Corvette Racing Moment at CTMP

By now you know that we truly enjoy our Chevrolet moments, and have been fortunate to have memorable moments in conjunction with Chevrolet milestones. Corvette is celebrating its 60th anniversary in the very near future, obvious that we need a moment with Corvette Racing at CTMP for the ALMS race. Yes...CTMP is Mosport!

We made a few inquiries and were directed to Rick Voegelin at Chevrolet Racing Communications who graciously agreed to give us an up close tour of the garage area in the pits. 

Here we go...

One of the transporters, they use 3 to haul the cars and equipment.

The Corvette Racing garage in the pits, with one transporter on each side and the cars under the awnings in between, the #3 car is on the left, #4 is on the right.

Readings from over 100 sensors and especially all the engine readings are taken before the engine is started. Did you know that they warm up the engine to at least 160F and bring up the oil pressure prior to starting. Notice the engineer on the right with the laptop.

Fueling up the car prior to the practive session, the are 6 gallon (25 liter jugs) they pour 4 in the car, lets say its 100 liters at $4.29 a liter...you do the math.

This is the stuff, not gas its E85 (ethanol) supplied by VP Racing Fuels

The steering wheel...yes there are numerous buttons and a few dials

New for 2012 the "paddle shifts"...

Side impact protection for the driver (aluminum honeycomb in the yellow box)

Net to support drivers head in case of an impact...

 

The interior of the car...

The air intake for the air conditioner, the conditioner is on the back of the car with an electric fan, the compressor runs off the transmission.

The exhaust outlet in the rocker panel, yes the fender flares this year are a little wider, since the track has increased by 2 inches (5 cm).

Track side pit...

The track side refueling rig, since its E85 and they need to flow more volume the rig is higher than a gasoline rig.

Car on the track...during the practice session

Car on the track...

Usually within a moment there often occurs another moment, and you could not even remotely make this up if you tried, even with an abundance of imagination.

After the practice we catch up with Rick Voegelin again to have an opportunity to see that cars with the various body panels removed...yes most of the panels are carbon fiber and quickly come off. In addition they always have spare panels that hopefully they will not require.

Before we get to the other moment, here is the engine, notice the air inlet restrictors, now at 29.2 mm a little larget than last year, the engines are built by GM at Wixom. IMSA blocks the air inlets to verify the integrity of the air inlet system (air only enters through the restricted inlets). How much power...about 500 HP, how fast does it spin less than 6,000 RPM.

 

 The headers and pneumatic jack. The headers are routed 4 into 2 into 1 the reason for the "iconic" Corvette Racing exhaust sound.

 Front brakes, wheel, headers...the aluminum box under the wheel is used to calibrate the suspension, left to right, front to rear.

Now the "you can't make this up if you tried" a few decades ago in Trois Rivieres with Pete's Corvette after the Saturday practice we replaced a transmission (Muncie M22) in the car. After the practice Corvette Racing replaces the Extrac transmission in the #4 car (the tall car that got banged up as #74 at Le Mans). 

The spare Extrac transmission which is dramatically more complex than a Muncie M22, as you know its in the rear, its a transmission/differential, clutch, starter motors (yes the starters are in the rear with the transmission).

Removing the transmission from the car...

Several guys including a folks from Extrac inspecting the transmission that was removed from the car, yes its straight cut gears in the transmission.

 

Finally met Doug Fehan in person...

Coming out of the track...

Great experience and a memorable moment to get up close to Corvette Racing.

They are well poised to win the GT Class tomorrow.

Additional photos of Corvette Racing.

A backstage perspective of the ALMS at CTMP.