Photo: Jordan Taylor on Twitter
As a rule of thumb, a racing car’s first year on the track is hard. It’s only through trial and error that the engineers can improve the chassis, aerodynamic qualities, and engine, but Corvette Racing appears to be the exception to that rule.
C8.R is how the GTLM contender is officially called, and during the qualifying session at Sebring this weekend, the No. 3 car broke the lap record twice. Jordan Taylor posted 1:55.653, then bettered the lap time to 1:55.634.
The record-breaking qualifying session was followed by best-in-class finishes for the No. 4 and No. 3, translating to 12th and 13th overall and six laps behind the Cadillac DPi of Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani that took first overall.
Still, how did Corvette Racing pull it off? In addition to the driving skills of Jordan Taylor, it should be highlighted that the team spent a lot of time fine-tuning the C8.R during the health crisis downtime. The Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, by comparison, produced very modest results for the two 'Vettes.
In the first race of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the No. 3 finished fourth while the No. 4 crossed the line dead last in the GTLM class. With a bit of luck, Corvette Racing may surprise us by the end of the season by bettering the BMW M8 GTE, Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, and Porsche 911 RSR-19.
The heart of the C8.R is a flat-plane crankshaft V8 with 5.5 liters of displacement, codenamed LT5. Believe it or not, this engine will be more powerful in the Z06 where it will be called LT6 because GTLM regulations don’t apply on public roads. In the racing car, it’s limited to 500 HP.
600 horsepower is the most conservative guesstimate for the Z06, along with 500 pound-feet of torque. It remains to be seen just how conservative these figures are, but looking back at the C7 Corvette in Z06 flavor, Chevy needs a little more suck-squeeze-bang-blow to convince Stingray owners to trade.
After that, the ZR1 will gain a pair of snails to create the LT7 engine.
The record-breaking qualifying session was followed by best-in-class finishes for the No. 4 and No. 3, translating to 12th and 13th overall and six laps behind the Cadillac DPi of Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani that took first overall.
Still, how did Corvette Racing pull it off? In addition to the driving skills of Jordan Taylor, it should be highlighted that the team spent a lot of time fine-tuning the C8.R during the health crisis downtime. The Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, by comparison, produced very modest results for the two 'Vettes.
In the first race of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the No. 3 finished fourth while the No. 4 crossed the line dead last in the GTLM class. With a bit of luck, Corvette Racing may surprise us by the end of the season by bettering the BMW M8 GTE, Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, and Porsche 911 RSR-19.
The heart of the C8.R is a flat-plane crankshaft V8 with 5.5 liters of displacement, codenamed LT5. Believe it or not, this engine will be more powerful in the Z06 where it will be called LT6 because GTLM regulations don’t apply on public roads. In the racing car, it’s limited to 500 HP.
600 horsepower is the most conservative guesstimate for the Z06, along with 500 pound-feet of torque. It remains to be seen just how conservative these figures are, but looking back at the C7 Corvette in Z06 flavor, Chevy needs a little more suck-squeeze-bang-blow to convince Stingray owners to trade.
After that, the ZR1 will gain a pair of snails to create the LT7 engine.
New GTLM Sebring lap record this weekend in the Corvette C8.R. Jû€ pic.twitter.com/iK3o6pKd5I
— Jordan Taylor (@jordan10taylor) July 20, 2020
Hot dog! We’re on pole here in Sebring with a new GTLM track record for the C8.R. Really special to get my first pole with Corvette and my first in GTLM. Cool to have another front row lockout with @olivergavin rolling off P2 tonight. #Corvette pic.twitter.com/NXmRKs6wH8
— Jordan Taylor (@jordan10taylor) July 18, 2020
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