Corvette Racing Team Wins 3rd Championship in a Row, Plus the Driver’s Championship – Videos

How do you win a championship without winning a single race? Outstanding teamwork!

Dateline: 10.17.18 – The Corvette Racing Team beautifully finished their 20th season with a spectacular Team Championship and Driver’s Championship. And 2018 is the third year in a row that the Corvette Racing team has won the Championship. Chris Draper from the YouTube Channel, “My Corvette Life” delivered the below overview of the 2018 Petit le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 13, 2018. Chris is also the editor and chief of www.BadBoyVettes.com the exclusively covers the Corvette Racing Team.

Since we like nice, round numbers, here’s a review of the Corvette Racing Team’s 20 years of success.

* 1999 was the official debut of the Corvette Racing Team with the launch of the partnership of Chevrolet with Pratt & Miller.

* Since the Corvette team was launched, the team has racked up 107 total wins, more than any other IMSA entrant.

* The Corvette Racing Team has won its class at at Le Mans eight times.

* The Corvette Racing Team has won its class at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona three times.

* The Corvette Racing Team has won its class at at the 12 Hours of Sebring 11 times.

* From 1999 to 2013 the Corvette Racing Team lead the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in all-time wins and 1-2 finishes.

* To date the Corvette Racing Team has won 11 ALMS Team Championships.

* To date the Corvette Racing Team has won 10 ALMS Manufacturer Championships.

* To date the Corvette Racing Team has won 10 Driver’s Championships.

Photo: CorvetteRacing.com

The last 20 years of extraordinary racing success has more than made of for previous years of spotty and sometimes embarrassing performance. Corvettes were long looked down upon as cars that were loud, brash, set track records, had pole starts, but rarely finished races.

Yes, there were exceptions, but overall Corvettes were the Rodney Dangerfield of sports race cars, “I’ll tell’m ya, I get no respect!”

Photo: Retroland.com

With the launch of the C5-R Corvette Racing Team, Corvettes have become the Charles Atlas of the sports racing car world. No one kicks sand in our faces anymore. All it took was training and teamwork.

In November 2012 I had the opportunity to see Doug Fehan and the Corvette Racing Team at the Simeone Museum for Simeone’s first “Corvette Racing” seminar. The C6.R “show car” was there along with Simeone’s 1963 Wintersteen Grand Sport #002. As part of the program, they presented a film explaining how the Corvette Racing Team prepared for one of their Le Mans assaults. They are consummate professionals and their level of professionalism is truly world-class. Everyone came away with a whole new level of respect and admiration for the Corvette Racing Team.

Here’s the view from inside Tommy Milner’s #4 office!

Yet, despite IMSA’s efforts with their Balance of Power (BoP) rules, the Corvette Racing Team out-flanked all competitors by being a better and more efficient team. “Racing” is supposed to be about the best car and team winning races, but IMSA is practically giving everyone a participation trophy by attempting to have an even race. Leave that to the spec racers.

While I am seriously at odds with IMSA and their absurd BoP rules, this year’s third team Championship is sweet revenge from a team that has obviously been held back by IMSA. Consequently, the team did not win any races in 2018, but took the championship just the same. The Corvette Racing Team also vanquished that tired old claptrap about how the Corvette’s front-mid-engine design is outdated. Really? The Ford GT and Porsche didn’t just score their third team Championship in a row, did they?

C8.R
Photo: Motor1.com The C8.R Corvette race car was seen in testing in summer 2018.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the mid-engine C8.R competing in the 2019 season. I have no “inside connections” but I do believe we will see the C8.R debut at Daytona in February 2019. Why? Because we have already seen the C8.R being tested last July. They wouldn’t have let out those images if the C8.R was going to compete in 2020. At least, that’s my speculative guess.

Till then, CONGRADULATIONS to the entire Corvette Racing Team, and drivers; Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel Fassler! – Scott

Enjoy the eye candy!



Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) OBSOLETE? WHAT? – Video

Shades of the 1963 Grand Sport, the Corvette Daytona Prototype is now racing in the Historic Sportscar Racing series!

 

Dateline: 8.24.18 – Illustrations by K. Scott Teeters –  Time flies when you are having fun racing and winning. But five years can be an eternity in prototype sports car racing. I was shocked to see a report on Jalopnik.com that the five year old Corvette Daytona Prototype is now relegated to vintage historic racing events.

