General Discussion Area > Corvette Related Chat
[PICS] 2011 Petit Le Mans Corvette Racing Photo Gallery
Camo:
Click Home Button In Image For Their Site
New Season Brings New Challenges for Corvette Racing
Season-Opening 12-Hour Sebring Endurance Race Is Toughest Test for New Cars, New Technology, and New Drivers
SEBRING, Fla. - Corvette Racing will begin the 2011 American Le Mans Series at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 19, with two new cars, two new drivers, and a wealth of new technology.
The team has constructed a pair of new Compuware Corvette C6.Rs to take on the world-class competition in the GT category. Based on the GT2 Corvettes that the team introduced in 2009, the new race cars have benefited from months of development and testing.
"2010 was an extremely productive year for Corvette Racing from the standpoint of gathering information," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "The team learned a tremendous amount about the production-based LS5.5R engine package, the aero package, and the chassis setups - all of which were brand new to us. The winter was spent distilling that information, running it through various matrixes, and coming up with what we think are going to be very competitive race cars in 2011."
The ALMS regulations now allow the use of paddle shift transmissions in the GT category, and Corvette Racing has adopted this new technology. Similar to the paddle shifters that are available in production Corvettes, the race cars' fingertip shifters allow the drivers to change gears with both hands firmly on the steering wheel. The team has integrated this new system with the electronic controls for the production-based 5.5-liter GM small-block V-8 engines that power the Corvette C6.Rs.
"It's been pedal-to-the-metal all winter long," said team manager Gary Pratt. "The base chassis is identical to the design we've raced previously, but we've worked on all aspects of the cars, from aerodynamic refinements to driver safety and comfort."
"The paddle shift system is new technology for us, and our engineers have worked very hard on the communication system that links the new engine management system and the shift system. We've also adopted a new power control system that automatically performs many of the functions that used to be done manually, such as turning on the reserve fuel pump and switching the batteries during pit stops."
"We also installed new driver displays and new steering wheels with all of the controls on the wheel," Pratt explained. "The steering wheel system is more user friendly, and drivers of various sizes can reach the switches more easily."
Two of the six drivers are new to Corvette Racing’s international driver lineup in 2011. Tommy Milner, 25, of Lake Mary, Fla., will share the No. 03 Corvette C6.R with Olivier Beretta of Monaco for the full season; Spaniard Antonio Garcia is the third driver for endurance events (Sebring, Le Mans, and Petit Le Mans). Richard Westbrook, 35, of London, England, will be teamed with Jan Magnussen (Denmark) and Oliver Gavin (UK) in the No. 04 Corvette C6.R in the long-distance races.
"The paddle shift is a big plus, particularly in the braking zones," said Gavin. "You can get hard on the brakes, then downshift really quickly. Going up through the gears, the shifts are smooth and solid. In terms of consistency and reliability, the system is a really good step forward."
This year's Sebring enduro marks Corvette’s 55th year in international road racing. John Fitch and Walt Hansgen drove a Corvette to a ninth-place finish overall and a Class B victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1956, the first step onto the world stage that established Chevy’s sports car as a contender in top-level competition. Corvette Racing first participated in the Sebring 12-hour race in 1999, and scored seven Sebring victories in the high-tech GT1 class (2002-04, 2006-09).
Today Corvette is competing in the production-based GT category against its showroom competitors. The 19 entries in the GT class include two Corvette C6.Rs, a Ferrari 430 GT, two BMW M3 GTs, four Ferrari F458s, a quartet of Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, one Panoz Abruzzi, two Jaguar XKRs, two Doran Ford GTs, and a Lamborghini Gallardo. An additional five cars are entered in the GTE AM class, which requires at least one amateur driver in the lineup, including a Corvette C6.R from the French Larbre Competition team (last year's No. 3 Corvette).
"The competition is going to be intense," said Fehan. "We'll face powerful new Ferraris, redesigned BMWs that won last year's manufacturer championship, and the defending driver champions in a Porsche. I can tell you this, nobody is going to go 9-0 this season!"
"Beyond the value of racing against Corvette's market competitors, every bit of the technology that we pick up on the race track goes into the next Corvette production model, and eventually the next generation Corvette," Fehan said. "We're not going to disappoint Corvette fans on the race track, and we're not going to disappoint Corvette customers in the showroom."
The season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will put the new hardware, new drivers, and new technology to a grueling test. The race will start at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, and end 12 hours later at 10:30 p.m. The race will be shown live on ESPN3.com and americanlemans.com from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. ET. ABC will provide coverage from 12:30 to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20.
