Corvette Racing Readies Fourth Chassis for IMSA Competition
Facing logistical hurdles ahead of the 2021 Le Mans 24, new Corvette Racing C8.R chassis will take the place of current No. 4.
Summer is here, and that means on the other side awaits the C8 Corvette’s first time at Le Mans. Corvette Racing will finally make its debut at the Circuit de la Sarthe in mid-August after the pandemic crushed all hopes of running last year.
However, the pandemic is just one of a few logistical hurdles Corvette Racing must leap over to make a successful outing. According to Sportscar365, those hurdles have led the team to build a fourth chassis for competition in IMSA so that another can make the trip to France.
“We were planning on building this car in the off-season,” Corvette Racing team manager Marc Maurini said. “Everything’s been compressed. We’ve had a little bit of a break here so we’ve been able to get a lot done. A lot of components are 16-week lead times to machine and manufacture. We made the decision pretty early on, as soon as the [new] Le Mans date was announced. We already had the chassis physically constructed and that’s when we decided to start building it into a complete car.”
As soon as the new car is complete, it will become the new No. 4 for drivers Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy. Meanwhile, the current No. 4 will become the No. 64, joining up with the No. 63 still in Europe for the 2021 Le Mans 24. The new car was necessitated in part by timing. Corvette Racing plans to run at Road America August 8, then hop over to France a few days later.
“Typically we’d fly into London Heathrow, air freight them in there and then drive them across,” said Maurini. “Now with the UK not being part of the EU, we’re likely going to be going straight to France. But with limitations on flights for COVID, that whole process takes about five days. We cannot do that with our current cars.”
Another hurdle for Corvette Racing? Shipping costs. Flying anything across the Atlantic’s going to cost a pretty penny. Thus, the team is buying things ahead of time, then shipping by sea to Europe. That said, the team sees only green flags this year. May they also see the checkers at Le Mans, as well.
Photos: Chevrolet
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