The story points out that just two years ago in 2016, the Whelen Engineering Action Express Chevrolet Corvette Coyote Daytona Prototype took the Driver’s Championship with Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in the driver’s seat.

The above 3-minute 20-second in-car video gives you a sense of what an awesome machine the Daytona Prototype Corvette is. GM Racing’s only involvement was with the basic body design. Pratt & Miller, along with Riley Technologies, Dallara, and Coyote designed and built the Daytona Prototype’s chassis. Power comes from a racing version of the C6 Z06’s LS7 engine. Continue reading


Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) OBSOLETE? WHAT? – Video”


Tommy Milner & the C7.R Corvette Wins GTLM at 12 Hours of Sebring!!! – 3 VIDEOS

Corvette Racing Team scores ANOTHER win at the 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA Race

Dateline: 3-20-16: The overall winner of the 2016 12 Hours of Sebring was Pipo Derani driving his Ligier JS P2 Honda. The Action Express Corvette Daytona Prototype driven by Dane Cameron took 2nd and Christian Fittipaldi took 3rd in his Action Express Corvette Daytona Prototype.

But for Corvette fans, Tommy Milner brought home the gold and took 1st in GTLM Class in his C7.R Corvette.

Here are some interesting stats that show the success of the Corvette Racing Team:

* This was the 10th class victory at Sebring for Corvette Racing

* The Corvette Racing Team claimed its fifth straight Triple Crown victory! 

* This was the second straight victory at Sebring for Corvette Racing and the third in four years. Continue reading


Tommy Milner & the C7.R Corvette Wins GTLM at 12 Hours of Sebring!!! – 3 VIDEOS”


From Race Car to Exotic: Preserving C5R-006 For What’s Next

Pratt & Miller Builds One Hell-of-a Corvette Race Car!

Photo-1Dateline: 8.15.15 / Story by Jan Hyde, www. RegistryofCorvetteRaceCars.com VIDEO at the bottom of this post!

A story about the # 4 Pratt & Miller C5R-006 that we Corvette race car enthusiasts hope might inspire more collectors to share the rewards by taking their cars for an outing at the track. Expert Corvette Race Car specialists Nigel Dobbie (UK), Jonny Bens (BEL), Marwin Moonen (NE) and Wayne Ellwood (CN) contributed to this story. Nigel Dobbie is the author of Corvette Racing The GT1 years published in 2010 by www.silverwoodbooks.uk .”This car was put through the wringer!” in the words of Dan Binks, Pratt & Miller?s esteemed Crew Chief.

Photo-2-Original-C5-R# 4 Racing in the ALMS 2002/2003 with the Corvette Racing Team
During the 2003 season, C5R-006 in the hands of Andy Pilgrim and Kelley Collins won the GTS class in the ALMS race at Road Atlanta on June 29.

Pratt & Miller completed chassis 006 (and sister car 005) in November 2001. It debuted at Sears Point on May 19, 2002 where Pilgrim and Collins finished second in class and won at Mosport later in the year. (Chassis 005 & 006 missed Le Mans because the team needed extra time to prep, ship overseas and test, drawing older Chassis 003 and 004 back into service). Continue reading


From Race Car to Exotic: Preserving C5R-006 For What’s Next”

Vette Videos: Experience the C5-R Corvette at Le Mans!!!

Dateline: 8.13.11
Come on! Let’s take a HOT LAP around Le Mans in a C5-R Corvette!

After decades of “why can’t we have a factory Corvette racing team?” Chevrolet and GM finally got behind a racing Corvette in ‘97, the way they did with NASCAR Chevrolets. With the vastly superior C5 platform, Chevrolet and Pratt & Miller engineers took their time developing all aspects of the C5-R. The results were SPECTACULAR!

The C5-Rs raced for 5-1/2 seasons, with the half season being ‘99 with only 5 races entered and one 2nd place finish. For the 2000 season the team entered eight races, taking one 1st place win at the Texas Motor Speedway. But it was 2001 that the Corvette Racing team hit their stride. In the 10 races for the season, the two-car team took eight 1st place wins and six 2nd place wins, PLUS, they won their class at Le Mans. In international sports car racing, the saying is that if you win at Daytona, a lot of people will notice. But if you win at Le Mans, EVERYONE will know!

Continue reading “Vette Videos: Experience the C5-R Corvette at Le Mans!!!”