Y2KMRC5

I appreciate the website info. It was a great day for Vettes!

While I am typing,

Does anyone know where the press and media areas are at Laguna Seca? Do they have special places where the general admission tickets do not get to go?

I am a freelancer and would like to try my camera equipment on the C6R's. Of course, I would share the photos with the Forum! I have asked Laguna Seca to supply media badge info, and maybe they will respond next week. Has anyone tried photographing at Laguna Seca?

Dave
Arizona

Hans Grüber

I for one would love to see a production derived ZO6 compete in the GT2 class. I imagine such a car would be very competitive and very possibly dethrone Porsche of their dominance over this class.

If I am not mistaken, GT2 cars are for the most part virtually identical to their showroom counter parts, minus larger brakes, rollcages and a few reliability mods etc.

Does anyone have any more info on GT2 class rules?

ZFORME

At Le Mans what is the 355 rule? I was up at 3 am watching when the Aston leading had to pit due to the front spoiler flopping around. They were saying that the same thing had happened to the Ferrari Maranello in past years which the Aston is somehow related?

Corvette is still King but Aston Martin makes a great competitor. I like the Aston DB9R design.

The other thing that was cool was the vette's sound and the Europeans loved it. They said the gound was shaking when the car went by you! Chevy power baby!

The C6Z06 is growing on me!

FNC80

Aston's will be formidable, but today belongs to Corvette!

1985 Corvette

Heh, and yet our fellow American citizens always say "it's still just a Cheby", yet even the Europeans love those 427 Vettes. Backwards!

Vette Butler

Happy as I am about the result, I must ask, why are the Aston's faster ? Do they enjoy a weight advantage ?

hlv

They said that they can only get 94 oct. gas over there and the
C6R uses 100 oct, so they had to lower the comp. raito so they
could run on the 94 oct gas. That could be why.

Lazerwolfe

Other than the recognition and racing experience, does GM get any money from the win?

Guru_4_hire

Pratt and miller does. Chevy gets a testing platform.

Vette Butler

Aston Martin Racing still has not updated its website beyond the 21st hour update.

paystyle

That's because the max. octane allowed was 94, and since the C6-Rs cutomarily run 102-104, they had to adjust the engine compression for fear that they'd blow up the engine, and that ultimately hurt their straightaway speed. If you noticed in the ALMS races, the C6-Rs were clearly the faster cars. So to be precise, the Astons' were able to get better performance out of their engines given the octane rating.

Correction: the 911s competed in GT2. And I'm not a Porsche hater, but it seems that 95% of the cars in the GT2 class are 911s, so it's kind of difficult for a Porsche not to win.

paystyle

Man, I could not agree with you more. I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed it. I thought for a second maybe I'm not enough of an aficionado or something, but I was getting really pissed off about committing many hours of my weekend to the TV just to see tire changes and window wiping. And then when they finally did cover the actual driving, they'd only focus on the prototype cars and completely ignore the GTs.

Personally I don't find the prototypes appealling in the same way that I'm not big on Formula 1 and Nascar: all the cars look the same. I like the GT cars because they look like actual sports cars that you'd see on the street (heavily modified of course).

Bwright

An epic battle between the Corvette and archnemesis ProDrive, this time sporting an Aston Martin mask. Doug Fehan perfectly summed up why the Corvette's drivers stood atop the podium in the end:

"Le Mans is not a race you win. It is a race you lose."

DarkKnightZ

1-2 in GT1 and 5-6 overall....2 more HUGE milestones in Corvette Racing history!! Way to go Team Corvette! I managed to watch until about 4:30 am then dozed off for a couple of hours. Awesome finish - glad the C6Rs have some competition, just wish they'd come over to the states for some more ALMS races.

Many people have said it, but THANK YOU GM for supporting this racing program. Unlike NASCAR and other motorsports, we as Corvette owners/potential owners/fans can actually drive a car similar in characteristic that shares the same development/engineering as what we see on the track. NO other motorsport in America can give you that sense of pride or 'ownership' like I and so many others feel with each C6-R victory. Keep up the good work!

Lastly, as someone who has seen the C6-R in person....the ground DOES shake when that massive motor is running!

Gary2KC5

Hans you've hit on a remarkable concept...

Porsche is probably the most dominent marque in racing over the past 50 years. They have ruled the overall class everywhere they compete and have ultimately become frustrated by the constant rules changes to keep the competition even. (like in the SCCA World Challenge...you win you get a weight penalty) When they decided to say they had enough and pull out of competition they began to support customer cars and class racing. They just dominate GT2

I think you are right on in thinking the C6 Z06 is every bit capable of challenging Porsche in GT2. Corvette dominates ALMS GTS and SCCA T1.

It's now time to say we are better than Porsche (I was in the Porsche camp for 20 years so these remarks aren't just bs) and go head to head in the modded street car class...GT2

The C6.R team is just awesome and really understands endurance racing. something that the AM team did not. The AM's were very fast, faster then the C6.R's...but fast doesn't always win endurance races.

