{"id":24586,"date":"2020-01-13T09:39:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T13:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=24586"},"modified":"2020-01-13T09:39:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T13:39:07","slug":"payne-mid-engine-corvette-race-car-roars-at-daytona-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/payne-mid-engine-corvette-race-car-roars-at-daytona-debut","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Mid-engine Corvette race car roars at Daytona debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">The world got its first look at a final-spec, mid-engine Corvette at full chat last weekend. But it was a race car, not a street-legal production car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/general-motors\/2019\/10\/10\/mid-engine-corvette-c-8-r-race-car-makes-its-debut\/3928031002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">The Corvette C8.R impressed<\/a>\u00a0at its Daytona debut weekend, lapping within tenths of a second its Ferrari and Porsche rivals at the Roar Before the 24 \u2014 the full dress rehearsal for the IMSA Weathertech series\u2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race coming later this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Like carefully choreographed Chevy product rollouts of the past, the race car should have followed the production C8\u2019s production launch in December. The last-generation C7.R race car, for example, broke cover at Daytona in January, 2014 \u2014\u00a0four months after the production model rolled off the assembly line.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SY0t-sWTtxI\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/f6348f8e-40c0-4f6b-81c8-ce8162da2bd1-roar_corvette-gray.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The #4 Corvette C8.R driven by Tommy Milner was the third fastest car at the Roar Before the 24 with a 1.42.7 second lap.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/f6348f8e-40c0-4f6b-81c8-ce8162da2bd1-roar_corvette-gray.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/f6348f8e-40c0-4f6b-81c8-ce8162da2bd1-roar_corvette-gray.jpg\" \/>The #4 Corvette C8.R driven by Tommy Milner was the third fastest car at the Roar Before the 24 with a 1.42.7 second lap.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Richard Prince \/ Chevrolet Photo)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But a bitter,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/general-motors\/2019\/11\/06\/new-corvette-will-not-hit-dealers-until-march\/2509669001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">40-day UAW strike has delayed<\/a>\u00a0production at Corvette\u2019s Bowling Green, Kentucky, plant until February. Though some journalists have had a taste of pre-production cars, media test drives of the final product won\u2019t happen until mid-February in Las Vegas \u2014\u00a0and paying customers won\u2019t get their sweaty palms on the C8 until March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">So the racing debut of the Corvette C8.R (developed in parallel with the production car) at the Roar test trials took on even more significance. And the mid-engine missile put on a strong display around the 3.56-mile road course.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cI had heard a lot already about how good the Corvette C8.R is to drive, so I was very much looking forward to getting in it for the first time,\u201d said Marcel Fassler, 2016 Daytona winner and three-time Le Mans champ. \u201cThe car is amazing to drive. There hasn&#8217;t been a lot of time to get used to the car, but you can see the potential. The car is very agile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Fassler\u2019s teammate, Tommy Milner, topped the time charts for much of the three-day test weekend with a lap of 1.42.7 seconds \u2014\u00a0pushing 170 mph on Daytona\u2019s steeply-banked oval turns for an average lap speed of\u00a0nearly 125 mph. Eventually a Ferrari 488 and Porsche 911\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imsa.com\/news\/012020\/roar-rolex-24-daytona-sunday-notebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">pipped the \u2018Vette for best time<\/a>\u00a0of weekend by a tenth of second.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Corvette is entering two cars, #3\u00a0shared by Antonio Garcia\/Jordan Taylor\/Nicky Catsburg and the #4 of Fassler\/Milner\/Oliver Gavin.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SY0t-sXp-eY\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/a8b134c9-5339-49c3-87cc-11953751fde2-roar_corvette-side-yellow.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The #3 Corvette C8.R driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg at Daytona's Roar Before the 24. The C8.R uses a 5.5-liter flat-plane crank engine different than the 6.2-liter push-rod engine that will be in the first production C8.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/a8b134c9-5339-49c3-87cc-11953751fde2-roar_corvette-side-yellow.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/a8b134c9-5339-49c3-87cc-11953751fde2-roar_corvette-side-yellow.jpg\" \/>The #3 Corvette C8.R driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg at Daytona&#8217;s Roar Before the 24. The C8.R uses a 5.5-liter flat-plane crank engine different than the 6.2-liter push-rod engine that will be in the first production C8.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Chevrolet, Chevrolet)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Like the last, front-engine C7 before it, the racing version of the mid-engine C8 was developed from the ground up alongside the production car. The C8 program got the green light six years ago as the first Corvette in 60 years to put the engine behind the driver. The C8 and C8.R share more parts than any generation production\/race \u2018Vette that has come before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cIt was important for us to develop the new race car alongside the production car, so that each product could properly take advantage of the new architecture,\u201d said Corvette\u2019s chief engineer, Ed Piatek. \u201cThe benefits of this mid-engine supercar, including its incredible balance, will be obvious on the street and the track.