd aren't the highest caliber either, but it could've been worse...

[MitchZ06]

Much much worse....You'd be chuffed to get Lowndes tho going off his current form

[Deleted]

It's quite ironic actually, but Larbre just became the fÃ*rst team to win a championship with GT2-spec Corvette! I bet the factory squad is a bit jealous now (even if it's just GTE-AM) but oh well, congrats!

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Chiana

It's quite ironic actually, but Larbre just became the fÃ*rst team to win a championship with GT2-spec Corvette! I bet the factory squad is a bit jealous now (even if it's just GTE-AM) but oh well, congrats!

And that it was 5 years in the making from the very first Corvette in Gt2! (the danish Markland racing)

[Simmi]

While this thread has been revived I think it could be quite timely as there should be an announcement for next year soon.

[Speed-King]

Tomorrow to be precise...

The unveling of the Corvette-DP will be streamed live at www.grandam.com starting at 2PM EST. And there's a bunch more GM-racing news expected to come out of that event.