Team Corvette absolutely knows how to win, especially endurance races. Even though the AM's were damn fast they didn't have what it takes to win, this year. They almost did though, if it had been a 23 hour race....?

Team Corvette has to step it up with the race pace now, because the losers will learn from there failures...like all racers do. They will be able to figure out 1 hour of issues. they were very formidable competitiors and we need to be stronger next year.

It would be great to see Chevy/Corvette in the overall class but I think Hans is on to something here. Fielding and wining in GT2 would be an awesome statement in the Corvette vs. Porsche battle.

And believe me, Porsche and Corvette have always been rivals...at least with the 911 and Vette. I doubt if Chevy/GM will ever have anything like the Porsche CGT.

Thanks team Corvette for making my Father's day...I went to bed very confident, but was very anixous. I woke up pumping fists.

They didn't let us down and have given us so much to be proud of.

Porsche doesn't compete in GTS, let's go after them in GT2!

Nestor D. White

You must mean C6, not Z06. The corvette racing team does not run any Z06 cars.

05C6spdvert

It would be great to see the Vettes go up against the GT3, I would have to give the nod to Porsche here as the GT3 is a very competent track car, it rivals the TT on a track and would be a handful for the C6. If they could throw a ZO6 in with the GT3 I would have to say ZO6.

vetteheadracer

I was at Le Mans

Unfortunately the hydraulics on my clutch let go due to the heat so I missed the end of the race

There was a guy from California with a Twin Turbo 2003 convertible there who took his car with the C5 Registry guys and his engine caught fire whilst doing his track lap Saturday morning.
Only a small fire but made a bit of a mess of his beauty cover and a spark plug lead.

I have to go back to Le Mans on Friday to collect my car!

Corvettes are one of the most professional teams because they have been doing the race for 6 years so they know what they have to do to win. If they don't win then they have been beaten by a better team.
This year as last and 2001 and 2002 there has been no better team in GTS / GT1.

666 Z06

This statement that the French do not like Vettes is pure BS. Its a fact that the French and other Europeans at Le Mans go wild whenever they see the Vettes, including the roadgoing versions. Here's a quote from our very own Johnny O:

"The fact is that the French fans love those yellow Corvettes." See http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/roadracing/17598/

I've seen reports from C5 Registry members who ship their Vettes to France to participate in pre-race parades and other events. They all report throngs of cheering Frenchmen who love the sound of the thundering Corvette V8s.

Vive la Corvette!

AU N EGL

from http://www.crash.net

Complete unofficial results from the 73rd Le Mans 24 Hours.

1. Lehto/Werner/Kristensen Champion Audi R8 LMP1 370 laps
2. Collard/Boullion/Comas Pescarolo Pescarolo-Judd LMP1 368 laps
3. Biela/Pirro/McNish Champion Audi R8 LMP1 364 laps
4. Montagny/Gounon/Ortelli ORECA Audi R8 LMP1 362 laps
5. Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette Corvette C6.R GT1 349 laps
6. Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette Corvette C6.R GT1 347 laps
7. Lammers/Julian/Bosch Racing For Holland Dome-Judd LMP1 346 laps
8. Schwager/Frei/Vann Courage Courage-Judd LMP1 339 laps
9. Brabham/Sarrazin/Turner AMR Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 333 laps
10. Hindery/Rockenfeller/Lieb Alex Job Porsche 911 GT3 RSR GT2 332 laps
11. Bergmeister/Long/Bernhard WLR Porsche 911 GT3 RSR GT2 331 laps
12. Hignett/Stack/Kurosawa Jota Zytek-Zytek LMP1 325 laps
13. Goueslard/Dupard/Vosse Larbre Ferrari 550 Maranello GT1 324 laps
14. van Overbeek/Pechnik/Neiman Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR GT2 323 laps
15. Minassian/Campbell-Walter/Wallace Creation DBA-Judd LMP1 322 laps
16. Dumas/Dumez/Narac Raymond Narac Porsche 911 GT3 RSR GT2 322 laps
17. Short/Barbosa/Ickx Rollcentre Dallara-Judd LMP1 318 laps
18. Fomenko/Vasiliev/Bouchut Cirtek/Russian Age Ferrari 550 Maranello GT1 315 laps
19. Policand/Campbell/Alphand Alphand Aventures Porsche 911 GT3 RS GT2 311 laps
20. Nielsen/Thyrring/Ehret Sebah Porsche 996 GT3 RSR GT2 307 laps
21. Erdos/Newton/Hughes RML Lola-MG LMP2 305 laps
22. Gosselin/Ojjeh/Sharpe Belmondo Courage-Ford LMP2 300 laps
23. Belmondo/Andre/Sutherland Belmondo Courage-Ford LMP2 294 laps
24. Collin/Felbermayr/Shep Seikel Porsche 996 GT3 RSR GT2 274 laps
25. Bennett/Mitchell/Mullen Kruse Courage-Judd LMP2 268 laps
26. Hartshorne/Stanton/Johnson RaceSport Peninsula TVR Tuscan T400R GT2 256 laps
27. Terada/Roussel/Binnie Welter WR-Peugeot LMP2 233 laps