C8.Rs Prep for 24 Hours of Le Mans

[teamzr1]

Antonio Garcia said that missing last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans was “hard, tough & very unusual” as Corvette Racing prepares for its comeback to the French endurance classic.

The factory Pratt & Miller-run operation was forced to withdraw from the 2020 race, ending a 20-year streak of consecutive participation due to travel-related complications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

While going on to claim the IMSA GT Le Mans class title that year with co-driver Jordan Taylor, the Spaniard admitted the absence of Le Mans in his year was something unusual.

“Not going to Le Mans last year was something we really missed,” Garcia said. “Going back there, this is something we all want.
“Obviously, it’s one of the biggest races of the year.

“Missing it last year was hard, tough and very unusual for Corvette Racing.
“Going back now, we are looking forward to it. We’ve already won a 24-hour race, which gives us a lot of confidence.
“I do feel like we will be much more prepared with the C8.R this year than we would have been last year.
I’m hoping we are as competitive at Le Mans as we were in Daytona.”

Garcia and the team got a jump start on their Le Mans preparations earlier this year by entering the FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening 6 Hours of Spa, where he teamed with the now-retired Oliver Gavin for a fourth place class finish in GTE-Pro.
That race marked the Corvette C8.R’s European race debut, after initially planning to come at Le Mans last year.

“This car should be better and that’s what we expect,” Garcia said. “We saw at Spa that we were close to our competitors.
So it was a good event for the team to get used to WEC rules and strategy.
“Now, once we get to Le Mans, it should be an easier time to get into that mindset, having been through it before.”

Corvette teammate Tommy Milner, who has been undertaking the bulk of the team’s simulator prep for the race, believes the mid-engined GTE car should be better suited for Circuit de la Sarthe than its predecessor, purely due to a regulations' standpoint.
“We saw with the C7.R that we had some deficits to our competitors with their newer cars as time went on,” Milner said.

“Realistically, the C7 was built before the current GT rules changes, so we were always fighting against the down force levels of the cars.
“With C8.R having been built to those rules and with all the knowledge and experience this team gains each year at Le Mans, we had that opportunity to build a race car that should be quick at Le Mans.

“Time will tell. But that’s always a topic of conversation with this team Le Mans. I’m excited to go there, to see what this car will feel like.
The engineers are, the crew guys are, it’s an exciting prospect.”
Milner said that, especially after missing last year’s race, nobody within the team has taken things for granted this time around.

“Not going there last year reminds you how special this race is and how important it is for the team, for Corvette and Chevrolet,” he said.
“This is a race that for a lot of people is a bucket-list item. To go there once is special.
“Each time going back is more so. It’s another chance at winning the greatest sports car race in the world.

“We don’t take that lightly on this team. We’re even more excited that we get to take the new Corvette over there for the first time.
There are a lot of people, me included, are eager to see what the C8.R can do there.”

Jordan Taylor will run a special helmet design in the 24 Hours of Le Mans commemorating the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The Corvette Racing driver unveiled the helmet on social media on Tuesday, which blends Taylor’s signature design with that of the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who drove for the team in the 2001 Rolex 24 at Daytona.


Earnhardt was killed in a final-lap accident in the Daytona 500 less than a month later, unable to fulfill his goal of one day competing in the French endurance classic.
“It’s been so special to drive the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette the past few years,” said Taylor, who won the 2020 IMSA GT Le Mans championship.
“That number and the Chevy brand are synonymous with one man: Dale Earnhardt Sr.

“I wanted to make a tribute helmet to honor him at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“Twenty years ago, Dale Sr. drove the No. 3 Corvette at the Rolex 24, and I’m sure it was in the plans to race at Le Mans one day as well.
“A big thank you to Dale Jr. for giving me the permission to bring back his Dad’s iconic helmet, and blend it with mine.
And an amazing job by Mike Savage to get it done so well.

“We’ll do everything we can this month to make Dale Sr. proud.”

 

[kentvette]

It'll be interesting to see how the C8R goes here. Unfortunately, we won't get to see Jordan's fancy helmet, or meet the team or see the cars up close as usual - the teams and drivers will be strictly segregated from fans this year And for us fans, no Test Days! For me almost the best part was being in the pit Lane and being able to touch the cars, let alone see them and the team.

Hopefully we can return to normality by 2022..... And maybe by then they will have dropped that awful Grey!

 

[teamzr1]

Are Corvette owners in the UK close enough to go to this race, and if so going to be able to get to the C8.R pits to get some photos ?

