A confluence of eras and anniversaries will mark the 2012 edition of the
24 Hours of Daytona, but for sports car fans, the greatest anticipation
comes from what lies ahead.
Fifty years after Daytona held its first major endurance race and 10 years after the launch of the Daytona Prototype category,
Chevrolet will send the
Corvette name back into action among the prototype ranks.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
General Motors has used production-based and tube-frame versions of the
Corvette chassis in everything from the SCCA Trans-Am series to its
current ALMS GT program throughout the marque’s long history, but sports
prototype competition—under the Corvette banner or with other GM
brands—has been much less consistent.
John Greenwood’s patriotic Corvettes helped to blur the lines between
IMSA’s Grand Touring category and what would soon emerge with the Grand
Touring Prototype class, but the first bespoke Corvette prototype racer
materialized in 1985 as GM, race-car constructor Lola and NASCAR entrant
Rick Hendrick came together to produce the Corvette GTP.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
The fast but fragile twin-turbo V-6 Corvette was shelved by the end of
the 1988 season with 12 poles and two wins to its credit, and after a
brief hiatus, GM tasked Bill and Bob Riley and its partners at Pratt
& Miller Engineering to deliver the revolutionary Chevy Intrepid GTP
for its prototype return in 1991.
While the naturally aspirated Intrepid generated staggering cornering
speeds, its overall race results were rather pedestrian. Compared to the
Corvette GTP, its success was halved, taking six poles and one win
before the program was axed in late 1992.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
The long gap between GM’s most recent prototype effort and the new
Corvette DP activities can be traced back to the forgettable Cadillac
Northstar program from 2000–2002. The plug was pulled with zero poles or
wins, and GM quickly shifted its full resources to Corvette’s ALMS and
Le Mans GT endeavors.
Within GM, prototype racing was on death row. Its exorbitant costs had received a third and final strike.
Fast
forward to the end of the decade, and with the Grand-Am series seeking
to freshen the looks of its often maligned DP class, GM saw a prime
opportunity to rekindle its presence in prototype racing without
breaking the piggy bank or having to build entire cars from scratch.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
As one of the original DP engine suppliers with its venerable 5.0-liter
short-block V-8, GM, at the behest of Grand-Am’s founder, accepted the
invitation to dress the cars used by its partner teams.
“The initiative started a couple of years back when Jim France came to
Detroit,” said GM Racing Director Mark Kent. “He met with our leadership
and pulled out a photo of the Hendrick Corvette GTP car from the 1980s
and expressed an interest in moving the look of the Daytona Prototype
class more toward a classic prototype look. He asked if Chevrolet had an
interest in supporting that initiative, and we were immediately excited
by the opportunity.”
Corvette Daytona Prototype
Reaching back to 1985 for conceptual inspiration, Kent’s team hit a home
run by moving the bar well beyond badge engineering. Put the Corvette
DP in a lineup with modern prototypes from
Aston Martin,
Audi,
Mazda and Peugeot, and odds are the average car buyer could name only the Corvette…
“We went to work and developed what we consider a contemporary version
of the Hendrick Corvette GTP car, which was the last prototype-style
Corvette we believe has been on the racetrack,” Kent explained. “So GM
Racing and its partners worked hand-in-hand with Grand-Am and the three
DP chassis manufacturers to create this new Corvette-themed body that
carries styling cues from the current Corvette. We wanted the car to
have real Corvette DNA, to be unmistakable.”
Corvette Daytona Prototype
Kent also faced engineering obstacles with the Corvette DP bodywork that simply didn’t exist in 1985.
“The Corvette body fits over all three chassis, which has been an
exercise in itself,” he said. “The whole process was collaborative
because to get the greenhouse shape to look like a Corvette, GM Racing
worked closely with the three manufacturers—Riley, Dallara and Coyote—to
create a body that adapts to all three cars. To come as far as we have
from a clean sheet of paper to a finished product in a one-year span
says a lot for all of the parties involved. Visually, the end product is
something we’re all very proud of.”
With GM Racing serving as the only DP manufacturer to answer Grand-Am’s
call to produce custom bodywork for its engine partners, the series has
spent more than 100 hours conducting full-scale wind tunnel tests at
North Carolina’s Windshear facility to balance the Corvette’s
aerodynamic gains with the older-generation DP bodies still in use.
More tweaks will be necessary as the cars race together in 2012, but
there’s one big advantage that Corvette teams are already counting on.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
“We’ve always been committed to running an all-American team and know
that this gorgeous new Corvette body will make us stand out among the
other cars and manufacturers in the marketplace,” said Bob Stallings,
owner of the Gainsco Riley-Chevrolet team.
Added Stallings: “There will just be a handful of Corvette DPs running
at Daytona, and from a marketing standpoint, I think there’s no better
time than the 50th anniversary of the race to give Americans something
to root for—a bit of the old ‘Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and
Chevrolet’ spirit.”
Kent wouldn’t be drawn on the total number of Corvette DPs for the
Daytona race, but hinted at something in the range of four to six cars.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
“We’re looking forward to our three Chevrolet teams from last year and a
few new teams debuting the Corvette body at Daytona, and we’ll embrace
whatever it takes to grow the sport. Grand-Am is a great place to
compete and the 24 Hours of Daytona is the toughest endurance race in
North America. We think starting off the 2012 season with numerous
Corvette DP cars racing on the high banks of Daytona is a great way to
kick off the championship.”
SunTrust Racing team owner Wayne Taylor, whose affiliation with GM’s
prototype endeavors dates back to the Intrepid program, is pleased to
have come full circle with The General.
“Corvette’s return to prototype racing really is about many generations at play at the same time,” said the South
African.
“Mark Kent was my program manager when I first came to the States and
raced for GM, and I scored the Intrepid’s only win and many poles for
him. In fact, his boss, Jim Campbell, loaned me his plane while I was at
the track racing the Intrepid when my first son, Jordan, was due to be
born. Twenty years later, Mark is still overseeing our GM partnership,
Jordan is racing for GM in the Rolex GT class, and Jordan’s younger
brother Ricky is driving our Corvette DP car.
Corvette Daytona Prototype
“If you look at the continuity, the experience and even some of the
youth involved in Corvette coming back to racing prototypes, it’s hard
not to feel bullish about our chances.”
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