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Garage 56 officials unveiled the look of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that’s planned for a special entry into the 100th-anniversary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The design was revealed Friday in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway, with dignitaries from all the project’s collaborators NASCAR, Chevrolet, Goodyear and Hendrick Motorsports in attendance.
The livery – or “paint scheme” for the state-siders – features a dominant bright blue with contrasting gold accents and a pearlescent hood. Logos of the Garage 56 contributors are featured prominently, including branding for the NASCAR 75th anniversary and an American flag design up front.
RELATED: See Garage 56 livery from all angles | Garage 56 gains miles, experience
“That’s a beautiful work of art,” said Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO. “The fans will love it. I got to watch it when they were testing here a couple of weeks ago, watching it run through the chicane with the lights on and everything at night. It’s spectacular.”
The names of the three co-drivers – Jenson Button, Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller – arc across the top of the driver-door window. The trio was officially added to the Garage 56 personnel roster on Jan. 28 during IMSA’s Rolex 24 weekend at Daytona.
The project has undergone extensive development and testing since its launch last March at Sebring International Raceway. The car intends to compete at Le Mans as a designated class of one in the June 10-11 endurance event, showcasing those innovations as an invitation-only entrant.
“Everybody in our company has touched this car,” said team owner Rick Hendrick. “So it’s been a major undertaking, but I’m really proud of it, and it’s gonna be fun to watch it over there. I’m gonna be nervous; we’ve got to run 24 hours, but I’m super excited.”
Some of the car’s specifications, based on the Next Gen vehicle that races in the NASCAR Cup Series, were revealed Friday as part of the design unveil. The total weight of the Garage 56 car tips the scales at 2,960 pounds, significantly less than the 3,485 pounds of the current Cup Series racer. Chad Knaus, Hendrick VP of competition, said the target horsepower figure for the car is rated in the “high seven hundreds.”
The G56 entry also carries project-specific Goodyear Eagle racing tires and special aerodynamic devices – dive planes, plus a more robust front splitter and rear diffuser – which have been featured on the test car. That includes a taller rear spoiler – 6 inches vs. the 4-inch spoiler on the current Cup Series configuration. The fuel cell is also larger – 32 gallons for Garage 56, compared to 20 gallons for the Cup Series.
Knaus said trimming weight from the car was a cumulative effect of measures taken from top to bottom. He added that with a full fuel load, the car weighs in near the 3,250-pound range.
“Everywhere, honestly,” Knaus said. “We’ve worked with all of our partners, all of the single-source parts providers from NASCAR, whether it be BBS, AP with the brakes, you go all the way to the shocks, it’s all the way across the board. Everybody pitched in, and we got to work on this program. Everything on the car has been lightened up to the best of our ability – Dallara and us and the folks at NASCAR worked really hard on just about everything.
It’s got composite disc brakes. The wheels are lighter than what the NASCAR Cup wheel is. So really front to back. Five Star stepped up, they got us lighter body panels. It’s everywhere. It’s not just one thing, it’s the whole thing.”
The next step in the testing comes a day after Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with the Garage 56 team loading in for two days at Sebring. The test car made extended on-track stints during the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 sessions at Daytona, but next week’s plan is a first go at a 24-hour run.
“Monday, we’re going to run through first thing in the morning, all the drivers, just to get them in the car, get them comfortable really quick. And then our intention is to start what we’re going to consider a 24-hour test at about 10 o’clock in the morning or maybe 11.
We’re going to have one break for lunch right straight away, and then from there on out, we’re going to go until 11 o’clock the next day, so all through the evening and all the next morning.”
Friday afternoon’s unveiling wasn’t as big of a surprise to those who have been working on the project for nearly a year now and had already seen the car wrapped. But for Knaus & Co., it provided a chance for a sneak preview of what’s planning to be a unique entry added to the Le Mans field.
“It’s not as awe-inspiring for me because I’ve had my hands on it the whole time,” Knaus said. “So you guys are seeing it for the first time, but when they flicked the lights on there and pulled the cover off of it, I was like, ‘Man, that’s a proper race car right there.’ With the way Greg (Ives, crew chief) and Ben (Wright, G56 program manager) and the whole group are working together on this project, I think the folks in Europe are really going to be impressed of what the NASCAR community’s capable of putting on the racetrack. It’s a spotless race car.”
