2014 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7 R

Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
Overview
Manufacturer	Chevrolet
Production	2014-Current (GTLM/GTE)
Body and chassis
Class	LM GTE
Body style	2-door coupe
Platform	Modified VH
Powertrain
Engine	Chevrolet 5.5 litre, direct injected V8, FMR
Chronology
Predecessor	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R

When the green flag drops on January 25th Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, which will mark a lot of firsts. The first race for the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, the first time all the cars in the series American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am will be combined on the track at the same time, and we get the first look at the new Chevrolet Corvette C7 .R racer without his camouflage mind-warping. Why all the Camo? Why C7.R not based on the Stingray that the world carefully studied for the past year; is based on the Z06 that no one had seen until he was presented with the C7.R at the Detroit auto show.

In a recent test closed-to-the-public shakedown at Sebring International Raceway, Pratt & Miller co-founder Gary Pratt seemed surprisingly calm on the new car. After all, is not his first rodeo: He worked with this current iteration of Corvette Racing since its inception in 1999, and each time a new generation comes, the transition from one to the other has got a little 'easier. "This time," says the taciturn Pratt, "Our company has grown to the point where we were able to spread the responsibility."

In addition, he says, "things are opening up" between his company and Chevrolet, in the sense that it was included in the development of the tram as it progresses, so he knows what it will take as a base for the race car.

"Now we have monthly meetings at our shop," he says. "We did some engineering for them on the C7, and now they start to work on the C8, we hope to be involved even before. We are also using the same type of software, so it is easy to compare the data that we are on the racing car with data for the production car. when we do things better on the race car, they can use that to make the next car production better. And when they do the next best production car, this is the car that we are basing the car race, so we are a step forward. "

In fact, the crossover between racing and production with the races to be a testing ground for ideas and hardware and software concepts has never been so close. Chevrolet was concerned about how the aluminum frame of the car the previous generation would wear, and eager to see what would happen in seasons after he was beaten and thrown on the track. There would cracks and fatigue failures related? "No," says Pratt. He said that he and his company worked on that fame aluminum C6.R "until we were sure that there was no possible way it could be clearer or stronger." And in fact, the C7 debuted with an aluminum frame that has saved £ 50 on the old greater rigidity of the car.

A huge percentage of bits and pieces are new on C7.R, with one important exception: the engine. While the Z06 has a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 with considerably more than 600 horses, C7.R the door with the same 5.5 liter naturally aspirated dry sump V-8, together with its six-speed sequential transmission and a differential slightly modified.

This is because the TUSCC has a formula "Balance of Performance" which requires a level of performance for all competitors GT-Le Mans, mandatory when competitors from such diverse technologies as the 4.0-liter six-cylinder Porsche on the one hand and 8.4 -liter SRT Viper V-10 on the other. The BOP uses mainly restrictors and weight of the engine; the series had determined the C6.R and C7.R should have about 500 horses. So did little sense to invest in a new powertrain when it would still be limited to 500 horses, and Chevy already had a perfectly healthy, powertrain shown on the shelf. There have been a couple of changes, however, including the addition of direct injection, which, he said that many of the drivers seemed to help throttle tip-in.

The size of C7.R are similar to the Z06: step racing car of 106.6 inches is only a tenth of an inch shorter than the road machine, and C7.R is about three inches shorter and almost five centimeters wider.

The suspension is a double wishbone C7.R with fabricated steel control arms upper and lower muscular, with shock absorbers adjustable spring. The Z06 uses aluminum control arms and soft composite transversely mounted. Many pilots say the C7.R seems a bit 'more controllable, especially on rough surfaces and bumps, the C6.R was. Using six-piston brakes on each wheel on steel rotors Series warrant against six-piston fronts and backs of the Z06-four-piston that can be optioned to suppress carbon-ceramic discs.

Corvette Racing has scored an overall victory of the blue with C5.R in 2001, his last year of racing at Daytona, when the faster, but more fragile prototypes all broken or crashed. Nobody expected that kind of luck this year, but a class win is certainly possible than expected, too. The lap times during testing were competitive, but considering the setup of the cars are not closely monitored during practice, those days are essentially meaningless. How will the Rolex 24 and Sebring and every other competitive effort to C7.R arrives in France in May of this year the 24 Hours of Le Mans.