Garcia, three-time Le Mans winner, three-time Daytona winner and four-time IMSA GT champion, spoke movingly after his Rolex 24 at Daytona triumph in January left him in emotional turmoil.
He couldn’t remain at the track due to a positive COVID-19 test (which turned out to be a false positive), so didn’t get to celebrate victory with teammates Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg, which finished off a wretched month in which he lost his grandfather to COVID and also lost his dear friend, former F1 driver and highly respected junior formula team owner Campos.

Now Garcia has revealed that on Corvette Racing’s return to Le Mans having missed last year’s race due to the heavily restricted travel permitted during the height of the pandemic, he will be running a special helmet that combines his own livery with that of Campos.
Garcia took time out from his Le Mans preparations to tell Motorsport.com why Campos became such a big influence in his life.

“I was driving since I was seven or eight, and I started winning national or international karting championships since 1994. I won the World Karting Championship that year, and that was the year that Adrian won the Spanish Touring Car championship.
"At the national prize-giving ceremony I met him, and after he retired from racing in 1997, that’s when he started building up his own team, Campos Racing. I was his first driver in ’98, racing in Formula Nissan, or Euro Open championship, the one that brought up to Formula 1 Marc Gene and Fernando Alonso.

“But I think I was probably Adrian’s very first driver, along with Gene. And ever since I drove for him in ’98, ’99, 2000 and then again in 2002 my last season in single-seaters he was my manager, too. He was looking after me. After a point, I was dealing with my own things, but Adrian was my father in racing! Basically, I didn’t make any decision without talking to him first, even if the final decision was mine. It was a very special relationship.
“Then since 2015, I joined Campos Racing as a shareholder, so I’m part of the team even now. So losing him in January was a big loss for me, and obviously a massive loss for his kids. He truly was a good man.”

Garcia’s Le Mans helmet for this year combines his own classy and simple livery (by 21st century standards) with that of Campos, whose design was even simpler red top, white band, and a mildly stylized Spanish flag on the sides.
“Adrian’s helmet was very old-school, as you’ll have seen,” said Garcia. “It’s just basically the Spanish flag, and it’s still on all of his team cars the Spanish flag going across the nose, ending in brush strokes.

“The week that Adrian died, one of his sons said to me that Adrian’s last race was Le Mans in 1997. I’m not sure if he even got to race that year because his car [a Pilot Racing-run Ferrari 333SP] retired so early, but anyway, that was Adrian’s final race as a driver. So this year his youngest son Lucas told me it would be great if I could race with his father’s helmet colors at Le Mans.
"I wasn’t very keen to drive with somebody else’s helmet, but without telling him, I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll come up with some idea.’ And working with the same painter, designer he used back in ’98, ’99, 2000, we came up with something, along with his oldest son, Adri. He helped me merge the two designs, mine and Adrian’s.

“And I think it’s come out pretty good and pretty obvious – the sides are basically my helmet design on top of Adrian’s. I like this combination very much.”
Garcia says carrying the colors of his former mentor doesn’t add to the natural burden of representing a potential winning team at the world’s most prestigious sportscar race.
“I don’t think it adds pressure,” he mused, “I think it will just feel very special. Daytona, as I told you guys, was very emotional because I was driving there just two days after he died, and I talked to him almost the same day. He was talking to me about how happy he was that I was racing there, and he was asking what were the chances of us winning the race, and so on.

“So for sure, having 50 percent his helmet colors and design on my helmet I think will bring many emotions in my first runs at Le Mans, to know that somehow I am carrying him around the track where he retired from driving in 1997.”

 

[teamzr1]

Do not know why the #3 (63) C8.R missed all of test day 1 and only the last half of test day 2
Both need to step it up if they intend to do well for next weekend's 24 hours of Le Mans

 

[teamzr1]

LE MANS, France – At long last, Corvette Racing sent the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for its first laps around the Circuit de la Sarthe during nine hours of testing Sunday ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Tommy Milner led the Corvette Racing effort in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R on Sunday with a lap of 3:53.440 (130.550 mph) in a highly competitive GTE Pro field. Less than a half-second separated the top seven cars, which bodes well for a thrilling race in less than a week’s time.

Milner shared the No. 64 Corvette on Sunday with Nick Tandy; the duo will welcome back Alexander Sims into the fold following a prior racing commitment earlier in the day.

The No. 63 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R had an up-and-down day that included an engine change following an electrical issue that stranded Antonio Garcia on-course in the third hour of the morning session.
Four hours later and after hard and thorough work, the No. 63 re-emerged from the garage to continue its test program.

