Podcast: The Countdown to Le Mans Is On
The countdown to the 24 Hours of Le Mans continues, and Corvette Racing is in the final stages of preparation for the world's most prestigious sports car race. Today's interview features Dan Binks, the championship-winning crew chief for the No. 63 Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Max Papis. Binks talks about the elaborate technical inspection conducted at Le Mans and describes the challenge of keeping his pit crew sharp for a 40-hour race day.
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I love watching LeMans, but what I love even more is seeing more mainstream GM cars competing in racing off of close-to-stock platforms. The Corvette is a no-brainer, but how many people know that the Chevrolet Cobalt is racking up the podium wins in the Grand Am Cup ST Class? Or that the Cadillac CTS-V is also competing in the GS class? How about the SCCA Showroom Stock B “Spec Miata” racer that debuted?
GM should cheer these guys in their more mainstream GM cars from the rooftops.
These are no NASCAR Monte Carlos, or NHRA Cavaliers with homologated tube frame chassis, fiberglass shell bodies and generic carburated V8 powerplants. These are based on great GM showroom stock cars, and that says more to young people than any “fake” racers with stickers for headlights ever could.
The Corvette C6.R is the pinnacle of GM motorsports prowess, but don’t forget the grunts like the showroom-based racing Cobalts slogging it out against Acuras, Mazdas and BMWs!
GM needs to get Cadillac back into Le Mans with an LMP1 car designed specifically to take down the all-conquering Audi R8/R10s.
Having the CTS-Vs in the Speed World Challenge series is good but no more so than if GM ran a factory Corvette effort there instead of Le Mans.
Get Cadillac back in the game at Le Mans and fast.
BWright, what does LMP prove? Its a non-product for GM, and the millions could be better spent making the real CTS-V a top-of-its-class performer for the customers and something that will win over Sports Car magazine reviewers. Let Audi have its LMP-1 wins, and Cadillac can afford to have more “supercar” models that people can buy, like the awesome XLR-V, instead of flushing money down the drain chasing a meaningless title for “status” with a car no one will ever be able to drive or buy for off-track use.
gacSTclass,
LMP proves that you have the technical skills to win Le Mans outright, something Cadillac failed to do in its last attempt because Audi’s direct injection technology as used in their all-conquering R8’s was too much for GM. That speaks to Audi’s technical mastery which, in its latest form, now writes the history of Le Mans with a diesel victory at the famed Circuit de La Sarthe.
History, as they say, is written by the victors. The last time Cadillac met Audi at Le Mans Audi wrote Cadillac’s obituary. Maybe that’s acceptable to you but I don’t believe in accepting either losses or second place. As good as the Vette is the GT1 class will not likely win Le Mans outright. That is the purview of the LMP class. To win that class means having the technical expertise to defeat the formidable Audi juggernaut.
The R8 does not look like anything you can buy in a dealership but the shine it has placed on the Audi brand cannot be measured in dollars. The XLR-V is a nice car to be sure but it will likely never have the cachet of the Mercedes SL cars whose mystique stems from the SLR racecars of lore. That’s because it does not and likely never will be raced. If the Speed World series is good enough then why not confine the Vette to that? Why even race at Le Mans? Becuse that is the most prestigious sports car race in the world. But why settle for a class win at Le Mans? Why not win it all?
Given the Le Mans rules it is unlikely that you will soon see a CTS-V at Le Mans. So the only realistic way for a Cadillac flag to stand atop the Le Mans podium is to win the LMP1 category. At least twice to show that it was not a fluke.
You ask why not spend the money on the CTS-V instead. Your question implies, incorrectly, that the two, racing and developing a quality road car, are or should be mutually exclusive. Clearly, from Audi’s performance, the two things are eminently doable. Why spend a dime on the C6.R? Why not just focus on the Corvette road car? Why should anyone race in F1 or Indy? Those cars don’t look like anything you can buy in a dealership right?
Get back in the game Cadillac. You quit the last time just when you were starting to win races. The Corvette has gone as far as it can go under the rules. Taking the GM flag that last 100 ft. to the top of the mountain is now up to you.
A Corvette class win and an overall victory for GM via Cadillac. Now that would be The Standard of the World.
Nice blog!
You know 24 Heuers Du Mans was won by an Audi Diesel this year!
Food for thought…
lol, and you know that Peugeot will win in 2007…?
many pic from le Mans on my web site
http://les24hdumans.free.fr