Corvette History

CORVETTE GRAND SPORT’S RACING LEGACY ON AND OFF THE TRACK

Scott Kolecki··
Last updated:
1960 Corvette at Le Mans

1960 Corvette at Le Mans1960 – Urged by Zora Arkus-Duntov, Corvette’s first chief engineer, racer Briggs Cunningham entered three mostly stock Corvettes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans – each powered by the innovative 283 “Fuelie” mechanically fuel-injected small block V8 engine. In a race dominated by European factory teams, Cunningham’s No. 3 Corvette, driven by John Fitch and Bob Grossman, won the large-displacement GT class and finished eighth overall. In fact, the top 10 finishers included six Ferraris, two Aston Martins, a Porsche and the privateer Corvette.

1963 Corvette Grand Sport in Nassau

1962-1963 – Encouraged by the European success and similar victories in America, Arkus-Duntov oversaw development of the original Corvette Grand Sport race cars, which were targeted for the 1963 Le Mans race. The plan was to build at least 125 ultra-light, high-powered cars to satisfy homologation rules for the GT production class. Only five were built before a General Motors edict eliminated “factory” racing support. The Grand Sport program officially died before the car made it to Le Mans.

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