Nicky Catsburg, driving with Garcia and Jordan Taylor, was the quickest driver in the 63 entry at 3:54.281 (130.115 mph).
The trio are back together after winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona earlier this season.

Corvette Racing will return to the track Wednesday for two free practice sessions and qualifying.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans on Aug. 21-22 with the green flag set for 4 p.m. CET and 10 a.m. ET. MotorTrend TV will air the race live with the MotorTrend App adding coverage of official practices and qualifying on Aug. 18 and 19. Live audio coverage will be available from Radio Le Mans starting with Sunday’s Test Day

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“We had a bit of a slow start today, with some issues here and there. But the afternoon was really strong for us on the 64 side. As far as setup goes, we didn’t do lots of work thanks to a lot of that being done on the simulator. It really felt like we have been racing this car at Le Mans for many years.

That’s my first impression.
Setup-wise and balance-wise, things felt pretty good. There’s still some work to do, for sure.
But I’m happy with where we are. We were able to get more tire data and more car data so that when we come to the race here in a few days that we can find-tune the setup and get everyone comfortable and happy with the Corvette.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

"It's been a long day, and we've had a few hiccups, things to iron out.
But that's why you do a test before the race week when we try to do a roll-out and fully use that test day.
We managed to work through a good program of what we wanted to get through on the 64 side.

It would have been nice if the 63 had run fully, and we could have compared what we had planned to test throughout the day. Nevertheless, the good thing with the heat and weather today is that we were able to run different tire compounds and have a comparison of that.

Of course, we missed having Alexander here. I know he will seamlessly transition into the team for the first practice session Wednesday.
What that did mean is that Tommy and I got to focus on what we were doing between the two of us rather than driver familiarization work, which we will do Wednesday.

It won't take Alex many laps. I think the most positive thing for me is how comfortable the C8.R is to drive around this circuit.
I know, and Corvette Racing knows what requirements are needed for a car on this type of circuit fast, relatively low-grip, big braking zones and a pretty flat track, if you like.

The car is everything I expected. It gives me good visions going into race week of being able to operate at a very high level for a number of stints without too much hassle. That is what endurance racing is all about, going round and round as consistently as possible."

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“I would have liked to do some more laps for sure since it’s the first year with the C8.R in Le Mans. But mostly out of the box it felt pretty decent, pretty good. We know which way to go; the things we worked on in the simulator seem to be working, which is a good thing.
We’ll now try to get as much data as possible from both cars and work our way forward toward this week.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“We didn’t do as many laps as we wanted to get in today, but the guys did a good job to give us as many laps as possible.
It’s the first day of the new car at Le Mans, so every lap is important to get our data and to understand where we’ll be next week.

Each driver got some laps in traffic and in clean air, which is important for the race. We probably have a lot of things we want to tick off the list still come free practice, but I think it’s good to get this under our belt, get a couple of days off and look at all the data and understand where we are.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 63 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Not an easy day with the issue in the morning session which took a long time to repair, but the guys worked super hard, and luckily we managed to get out near the end of the afternoon session. We got some laps in, the car felt pretty good.
The sister car was running all day, so we’ll be able to get some valuable information from them, and we can learn from that. In summary, we survived the Test Day feeling pretty good, so we’re all good for the race.”

 

[Stingray]

Veterans of Le Mans 24 will recognise it all comes down to "Balance Of Performance" whims of the ACO - whose judgement would never be influenced by minor considerations such as which manufacturer's got a new car out and is chucking most money into the pot. Fiddle with minimum weight; tinker with fuel tank capacity and so on. It's vital to keep everything fair or else there might be a risk of the wrong car winning.

 

[teamzr1]

C8.R Corvette Racing is in a “decent place” according to team manager Marc Maurini despite a drama-filled day in the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R’s first laps of Circuit de la Sarthe in preparation for next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It was a baptism by fire for the No. 63 Corvette, which suffered an engine failure midway through Sunday’s opening session with Antonio Garcia at the wheel.
The Pratt & Miller-run squad replaced the car’s engine and gearbox and managed to get it back on track in the final hour of the afternoon session.
“We had a powertrain issue,” Maurini said.

“We saw the car stop on track and saw some flames.

It was not what we were looking for, but we had everything here to get the car back together.
“The guys did an excellent job of getting the engine out of it and getting everything changed over.
“We lost some run time but got back out in the afternoon.”

