The rules in GT1 allowed us to section and widen the fenders, but the GT2 rules require production-type fenders with simple flares to accommodate wider tires. The Corvette C6.R race car is now virtually identical to the Corvette ZR1 street car in appearance. Working together they were able to develop an effective and balanced aero package for the Corvette ZR1. Race team engineers worked with Corvette chief engineer Tom Wallace and his successor, Tadge Juechter, providing track data and CFD simulations that had been done on the race cars. The ZR1 was conceived as a 200 mph road car and it was developed with input from Corvette Racing. The production Corvette ZR1 has wide carbon fibre front fenders with dual vents, a full-width rear spoiler, and a front fascia splitter – features designed to enhance high-speed stability and driver control on the road, but it also helps on the track, and that’s no mistake as Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan reveals “the ZR1 uses a different splitter and a different rear spoiler than other Corvette models, and both of these enhance the Corvette C6.R’s aerodynamic performance. In the end, the data favoured the wider car, even at a high-speed, low-drag track like Le Mans.” “Early in the design process we had to decide whether to use the base Corvette coupe with its steel chassis and narrow bodywork or the Corvette Z06 or ZR1 models, which have an aluminium chassis and wider bodywork” explains Doug Louth, Corvette Racing engineering director: “We ran a number of simulations and CFD studies comparing the wide versus narrow bodies and looked at various track width options. The GT2 design varies from the GT1 in that is homologated on the ZR1 road car whilst the original C6.R used the Z06 as its basis.
Whilst wanting to match the likes of the Ferrari F430 GT the Corvette Racing program’s key objectives included reducing costs, encouraging independent teams to purchase and race Corvettes, and reinforcing the relevance of racing technology to production vehicles an ethos that runs throughout the new cars design. So GM went looking for a fight, Pratt & Miller was tasked with turning the Corvette ZR1 into a GT2 racer, and that meant the fight would be with European giants Ferrari and Porsche. Soon that clash had petered out and for most of the 2008, and 2009 season the yellow C6.R’s had no serious opposition. In the ACO sanctioned series like the ALMS and LMS the entries had been dismal, with the only real interest being focussed on the all out war between Aston Martin’s DBR9 and Corvette’s C6.R. How Corvette racing developed its new baby endurance racer for Le Mansįor some time the GT1 class had been looking underwhelming.
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