Graeme;
-Thx. much. Couple newer questions. The Grand Sport I saw running
looked to have a shorter wheelbase, and I was told later it was 3/4 of
the stock Corvette w/b. Was this the original configuration or was
this done in it's change into the "roadster" version? Same source also
said the 3 were scrapped, the one I saw was the only car still
running, with the last one in the proverbial barn somewhere being used
as a chicken coop.
-Didn't DUNTOV go on to sell aftermarket stuff later? (1960's/1970's)
I seem to recall at that time they were the "hot" set-up in cams,
along with ISKY, before all the other players entered the field.
Phil
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: The Grand Sport Corvettes
Author: "G.S.Sutherland" <G.S.Sutherland@phil.hull.ac.uk> at ~INTERNET
Date: 6/27/96 4:12 AM
Phil asked:
+ -A couple years ago helping a friend as "crew-chief" on his GT-350
+ at the Palm Springs Road Races, one of the two surviving (so I was
+ told) Grand Sport Corvettes was running. What history can you fill
+ me in on about these?
When the Sting Ray was launched in '63, it was intended to
dominate the SCCA race series as its predecessor had done. Unfortunatly,
Carrol Shelby brought out the Cobra at the same time, and this proved to
be a faster car than the Corvette. The problem with the Corvette was that
it was too heavy to be a serious race-car, as it weighed about 3,000 lbs.
(I believe that the Cobra is about 2,000 - 2,200 lbs.) In contrast to the
Cobra, which was developed as a race-winning sportscar first, and a road
car second, the 'Vette had been intended for road usage, with option ZO6
supplying heavy-duty (drum) brakes, suspension, and enlarged fuel tank.
In response to the AC's threat, Duntov and the other members of
the Corvette engineering team developed the Grand Sport Cars. These were
to have lighter bodies (using thinner GRP than standard), perspex windows,
a space-frame chassis, disc brakes (unavailable on the standard 'Vette
until '65), and a special aluminium-blocked, hemi-headed motor of approx
400 ci displacement. These weight-saving modifications reduced the car's
weight to just under 2,000 lbs. There were plans to build 1,000 cars for
homologation purposes, but in the end only 5 were built.
At the time that the Grand Sport was developed, the main car
manufacturers in the US had an informal ban on involvement in motorsports.
This stemmed from pressure from the government to sell cars on safety and
comfort rather than performance, and that were this to have been
transgressed, official regulations would be imposed.
Because of this ban, the Grand Sport had been developed in secret
in the hope that if it progressed far enough, then the GM's management
would be unable to block it. Unfortunatly, they got wind of the project
after five prototypes had been assembled, and shut it down. However, the
five cars did race at Nassau in '63 or '64, where they won virtually
everything that was going. After Nassau, I think that two were converted
into roadsters, and I don't know exactly what happened to the other three.
That answear your questions?
Graeme
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