While the No. 63 Corvette of Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg completed a total of 42 laps, the sister No. 64 car, shared by Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, logged 81 laps over the course of the nine hours of track time.

Third driver Alexander Sims was one of ten ABB FIA Formula E World Championship drivers to miss the test day due to Sunday’s season-ending Berlin E-Prix.
Despite the setback to the No. 63 car and the two cars bringing up the rear of the GTE-Pro timesheets, Maurini said he was pleased with the progress made in the C8.R’s on-track Le Mans debut.

“The 64 car did a lot of running in the afternoon,” he said. “The field seems pretty tight right now, looking at the results.
“I think there were four tenths that separated all eight cars on overall best lap.

“That’s within the noise at this track. To me, that shows that all cars are pretty well-balanced, at least in that session.
“The sim data correlated well. We didn’t make many changes from where we started.
“The drivers are pretty happy with the car.
For us, it was essentially working through tire compounds, trying to figure out where transition temps were, if we could double stint, triple stint tires.

“All of that sort of stuff, we need to be ready to go for a 24-hour race as opposed to a sprint race.
Maurini added: “We’ll [now] tear the cars apart, do all of our prep work [for race week].

“We have a pretty big list of improvements to make, things like air line hose routing and all of those operational things. We’ll work through that.
“We’ll definitely be running some sims and be working with the engineers and getting that sort of stuff tidied up.
“Really, I think we’re in a decent place car-wise. We just need to get everything cleaned up the way we want it to be.”
Triple Stint Could Be Possible in Night

While lacking data due to the downtime from the No. 63 entry, Maurini believes it might be possible to triple stint their Michelin tires in the night-time hours of the race.
“I don’t think we have enough info right now with only one car running on one day to know where those limits really are,” he said.

“What we saw today doesn’t look terrible, but obviously we’re going to push for every last little bit.
“I expect all cars to be able to double, especially at night. Cars being able to triple?
[It] might be a possibility at night for some cars, is included, we just don’t know yet.
“During the day, I think to triple will be very tough.”

 

[teamzr1]

CORVETTE RACING AT 24 hours of LE MANS: By the Numbers

• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 20 appearances at Le Mans: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette.
• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 2000 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13) and Corvette C7.R (2014-2019). The Corvette C8.R makes its Le Mans debut this year.
• 3: Number of wins for the Corvette C5-R – 2001, 2002, 2004.
• 4: Number of wins for the Corvette C6.R – 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011.
• 7: Number of Le Mans victories for Corvette Racing’s lineup. Antonio Garcia: 3 Tommy Milner: 2 Jordan Taylor: 1 Nick Tandy: 1
• 8: Class victories for Corvette Racing at Le Mans – all since 2001.
• 9: Number of drivers who have won races at Le Mans for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Ron Fellows, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Scott Pruett and Jordan Taylor.
• 13: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001.
• 20: Number of drivers to compete for Corvette Racing at Le Mans.
That number grows in 2021 with Nick Tandy, Nicky Catsburg and Alexander Sims joining the lineup.

• 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen.
• 26: Number of GT Le Mans wins in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Corvette Racing since the start of 2014.

• 117: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 109 in North America and eight at Le Mans.
• 245: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.
• 98,770.18: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 20 previous trips to Le Mans.
That represents 11,718 laps, or nearly four full trips around the Earth at its equator.
The two Corvettes need to complete 1,229.82 miles to reach the 100,000-mile mark at Le Mans.

• 132,000: Approximate freight weight in pounds sent by Corvette Racing to Le Mans by air and by sea
The first shipment left Detroit in mid-February and the last left Sunday just after the Road America IMSA race.
• 324,915.91: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception

 

[teamzr1]

The new C8 Z06 which had been testing at "the ring" in Germany track showed up at the C8.R Le Mans pits this weekend
Rear wing looks crappy, notice where the 4 exhaust tips are now and the larger air scoop on rear fender wells

 

[Stingray]

There was a suspiciously similar looking C8 (red) pottering around Indianapolis Motor Speedway at last weekend's NASCAR race, tucked behind a row of blue Camaro pace cars. I paused the TV trying to understand why the Corvette, pictured from the front, seemed to have such a high and wide rear wing. It was the first Indycar/NASCAR "double-header" weekend so GM might have been trying to make the most of it.

I like the four exhausts together on that camouflaged car.

 

[teamzr1]

Look at the size of those brake rotors, really mean some business with those
and not much sidewall on those tires.

I agree, the tips in center look better than present C8 exhaust tips



Look close and those are the new carbon fiber rims