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Their obvious similarities aside, the race car diverges in important ways from the $59,995 production steed \u2014\u00a0especially in the drivetrain, where the C8.R introduces Corvette\u2019s first overhead-cam V-8: a 5.5-liter, high-revving, flat-plane crank mill (the production car debuts with an updated version of Chevy\u2019s tried-and-true push-rod, 6.2-liter V-8).<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Despite the race car\u2019s revolutionary engine \u2014\u00a0flat-plane crank V-8s are rare outside exotics like Ferrari and the Mustang GT350\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Chevy has been understandably shy to discuss its details given that the engine will be reserved for a later model trim in C8\u2019s life cycle\u00a0\u2014\u00a0likely the Corvette Z06.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SY0t-sXTfFo\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/13d7e210-46bd-4987-a1c0-8e77e1410802-roar_corvette-yellow.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Corvette Racing has entered two C8.Rs for Daytona - the #3 (pictured) driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg; and the C8.R #4 driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel F\u00e4ssler.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/13d7e210-46bd-4987-a1c0-8e77e1410802-roar_corvette-yellow.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/13d7e210-46bd-4987-a1c0-8e77e1410802-roar_corvette-yellow.jpg\" \/>Corvette Racing has entered two C8.Rs for Daytona &#8211; the #3 (pictured) driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg; and the C8.R #4 driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel F\u00e4ssler.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Richard Prince \/ Chevrolet Photo)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Racing the 5.5-liter 8-holer, however, gives Corvette precious experience at the ragged edge\u00a0of endurance. The engine is mated to a new, more-compact six-speed sequential gearbox \u2014\u00a0different from the dual-clutch 8-speed automatic in the production model.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThe drive-train was a big challenge,\u201d said a Chevy spokesperson. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it quite a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">For all of its newness, the Corvette will still face the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.corvetteblogger.com\/2019\/12\/21\/chevrolets-corvette-c8r-receives-first-bop-for-the-roar-before-the-24\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">same ol\u2019 IMSA Balance of Performance limitations<\/a>\u00a0in order to ensure it doesn\u2019t run away from other cars in the GTLM class. The mid-engine Corvette must exist alongside, for example, a BMW M8 \u2014\u00a0a heavier, less-capable production coupe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">As a result, the Corvette \u2014\u00a0like the retired, mid-engine Ford GT before it \u2014\u00a0must achieve a minimum weight of 2,777 pounds, with power limited to 500 hp and 480 pound-feet of torque at 7,400 RPM.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Contrast that to the production version, which reportedly will make in excess of 650 horsepower at 8,600 RPM. Stripped of interior finery, sound deadening, and infotainment systems, however, the race car still tips the scales well below the 3,647-pound, production C8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The C8.R has undergone extensive track testing around the world with its chassis 01 test mule. But the Roar Before the 24 debuted C8.R\u2019s race-ready chassis 02 and 03. The two entries logged a combined 341 laps with no major issues.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SY0t-sWJ1a4\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/e2bf5d16-ab62-4edd-ac1f-b4577fdd1049-roar_corvette-gray-trees.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Pace-setter. At the Daytona Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, the #4 Corvette C8.R driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel F\u00e4ssler set fast time. \" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/e2bf5d16-ab62-4edd-ac1f-b4577fdd1049-roar_corvette-gray-trees.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/07\/PDTN\/e2bf5d16-ab62-4edd-ac1f-b4577fdd1049-roar_corvette-gray-trees.jpg\" \/>Pace-setter. At the Daytona Roar Before the 24 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, the #4 Corvette C8.R driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel F\u00e4ssler set fast time.\u00a0\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Chevrolet, Chevrolet)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been very pleased with our time here simply because we haven\u2019t had any durability issues. All in all, I couldn\u2019t be more pleased with the progress that we\u2019ve made,\u201d veteran GM race program director Doug Fehan told Sportscar365.com. Corvette\u2019s Pratt &amp; Miller racet team builds the race car in Lyon Township.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The ultimate test will come when the green flag waves Saturday, Jan.\u00a025, and the cars race a grueling 24 hours at full squawk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The C8.R\u2019s front-engine predecessor is already a legend, having won the Rolex 24 twice in 2015 and 2016. Notably, the C8.R is already 2.5 seconds a lap quicker than when that car debuted, hinting at its potential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cWe don&#8217;t have the knowledge base that we have had in the past,\u201d said driver Milner. \u201cSo it&#8217;s been trying a lot of different things we&#8217;ve never tried before. It was fun to have that qualifying session . . . and see how we good we could do. Third is pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world got its first look at a final-spec, mid-engine Corvette at full chat last weekend. But it was a race car, not a street-legal production car. The Corvette C8.R impressed\u00a0at its Daytona debut weekend, lapping within tenths of a second its Ferrari and Porsche rivals at the Roar Before the 24 \u2014 the full [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24587,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586\/revisions\/24587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}