The Chevrolet Corvette of the American team RED (Race Engineering Development) of Tampa, Florida, was prepared from a damaged 1968 convertible purchased at an auction in Miami for the paltry sum of $600. This car's entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the result of fierce competition between BF Goodrich and Goodyear to launch their new ranges of radial tires.
BF Goodrich equips the Corvettes of the Greenwood team which must participate in the 24 Hours of 1972. For its part, Goodyear is one of the main sponsors of the RED team, but also of the NART, the team of Luigi Chinetti, the antenna of Ferrari to USA. The NART has four places in the 1972 24 Hours including one reserve, but only three cars. Goodyear then pressured Chinetti to give up the reserve spot to RED's Corvette although this did not guarantee his participation in the race.
Walt Thurn, Public Relations Manager for RED said: "After reviewing the ACO regulations, the team discovered that the GTs had to have a full interior, which our Corvette did not have. All unnecessary equipment had been removed to make it lighter. Toye English, the team's owner, said it would be easier to buy a tram and turn it into a racing car than to make the car comply with the rules. car was completely stripped and damaged parts, including the chassis, were replaced.The body was repaired and fender flares to manufacturer's specifications were installed.A new chassis was purchased from Ferman Chevrolet in Tampa in Florida for $159 Welds were reinforced for strength, a new transmission and a new L88 engine were fitted Due to the low octane gasoline available at Le Mans, a camshaft less pointed and low compression pistons were fitted. With a red zone reduced to 5,800 rpm, the team believed that reliability, not power, was the best way to win the GT class at Le Mans. Yet this 427 ci engine produced 575 horsepower. Within weeks, the body and chassis were complete and the roll bar was installed. The Corvette was painted red, white and blue to match the NART Ferraris and even featured the yellow NART badge with Ferrari's prancing horse on the doors. As number 57 (the team's usual number for its races in the United States) was already taken, we were assigned number 4."
Shortly after the team's arrival in Sarthe, Ferrari will withdraw its three factory prototypes. As a result, the Corvette will be moved from reserve to the confirmed list. The bet was won. During scrutineering, however, the stewards had some problems with the car. Three things prevented it from passing the technical control: the absence of a spare wheel, the lack of carpet and the rear tires which exceeded the fender flares. The team quickly got to work: the spare wheel and carpet were removed from the rental Peugeot and a piece of painted aluminum sheeting was added to the rear fenders to cover the tyres. After that, the Corvette was allowed to participate in the race.
The drivers, Le Mans rookies Dave Heinz and Bob Johnson, quickly learned the intricacies of the circuit, but towards the end of practice Johnson skidded on a windblown plastic streamer and crashed off the track. He was uninjured, but the Corvette suffered heavy damage to the front end. Undeterred, the team removed the damaged fiberglass and replaced it with riveted aluminum sheeting. The repair was reinforced with wooden supports salvaged from a shipping crate. Finally, the assembly was covered with 20 rolls of adhesive tape. Asked by incredulous race officials about the ability of the makeshift front end to handle the stress of an endurance race, a team member responded by jumping on the new nose. He held and RED was allowed into the race.
There was also another problem to be solved: the sponsor TWA had heard about the accident and withdrew its sponsorship just before the race. RED managed to get sponsorship from BP at the last minute. BP stickers were therefore placed over the TWAs already on the sides of the car.
Qualified in 55th position with a time in practice of 4'42"8, she gave almost 25 seconds to the best Corvette. The next day, when the race started, RED found that it was not possible to fill the gas tank completely. The team had to fill it up much more often than expected before they were finally able to diagnose and fix the problem. It turned out that the tank's overflow line had been pinched during of the test session accident and prevented the tank from being completely filled.
Faced with torrential downpours, the Goodyear engineer decided to mount intermediate rain tires to provide more grip. The intermediates were simply slicks in which grooves had been cut by hand. In the early morning, Corvette number 4 is in 21st place overall. Unfortunately a short circuit will delay the progress of the car. Thanks to the withdrawals, the red Corvette will finish 15th in the general classification and 7th in the GT category. It was also the only Corvette to finish the race.
Text : slot-racing.fr
Qualified in 55th position with a time in practice of 4'42"8, she gave almost 25 seconds to the best Corvette. The next day, when the race started, RED found that it was not possible to fill the gas tank completely. The team had to fill it up much more often than expected before they were finally able to diagnose and fix the problem. It turned out that the tank's overflow line had been pinched during of the test session accident and prevented the tank from being completely filled.
Faced with torrential downpours, the Goodyear engineer decided to mount intermediate rain tires to provide more grip. The intermediates were simply slicks in which grooves had been cut by hand. In the early morning, Corvette number 4 is in 21st place overall. Unfortunately a short circuit will delay the progress of the car. Thanks to the withdrawals, the red Corvette will finish 15th in the general classification and 7th in the GT category. It was also the only Corvette to finish the race.
Text : slot-racing.fr
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