We promise this will be the last post about Corvette winning the GT1 class at the 24 Hours of LeMans. It is it hard to ignore the contributions of a winning race program and the pride and prestige it brings to the enthusiast. Similar I guess to those that follow a favorite NASCAR driver, but different because the knowledge that the technology that is tested on the track and in the pits will filter down to the production cars you and I drive every day. Our final LeMans wrap-up includes comments and links to three different elements of the Corvette racing program.
Oliver Gavin – Driver of the #64 Corvette
Oliver talks about how the outcome could have changed for Corvette Racing had they given up after circumstances that could have taken a lesser team out of the race. He mentions how he had a brush with an LMP car that sent the Corvette into the gravel and punctured a tire. That collision also caused body work damage to the right rear quarter panel that seemed to take some of the speed from Corvette on the straight-aways. That dropped the #64 Corvette 2-3 minutes behind the #009 Aston Martin. But Team Corvette kept pushing and pushing and started making up that deficit when mechanicals forced the Aston into the pits for an extended stop giving the #64 Corvette the class lead.
Click here to read Oliver’s account of Winning at LeMans.
Tom Wallace – Corvette Chief Engineer
In a Podcast from LeMans, Tom Wallace talks about his impressions from his first visit to the historic track. “With the competition of the Astons, and the back and forth battle that went down to the wire, Corvette overcame the problems that happened during the race better than the Aston team. All Corvette owners and future owners should be darn proud of Corvette and this team and what they have shown during the world’s biggest race.”
Visit the GM Fast Lane Blog or Download the MP3.
Peter M. DeLorenzo – AutoExtremist.com
Sweet Pete D. as he is affectionately called by the Jalopnik.com boys again focuses his weekly rant on how GM needs to leverage this historic win by Corvette Racing as a symbol of how GM is doing things right.
“It wasn’t too long ago that the idea of GM challenging the world with a factory-supported racing effort would have been scoffed at and dismissed as folly internally. Fortunately, those bad old days are long gone. The powers that be at General Motors have finally – finally – come to understand that racing can be much more than just a source of company pride or another excuse to fill the France family’s over-stuffed NASCAR coffers. They’ve learned that going up against the world’s best in the most intensely competitive environment possible is an ideal way to train and develop engineers – and the engineers involved with the Corvette Racing program are indeed some of the company’s best and brightest. They’ve come to understand that technical lessons learned on the racetrack can be directly transferred into improvements on their production cars – which is why the Corvette Z06 is arguably the best all-around sports car in the world at this very moment. GM has also learned that a winning, world-class racing program is an invaluable image and marketing tool that can transform an organization and translate into a winning image both on and off the track.”
Read Peter’s entire rant at AutoExtremist.com
Photo Credit: Richard Prince
Technorati Tags: Corvette | Racing | LeMans | Podcast
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