C7.R comp carat Monterey

[Steven B.]

From Autoweek.com

First photos of Corvette Racing C7.R from Monterey

Chevrolet's newest Corvette to make its racing debut at Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
By: Mike Pryson on 8/17/2013


The Corvette C7-R on the track at Monterey, Calif., on Saturday.... Photo by Chevy Racing.


The Corvette Racing C7.R -- in black-and-white camouflage -- made an unannounced first public appearance Saturday at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in Monterey, Calif.
The C7.R, which is based on the 2014 Corvette Stingray, will make its racing debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona at Daytona Beach, Fla. on Jan. 26, 2014.
If the car is as fast on the track as it looks in the photos, sports-car fans are in for a fun 2014 racing season.



Sign up to have the Autoweek Daily Racing report, Racing Weekend Wrap-Up, Daily Drive and Breaking News delivered right to your inbox.


Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2013...#ixzz2cNPCRFZn
Follow us: @AutoweekUSA on Twitter | AutoweekUSA on Facebook

[Rob M.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

From Autoweek.com

First photos of Corvette Racing C7.R from Monterey

Chevrolet's newest Corvette to make its racing debut at Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
By: Mike Pryson on 8/17/2013


The Corvette C7-R on the track at Monterey, Calif., on Saturday.... Photo by Chevy Racing.


The Corvette Racing C7.R -- in black-and-white camouflage -- made an unannounced first public appearance Saturday at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in Monterey, Calif.
The C7.R, which is based on the 2014 Corvette Stingray, will make its racing debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona at Daytona Beach, Fla. on Jan. 26, 2014.
If the car is as fast on the track as it looks in the photos, sports-car fans are in for a fun 2014 racing season.



Sign up to have the Autoweek Daily Racing report, Racing Weekend Wrap-Up, Daily Drive and Breaking News delivered right to your inbox.


Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2013...#ixzz2cNPCRFZn
Follow us: @AutoweekUSA on Twitter | AutoweekUSA on Facebook

Lets hope they do better than last June in Lemans

[Ray G.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Wonder the cost to get C7 in race trim ?

[Paul H.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Maybe some styling/performance cues can be seen for the high performance versions of the C7 to come.

[Duke W.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Daytona next year will be the first race that integrates the ALMS and Grand Am classes. The GT class will be essentially the same as current ALMS GT. The Grand Am GT class will be merged with GTC, so there will be more than just Porsches in this class.

Of note is that P1 is going away and P2 will be integrated with Daytona Prototype, so there won't be anymore LeMans P1 cars coming over, but that's nothing I'll miss. I think PC will remain, and they run a basically stock LS3 V-8.

I really like the Daytona prototypes, especially the Corvette, because they look like real prototypes of yore, i.e they're actually attractive rather than ugly, and use production based engines.

Duke

[John H.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Wonder the cost to get C7 in race trim ?

Ray -

Probably $600-$700,000 each; just the transmission is $80,000.00.

[Patrick N.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Daytona next year will be the first race that integrates the ALMS and Grand Am classes. The GT class will be essentially the same as current ALMS GT. The Grand Am GT class will be merged with GTC, so there will be more than just Porsches in this class.

Of note is that P1 is going away and P2 will be integrated with Daytona Prototype, so there won't be anymore LeMans P1 cars coming over, but that's nothing I'll miss. I think PC will remain, and they run a basically stock LS3 V-8.

I really like the Daytona prototypes, especially the Corvette, because they look like real prototypes of yore, i.e they're actually attractive rather than ugly, and use production based engines.

Duke

It will be nice to see DP corvette and C7R on the track together. From day one i loved on the DP vette how they included a little hint of the 63 split window, just a small tail at the roof line. A nice design cue that seems to be a nod to the past. i'd love to see that on a production car.

Also, does anyone follow ALMS and recieved the market research study for next year? Questions were in two buckets- what emphasis should this type of racing offer, speed vs various groups of cars, vs technology. The second grouping was around brand and product placement.

[Duke W.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

I didn't get the survey, but if you want my opinion... ALMS has too much emphasis on prototypes, and that's probably the European influence.

ALMS TV coverage is too biased toward prototypes when there often is little close competition. Meanwhile GT is a two to four hour long furball between cars that we can actually buy, and most fans have a favorite marque.

Also, having so many classes is confusing. I'm for one prototype class with production based engines and two GT classes. It's not clear to me why PC is remaining since the concept (limiting the cost) is similar to DP, but I'm fine with no P1. I won't miss the ugly Audi diesels that get all the coverage when most fans that I know could care less about these cars.

GT1 died because the formula required a very expensive "silouette car" that had few production components like the Porsche 935 of yore. Modern sports cars are basically track ready with the correct options, so let's get rid of the $80K sequential gearboxes and only allow production drivetrains and keep tire width to something that will fit within the production bodywork. Or, since most GT cars are similar weight, limit tire size and allow small flairs on cars that need the additional clearance for the allowable tire.

GT racing has traditionally been about proving durability, and it's a great way to develop bullet proof parts for road cars.

The new "GT1" should be strictly a two seater class, - the current mix of Corvette, Viper, Porsche (The back seat is useless and doesn't count.), Ferrari, and BMW Z4, and the new "GT2" should be for four-seaters (four adults, that is) like Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, and M3s.

