Carrera DIGITAL 132 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray 427 'No. 8'
Item No. 20030757
From the road to the racetrack
That was the concept that the big American companies pursued in the sixties when the first sports cars were developed: the Corvette from Chevrolet, the Mustang from Ford.
Let's take a look at Chevrolet, whose latest CARRERA racing car I have here in front of me: item number 30757, a Corvette Sting Ray 427 with starting number 8 in the classic blue, white, and red (American) livery.
The Corvette itself is a truly old-timer, having first been released in 2001. In real life, something like that would actually be considered a modern classic… However, this model continues to enjoy uninterrupted popularity across the Atlantic, which is why it's only available in the US. Collectors, of course, know how to get their hands on this model.
As I said, the basic design is now 15 years old.
The handling is also correspondingly poor, and the technology is no longer necessarily up to the latest standards. However, you have to make compromises with this car anyway, as it's not comparable to modern racing cars. Narrow tires, a narrow track, and crashes if you drive too aggressively are practically inevitable. However, if you compare the car with its direct competitors from the CARRERA range, it can easily keep up. One should always be aware that converting a car from the 1950s or 1960s to the slot car racetrack naturally also means that the slot racer handles like a classic car. Anyone who has ever driven a real car from that era knows what I mean.
But actually I wanted to write a few more sentences about the Corvette Grand Sport program.
The first Corvettes were used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1960, one of which even won the largest GT displacement class and finished 8th overall.
In 1962, Zora Arkus-Duntov, the first chief engineer of the Chevrolet Corvette, built the first Grand Sport racing cars for the 1963 Le Mans race. The plan was to build 125 ultra-light, high-performance cars, but General Motors ended its racing sponsorship after only five cars had been built. The Grand Sport program ended before the first cars even entered the race. Despite the racing ban, the aforementioned chief engineer gave the original vehicles to private racers (including Roger Penske and Jim Hall) in order to gain the hoped-for information from racing for further series development. Arkus-Duntov developed high-performance brakes and larger fuel tanks so that series cars could be used in racing. He was also responsible for the famous Big Block engine. Thus, motorsport successes were achieved in the following years, but always only by private individuals, as General Motors still did not operate an official racing team. It wasn't until 1999 that CORVETTE RACING celebrated its return to international motorsport with the C5-R.
Best regards
CoMod Lotus
Item No. 20030757
From the road to the racetrack
That was the concept that the big American companies pursued in the sixties when the first sports cars were developed: the Corvette from Chevrolet, the Mustang from Ford.
Let's take a look at Chevrolet, whose latest CARRERA racing car I have here in front of me: item number 30757, a Corvette Sting Ray 427 with starting number 8 in the classic blue, white, and red (American) livery.
The Corvette itself is a truly old-timer, having first been released in 2001. In real life, something like that would actually be considered a modern classic… However, this model continues to enjoy uninterrupted popularity across the Atlantic, which is why it's only available in the US. Collectors, of course, know how to get their hands on this model.
As I said, the basic design is now 15 years old.
The handling is also correspondingly poor, and the technology is no longer necessarily up to the latest standards. However, you have to make compromises with this car anyway, as it's not comparable to modern racing cars. Narrow tires, a narrow track, and crashes if you drive too aggressively are practically inevitable. However, if you compare the car with its direct competitors from the CARRERA range, it can easily keep up. One should always be aware that converting a car from the 1950s or 1960s to the slot car racetrack naturally also means that the slot racer handles like a classic car. Anyone who has ever driven a real car from that era knows what I mean.
But actually I wanted to write a few more sentences about the Corvette Grand Sport program.
The first Corvettes were used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1960, one of which even won the largest GT displacement class and finished 8th overall.
In 1962, Zora Arkus-Duntov, the first chief engineer of the Chevrolet Corvette, built the first Grand Sport racing cars for the 1963 Le Mans race. The plan was to build 125 ultra-light, high-performance cars, but General Motors ended its racing sponsorship after only five cars had been built. The Grand Sport program ended before the first cars even entered the race. Despite the racing ban, the aforementioned chief engineer gave the original vehicles to private racers (including Roger Penske and Jim Hall) in order to gain the hoped-for information from racing for further series development. Arkus-Duntov developed high-performance brakes and larger fuel tanks so that series cars could be used in racing. He was also responsible for the famous Big Block engine. Thus, motorsport successes were achieved in the following years, but always only by private individuals, as General Motors still did not operate an official racing team. It wasn't until 1999 that CORVETTE RACING celebrated its return to international motorsport with the C5-R.
Best regards
CoMod Lotus