[VIDEO] A Conversation with Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan
As a new year of racing in the American Le Mans series gets underway with the 12 Hours of Sebring, we had the opportunity to talk with Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan. In this wide-ranging interview, we asked Doug about paddle shifters, E10 vs E85 for Sebring and the driver changes made during the off-season. We also managed to sneak in a question about the C7! Check out the video
[youtube]p2-PhJ94x8M[/youtube]
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, and end 12 hours later at 10:30 pm. The race will be shown live on ESPN3.com and americanlemans.com from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. ET. ABC will provide coverage from 12:30 to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20.
CLICK ME for the 2011 Corvette Racing Schedule and other goodies
Camo:
orvette Racing broke new ground last year with their Track to Street video series that chronicled the 2010 ALMS and 24 Hours of Le Mans campaigns. The series focused on everything from individual race results to the racing technology that is transferred to the regular production Corvettes (hence the name Track to Street). So it is good news for Corvette fans that GM Racing is continuing the series for the 2011 season which according to our watch, started the day after the #4 Corvette’s dramatic win at Petit Le Mans last October.
One of the major new rules for the GT class in 2011 is the ability to use paddle shifters. In Season 2’s first episode of the Track to Street video series, the team is shown testing the new paddle shifter setup in a black Corvette C6.R at Road Atlanta:
[youtube]2wQs7GgF134[/youtube]
That testing and subsequent tests already appear to be paying dividends. At the annual Sebring Winter Test last week, Corvette Racing’s C6.Rs were the fastest GT cars in each of the 4 sessions.
Corvette Racing’s next event is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in Sebring, Fla., on Saturday, March 19. The season-opening 12-hour race will be shown live on ESPN3.com and americanlemans.com starting at 10 a.m. ET. ABC will televise race highlights from 12:30 to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20.
Camo:
[VIDEO] Corvette Racing Series Episode 2: Engine Build
In the second episode of the 2011 Track to Street season, we go in-house to learn about the Corvette race engine development and build process within GM. The production engine serves as the foundation for the GT engine that will power the Corvette Racing cars in this weekend’s season-opener at Sebring, and throughout the season. Take a look and see what separates one engine from another.
[youtube]6AColegY2l8[/youtube]
Camo:
[VIDEO] Say Hello to Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner
Say hello to Tommy Milner, the newest driver in the Corvette Racing lineup. Tommy will be taking over the full-time driving duties with Olivier Beretta following Johnny O’Connell’s departure to the Cadillac Motorsports program which was announced in December. Milner brings youth AND experience to the #03 Corvette C6.R. At just 25 years old, Milner has five years of seat time racing in the American Le Mans series including the last two years in the white BMW’s with Rahal-Letterman. With 51 starts and 17 podium finishes, the only that is missing from his impressive resume is a checkered flag.
[youtube]Iy6MjIXhjVM[/youtube]
Milner was impressive to talk with and so far the reviews from his new teammates have been extremely positive. Welcome him to the fold and let’s cheer him on to his first victory.
Make sure you check out our ongoing Sebring photo gallery on Facebook. They just uploaded several new photos and they’ll be posting the first look at the Corvettes on display at the Corvette Corral a little later this evening.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, and end 12 hours later at 10:30 pm. The race will be shown live on ESPN3.com and americanlemans.com from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. ET. ABC will provide coverage from 12:30 to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20.
Camo:
Corvettes Overcome Incidents and Accidents in 12-Hour Endurance Test
SEBRING, Fla. - Corvette Racing raced around the clock to finish third and fourth in the GT class in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the season-opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series. The No. 03 Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Tommy Milner, Olivier Beretta, and Antonio Garcia completed 312 laps and finished third, 49.294 seconds behind the class-winning BMW. The No. 04 Compuware Corvette C6.R of Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, and Richard Westbrook was fourth across the finish line with 311 laps.
The Sebring 12-hour was a test of determination for the Chevrolet team. The No 3 Corvette C6.R started ninth on the grid and finished on the podium; the No. 4 Corvette C6.R overcame a three-lap deficit after an accident at the two-hour mark.
"Today's result was absolutely a team effort," said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President for Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. "In endurance racing you have to work as a team every minute, and Corvette Racing did that. We have more work to do, but this team never gives up."
The No. 04 Corvette C6.R made a fast start as Oliver Gavin started second on the GT grid and passed the pole-winning Ferrari 430GT on the first lap.
"The Ferrari went wide and I got by him," Gavin said. "Once the Ferrari's tires came in, he started to catch me - any amount of dust on the track and our performance started to suffer. Then with new Michelins after the first pit stop, we were back in the hunt and could race anybody."