Attached below I included design spec differences in a PDF of this Camaro at 2,900 pounds to Camaro NASCAR which is 500 pounds heaver
The design was revealed Friday in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway, with dignitaries from all the project’s collaborators NASCAR, Chevrolet, Goodyear and Hendrick Motorsports in attendance.
The livery – or “paint scheme” for the state-siders – features a dominant bright blue with contrasting gold accents and a pearlescent hood. Logos of the Garage 56 contributors are featured prominently, including branding for the NASCAR 75th anniversary and an American flag design up front.
RELATED: See Garage 56 livery from all angles | Garage 56 gains miles, experience
“That’s a beautiful work of art,” said Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO. “The fans will love it. I got to watch it when they were testing here a couple of weeks ago, watching it run through the chicane with the lights on and everything at night. It’s spectacular.”
The names of the three co-drivers – Jenson Button, Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller – arc across the top of the driver-door window. The trio was officially added to the Garage 56 personnel roster on Jan. 28 during IMSA’s Rolex 24 weekend at Daytona.
The project has undergone extensive development and testing since its launch last March at Sebring International Raceway. The car intends to compete at Le Mans as a designated class of one in the June 10-11 endurance event, showcasing those innovations as an invitation-only entrant.
“Everybody in our company has touched this car,” said team owner Rick Hendrick. “So it’s been a major undertaking, but I’m really proud of it, and it’s gonna be fun to watch it over there. I’m gonna be nervous; we’ve got to run 24 hours, but I’m super excited.”
Some of the car’s specifications, based on the Next Gen vehicle that races in the NASCAR Cup Series, were revealed Friday as part of the design unveil. The total weight of the Garage 56 car tips the scales at 2,960 pounds, significantly less than the 3,485 pounds of the current Cup Series racer. Chad Knaus, Hendrick VP of competition, said the target horsepower figure for the car is rated in the “high seven hundreds.”
The G56 entry also carries project-specific Goodyear Eagle racing tires and special aerodynamic devices – dive planes, plus a more robust front splitter and rear diffuser – which have been featured on the test car. That includes a taller rear spoiler – 6 inches vs. the 4-inch spoiler on the current Cup Series configuration. The fuel cell is also larger – 32 gallons for Garage 56, compared to 20 gallons for the Cup Series.
Knaus said trimming weight from the car was a cumulative effect of measures taken from top to bottom. He added that with a full fuel load, the car weighs in near the 3,250-pound range.
“Everywhere, honestly,” Knaus said. “We’ve worked with all of our partners, all of the single-source parts providers from NASCAR, whether it be BBS, AP with the brakes, you go all the way to the shocks, it’s all the way across the board. Everybody pitched in, and we got to work on this program. Everything on the car has been lightened up to the best of our ability – Dallara and us and the folks at NASCAR worked really hard on just about everything.
It’s got composite disc brakes. The wheels are lighter than what the NASCAR Cup wheel is. So really front to back. Five Star stepped up, they got us lighter body panels. It’s everywhere. It’s not just one thing, it’s the whole thing.”
The next step in the testing comes a day after Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with the Garage 56 team loading in for two days at Sebring. The test car made extended on-track stints during the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 sessions at Daytona, but next week’s plan is a first go at a 24-hour run.
“Monday, we’re going to run through first thing in the morning, all the drivers, just to get them in the car, get them comfortable really quick. And then our intention is to start what we’re going to consider a 24-hour test at about 10 o’clock in the morning or maybe 11.
We’re going to have one break for lunch right straight away, and then from there on out, we’re going to go until 11 o’clock the next day, so all through the evening and all the next morning.”
Friday afternoon’s unveiling wasn’t as big of a surprise to those who have been working on the project for nearly a year now and had already seen the car wrapped. But for Knaus & Co., it provided a chance for a sneak preview of what’s planning to be a unique entry added to the Le Mans field.
“It’s not as awe-inspiring for me because I’ve had my hands on it the whole time,” Knaus said. “So you guys are seeing it for the first time, but when they flicked the lights on there and pulled the cover off of it, I was like, ‘Man, that’s a proper race car right there.’ With the way Greg (Ives, crew chief) and Ben (Wright, G56 program manager) and the whole group are working together on this project, I think the folks in Europe are really going to be impressed of what the NASCAR community’s capable of putting on the racetrack. It’s a spotless race car.”
Attached below I included design spec differences in a PDF of this Camaro at 2,900 pounds to Camaro NASCAR which is 500 pounds heaver
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