Compuware Racing Corvette
Compuware Racing Corvette C5-R delivers speed and performance with style
The Compuware Racing Corvette C5-R competing in the American Le Mans Series is a close cousin to the production version of the Corvette celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Corvette Racing's latest addition to its stable, the Corvette C5-R, continues a decades-long tradition of exciting Corvette road racers. Under the guiding hand of engineering genius Zora Arkus-Duntov, Chevrolet first thrust its sports car into competition in 1956.
In 1960, a trio of Corvettes was brought to Le Mans by team owner Briggs Cunningham. With a remarkable demonstration of endurance and speed, the No. 3 car, driven by John Fitch and Bob Grossman, finished eighth overall, well ahead of many of the finest sports and all-out racing cars of the era.
The third-generation Corvette, introduced in 1968, continued the winning ways of its predecessors. In fact, Corvettes were totally dominant in the late 1960s and 1970s, winning 16 SCCA national A- and B-Production titles and finishing as high as third overall at both Daytona and Sebring.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Corvettes went Trans-Am racing and though the competition was formidable, Corvettes continued to finish in front. In addition to racing in production classes as it had done for decades, a more exotic Corvette-based car took to the track in the late 1980s. The incredible IMSA GTP Corvettes reached speeds well in excess of 200 mph by virtue of their 1200-horsepower, turbocharged Chevrolet engines and thrilled fans from coast to coast.
In the early 1990s, Corvettes were again provided an opportunity to race against and defeat some of the world's most sophisticated and most expensive cars in the Bridgestone Potenza Super Car Series. Corvette once again set new marks for speed and durability.
For 2001, Chevrolet introduced the new ZO6, a production vehicle with 385-hp and 385 lbs.-ft. of torque that is ready for the racetrack. Based on the former hardtop model—already the lightest, stiffest and quickest Corvette—it is a car aimed directly at the diehard performance enthusiasts at the upper end of the high-performance market.
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