Teams & Drivers

All-new C6-R finally unveiled

For what seems like months, American Le Mans Series fans have been waiting the release of General Motors’ Corvette C5-R replacement but, true to form for a team aiming to keep its place at the head of the series’ GTS field, time was spent ensuring that the product was just right.

© ALMS

In keeping with the reshaped GT classes, GM switches its venerable title winner for the all-new C6-R, which was unveiled in all of its glory at the weekend. Retaining the traditional Corvette yellow that has become synonymous with the team, the C6-R will make its public debut at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, having undergone a full year of rigorous testing and development.

“The Corvette C6-R is the best sportscar we’ve ever built, and it has been our privilege to develop it alongside the new [roadgoing] Corvette Z06,” said GM group manager for road racing, Harry Turner, “History will remember the C5-R as one of the best sports racing cars of all time, and we’ve set the bar high for the C6-R. With the new chassis and body structure as our starting point, we’re already ahead. We left no stone unturned in the development of this new car and we are looking forward to racing it in front of the world in 2005.”

Like the C5-R before it, the Corvette C6-R starts from production roots. The same hydroformed frame rails that roll down the assembly line at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, are sourced for the structure of the race car. With the new C6 production model measuring shorter in overall length, albeit with a longer wheelbase, race car engineers faced a new set of numbers in which to achieve their goals to make the car faster on the 180mph Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans and other high-speed circuits.

“At first glance, the shortened front and rear overhangs on the C6 would seem to present a challenge in developing a race car with maximum aerodynamic downforce,” said Steve Wesoloski, programme engineering manager for Corvette Racing, “However, the low drag features on the C6, such as the sleek body and flush headlamps, lend themselves to an easy task of converting the production design into a low-drag race car.”

Adding a rear wing and a front splitter enabled the team to develop a package that achieves a lift-to-drag ratio better than that of the C5-R. Through a combination of computational fluid dynamic studies and on-track testing, the end result will be an aerodynamically-balanced package, tuneable to the low drag demands of Le Mans or the high downforce requirements of Mosport.

The same six drivers that piloted the C5-Rs to an historical undefeated season in 2004 will return to the track in 2005. Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell and Max Papis will drive the #3 C6-R, with Fellows and O’Connell looking to repeat their ALMS title success, while Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen will drive the #4 entry in search of a repeat of their Le Mans win.