I'm glad to see ALMS merge with Grand Am. Having a single santioning body and classes that appeal to North American fans stands a better change of remaining financially heathly in the long run. Europeans are obsessed with exotic prototypes. North American's don't care and neither do the North American manufacturers, so why waste the effort. We have plenty of North American GT teams that are competitive at LeMans, which is the only European sports car race that North Americans have any interest in.

Duke

[Bill H.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Well, my contrary opinion, I really don't like DP at all, they are way too NASCAR and too slow. While it's good to see Corvette on a prototype car, it shouldn't be a DP.

[Patrick N.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

GT racing has traditionally been about proving durability, and it's a great way to develop bullet proof parts for road cars.

Duke

GT has shown us very close competition and battles that rage until the very last! I agree, TV coverage really doesn't start on the GT class until a good 1/2 hour into the race. And to your point, GT serves as a solid proving ground for reliability.

I do think Dr Panos was smart to include Prototypes in the mix back in 1999 to draw a wider base and international audience, but I agree, the P1, P2, PC classes can be simplified.

I am shocked that Corvette is not leveraging their dominance in ALMS more heavily to attract a younger market. Heck- my 10 year old son and his friends are at the age where they argue what car is "the fastest". I arm him with ALMS data which shows Corvette as king- no bias whatsoever from me

[Duke W.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

Well, my contrary opinion, I really don't like DP at all, they are way too NASCAR and too slow. While it's good to see Corvette on a prototype car, it shouldn't be a DP.

I'm not so concerned with absolute lap times. What makes racing interesting is close competition. Look at F1. Up until a couple of years ago when changes were made to actually allow PASSING after the flag dropped it was totally boring - just a single file parade even though is was a very fast parade. Modern technology can make for cars that are very fast and easy to drive, but it kills competition, and you begin to wonder how much the driver is actually contributing.

I long for the days when Mark and Parnelli spent two hours banging fenders, but ALMS GT is pretty close.

Prototypes with few restictions allow one or two manufacturers to dominate with megabucks efforts, but tight prototype rules that keep cost low enough for private teams to enter makes for more competitive cars.

Sprint Cup cars are dinasours, but tight rules keep the competition fierce among half a dozen or more teams - at least for the last 25 laps - and I think that's the appeal... along with the frequent and often spectacular wrecks.

Duke

[Bill H.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

I long for the days when Mark and Parnelli spent two hours banging fenders, but ALMS GT is pretty close.

Duke

So do I, Trans Am had a bigger following than Nascar and it was manufacturer against manufacturer(and the fans understood that). F1 got less interesting in the late 1980's. Yes, the prototype rules could use quite a bit of massaging to allow privateers a chance. But so could ALMS GT, if you are a Corvette privateer running against the factory Corvettes, you're screwed. But I agree that the GT racing is as close to the "old days" as we're going to get and it's very good racing. I hope the new rules don't screw it up.Today's politically correct, change a decal and a bit of plastic to denote a different car brand stinks. Nascar and Indy Car are a joke. I ran some laps last year in a Daytona Prototype and it was less impressive than I thought it would be. If fact, the owner only kept it 8 months for the same reason. I just finished rebuilding a Formula Atlantic for him and it's very impressive on the track.

[Jim C.]

Re: C7.R comp carat Monterey

I didn't get the survey, but if you want my opinion... ALMS has too much emphasis on prototypes, and that's probably the European influence.

ALMS TV coverage is too biased toward prototypes when there often is little close competition. Meanwhile GT is a two to four hour long furball between cars that we can actually buy, and most fans have a favorite marque.

Also, having so many classes is confusing. I'm for one prototype class with production based engines and two GT classes. It's not clear to me why PC is remaining since the concept (limiting the cost) is similar to DP, but I'm fine with no P1. I won't miss the ugly Audi diesels that get all the coverage when most fans that I know could care less about these cars.

GT1 died because the formula required a very expensive "silouette car" that had few production components like the Porsche 935 of yore. Modern sports cars are basically track ready with the correct options, so let's get rid of the $80K sequential gearboxes and only allow production drivetrains and keep tire width to something that will fit within the production bodywork. Or, since most GT cars are similar weight, limit tire size and allow small flairs on cars that need the additional clearance for the allowable tire.

GT racing has traditionally been about proving durability, and it's a great way to develop bullet proof parts for road cars.

The new "GT1" should be strictly a two seater class, - the current mix of Corvette, Viper, Porsche (The back seat is useless and doesn't count.), Ferrari, and BMW Z4, and the new "GT2" should be for four-seaters (four adults, that is) like Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, and M3s.

I'm glad to see ALMS merge with Grand Am. Having a single santioning body and classes that appeal to North American fans stands a better change of remaining financially heathly in the long run. Europeans are obsessed with exotic prototypes. North American's don't care and neither do the North American manufacturers, so why waste the effort. We have plenty of North American GT teams that are competitive at LeMans, which is the only European sports car race that North Americans have any interest in.

Duke

Plus 1 to all above and when showing the positions on the scroll they need to display the manufacturers as they did in the past. I can't remember which drivers are in which manufacturers cars.