Cunning Truth: Corvette C5-R #blogpost

Introduction

Greetings! I hope everyone has been recovering well from the recent storms. I have some family on the U.S. East Coast. They’re fine. Luckily.

But anyway, to the Corvette C5-R. My family has had some nice cars over the years, including a 1975 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. So you can probably guess that I have some interests in the Corvette family, particularly the C5.

And, it is known that Chevrolet has had some success in racing, particularly their line of Corvettes. With that in mind, I looked up the C5 to see if there was a racecar variant. And then I found the C5-R.

Development

By 1998, General Motors and Chevrolet aimed to start racing in the Grand Touring category. GM hadn’t been participating since 1989, racing in IMSA, and decided to join the GT racing scene once more.

GM looked no further than the then-new Corvette C5, hoping to show off the performance potential. The C5, later labeled as the C5-R, would take on two of Chevrolet’s rivals, Dodge and Porsche. (Although Porsche really never proved to be much of a problem for the C5-R.)

Pratt & Miller, a group located in Detroit, Michigan was chosen to develop and produce the new car. (It should be known that Riley & Scott had a role in development, as well as helping running the team for the first races.)

The group was also responsible for organizing the racing team in time for the car’s future debut in 1999.

During development, the C5-R was tested by racing modifications on various different upgraded road cars. When the Corvette’s racing chassis was eventually finished, it shared only a few basic structure similarities with the car it was based on.

When it came to upgrading the C5-R, it was given a firewall behind the driver’s seat, removing all visibility from the rear. The car was also given GT car essentials, including a splitter and wing, as well as front hood vents and a rear diffuser. The Corvette’s pop-ups were retired, replaced with permanent headlights in their spots.

Engine wise, the C5-R actually was equipped with two different engines, both developed by Katech Engine Development. It originally had a 6.0 liter V8, which was later replaced with a larger 7.0 liter part-way through the 1999 racing season.

In the end of the C5-R’s racing career, which lasted between 1998 and 2004 until replaced by the C6.R, Pratt & Miller built a total of twelve chassis, the twelfth acting as a mule for the upcoming C6.R. Over time, some retired C5-R racecars were bought by privateer teams.

Throughout the years of racing, the C5-R did receive some upgrades to help compete with other competitors.

The most notable upgrades were tweaks in the aerodynamics to improve the car’s generated downforce. Other small changes were made to the Corvette racecar, the biggest being the Corvette’s extra width in the third and fourth chassis built, the C5-R being three inches wider to improve its handling capabilities around the corners.

Glory Years

The C5-R debuted in the 1999 24 Hours of Daytona for the United States Road Racing Championship. It would later join the ALMS - or the American Le Mans Series - with two cars, the best finish being 18th.

Riley & Scott continued to run races until the end of the season. The C5-R found some success at both Sears Point and Leguna Seca, finishing second in class to a factory Dodge Viper.

Starting in 2000, Pratt & Miller took the helm as the lone Corvette racing team. The C5-R debuted once again at Daytona, fairing well by finishing once again behind the Viper in second place.

The Dodge Viper earned the role as the main competitor for the drivers of the C5-R, out-dueling the Corvettes at both Sebring and Le Mans. The Corvettes, however, did eventually find success. They outdid their rivals at the circuits of Texas and Petit Le Mans.

In the end of the season the C5-Rs finished third in the GTS Class Championship, despite missing some races.

Each year the Corvette racing team found more improvement, 2001 being no exception. For the first time, the C5-R was able to participate in the season opener at Daytona, taking home the victory.

The C5-R saw a full-time racing season, claiming six class wins. Among the victories included one from Le Mans, as well as gathering their second victory from Le Mans Petit. They collected their first class championship.

But the year of 2002 brought the peak of racing towards Pratt & Miller racing group and their team of C5-Rs. The C5-R found major success in the ALMS. Because of regulation changes, they were unable to participate at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

But C5-R showed almost perfect dominance, winning nine out of the ten events scheduled, bringing home their second championship. The only race they lost was to Prodrive Ferrari, a newcomer to the ALMS. The Ferraris would later prove to be challenging to beat.

Now with the Prodrive Ferraris to compete with, the C5-R had found a worthy rival for the 2003 ALMS season. The Prodrive team chose to enter their cars for the full season, joined by the Pratt & Miller Corvettes.

Prodrive struggled for the first couple of rounds. However, the Ferrari team was able to claim wins for the last four rounds of the season, finishing only four points behind the dominant group of C5-Rs in the championship, the Corvettes bringing home their third.

With Prodrive Ferrari deciding to not participate in the 2004 ALMS season (although they did compete at Le Mans, but were beat by the C5-Rs), the Corvettes swept all ten races, bringing home the fourth straight and last championship under the C5-R Corvettes; the next year the newly developed C6.R would replace the C5-R.

In the end, the main team of Corvette C5-Rs finished off their racing careers with a total of 31 class victories in the ALMS, with three wins from Le Mans and one from Daytona.

There also was some success under privateer teams, including a championship in the Belcar series under the Selleslagh Racing Team.

Conclusion

The C5-R was dominant among the GT category, taking home four straight championships. It helped established Chevrolet’s racing legacy, and started the line of Corvette GT racing we see today.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you learned something about the C5-R. It can’t be explained in words of how grateful I am. But what do you think about the C5-R? Is there something you would like to know about it? Tell me in the comments.

This is KPS Lucky signing out. Peace.