Gavin handed off to Jan Magnussen at 1:48 under a full-course caution, but the Dane encountered misfortune as soon as racing resumed. Running third at the restart, contact in Turn 17 with Patrick Long's Porsche caused both cars to spin. The following Ferrari F458 of Johannes van Overbeek then spun, colliding with the Corvette and damaging its right rear suspension. The Ferrari subsequently retired, while Magnussen manhandled the Corvette to the pits for repairs. Six minutes later, the Corvette crew had him back on track, albeit two laps down to the GT leader.
"I got a better run going onto the straight, and Long moved to the right to block me," Magnussen said. "No big deal, I went around him on the outside. I think he was bouncing over the bumps, and bounced into the side of my car. I can't be upset with him, but I was upset at the situation."
Long was subsequently penalized for avoidable contact, and the Corvette was penalized for crewmembers working on the car while the pits were closed, losing yet another lap.
Meanwhile the No. 03 Corvette methodically moved up from its ninth starting spot. Olivier Beretta handed off to Tommy Milner, who showed his stuff in his first stint as a Corvette Racing driver. The 25-year-old raced former Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella hard, and took the yellow Corvette from seventh to third in GT.
"Most of my teammates have driven Formula 1 cars, and it makes the race that much more fun when you have the best drivers in the world," said Milner. "I was able to settle into a rhythm, find the balance, and push from there. Maybe I was a little too racy for my first stint, but I wanted to settle in and get the nerves out."
Richard Westbrook also showed his mettle in his first start with Corvette Racing in the No. 04 Corvette C6.R. "Everyone at Corvette Racing wants to do so well - it's Chevrolet's 100th anniversary, and we really want to put in a great performance," Westbrook said. "Unfortunately Jan had contact in the second stint, but we kept pushing - there was nothing else we could do."
The race settled down in the middle stages as the six Corvette drivers cycled through their rotations. The No. 03 Corvette maintained its pace with the frontrunners on the lead lap, while savvy pit stop strategy and speed brought the No. 04 Corvette to within a lap of the leaders.
Shortly after seven hours, Milner pitted the 03 Corvette for a new windshield after the tearoffs had blown off, leaving a layer of sticky adhesive. After falling back to sixth, he charged back through the GT field to third at the end of his stint.
"That was probably the hardest I've had to work in a race car to see out of the windshield," Milner reported. "The crew changed the entire window in nothing flat, and that was great because the car was really, really good. When the sun went down, it definitely picked up grip."
As the sun set at Sebring, the race pace quickened. Antonio Garcia turned in a strong performance to pull the No. 03 Corvette as high as third on the cooling track.
"The car was getting better and better throughout the race," said the Spaniard. "I was racing with a Porsche in the first half of my stint and worked the tires hard getting by him, but at the end I ran decent lap times with worn tires. We were in the fight, running as close as we could to the front, and we had to be able to fight for a good position at the finish."
After 10 hours of racing, Beretta had the No. 03 Corvette in second, and Gavin was back on the lead lap in the No. 04 Corvette when the class leader pitted.
"The traffic was very bad sometimes," said Beretta. "If you were in a good spot you could go quick, if not you just tried to survive, not make a mistake, and use your brain."
Gavin drove a double stint in the late hours before handing the No. 04 Corvette off to Magnussen for the final run to the checkered flag.
"Today was a real uphill battle after the accident took us out of contention for the victory," Gavin said. "After we changed tire compounds I thought we'd have a shot at the podium, but it was perhaps a bit too early. This was one of the wildest 12 hours I've ever raced. I'm proud to be part of the Chevy team, and proud to bring the car back to within a lap of the leader. Jan and Richard drove brilliantly today, with a bit more luck we might have won."
"We didn't have the ultimate speed to match the BMWs and Ferraris today, but we did have execution and we did have strategy," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "When you combine those in an endurance race, it's going to show, and that's what this team did. This is a solid foundation for the season, and a result we can be proud of."
Corvette Racing’s next event is the American Le Mans at Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif., on Saturday, April 16.
Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GT Results (Top 10):
Pos./Drivers/Car/Laps
1. Priaulx/Mueller/Hand, BMW M3 GT, 312
2. Farfus/Auberlen/Werner, BMW M3 GT, 312
3. Beretta/Garcia/Milner, Corvette C6.R, 312
4. Gavin/Magnussen/Westbrook, Corvette C6.R, 311
5. Fisichella/Bruni/Kaffer, Ferrari F458 Italia, 311
6. Bergmeister/Long/Leib, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 310
7. Law/Neiman/Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 306
8. Robertson/Robertson/Said, Doran Ford GT, 294
9. Ortelli/Makowiecki/Deletraz, Farrari F458 Italia, 292
10. Brown/Cosmo/Bell, Ferrari F458 Italia, 268
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version