Art. No. 20030757
From the road to the race track
That was the concept that the big American corporations 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 racing car from CARRERA I have here in front of me: item number 30757, a Corvette Sting Ray 427 with the starting number 8 in classic blue, white and red (American) paintwork.
The Corvette itself is a really old acquaintance, the car was first released in 2001. In real life, something like this is actually considered a classic car... ? However, this model continues to enjoy uninterrupted popularity on the other side of the Atlantic, which is why the car only appears in the US program. Of course, collectors know how to get their hands on the model.
As I said, the basic design is now 15 years old.
As a result, the driving behavior and technology are no longer necessarily up to the latest standards. However, you have to make compromises with this vehicle anyway, as the car is not comparable with modern racing cars. Narrow tires, a narrow track and crashes if the car is driven too aggressively are inevitable. However, if you compare the car with its direct competitors from the CARRERA range, it can easily keep up. You should always be aware that the conversion of a vehicle from the fifties or sixties for the racetrack naturally also means that the Slotracer has a driving behavior similar to a classic car. Anyone who has ever driven a real car from this period knows what I mean.
But I actually wanted to write a few more sentences about the Corvette Grand Sport program.
The first Corvettes were entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as early as 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 racing cars of the Grand Sport series for the 1963 Le Mans race. 125 ultra-lightweight, high-performance cars were to be built, but GENERAL MOTORS ended its racing sponsorship after only five cars had been built. The Grand Sport program came to an end before the first cars entered the race. Despite the racing ban, the above-mentioned chief engineer gave the original cars to private racing drivers (including Roger Penske and Jim Hall) in order to obtain the hoped-for information from racing for further series development. Arkus-Duntov developed high-performance brakes and larger fuel tanks so that production cars could be used in racing. He was also responsible for the famous big block engine. Motorsport successes were achieved in the following years, but only by private individuals, as GENERAL MOTORS still did not operate an official racing team. It was not until 1999 that CORVETTE RACING celebrated its return to international motorsport with the C5-R.
Liebe Grüße
CoMod Lotus
