Corvette Cruise to the Corvette Exhibit at the San Diego Auto Museum

The San Diego Auto Museum has been featuring a tribute to 60 Years of Corvettes with a nice exhibit.  Two friends, Joe Hofmann and Sam Rindskopf, loaned their cars to the Museum for the display.

We decided to have our first Corvette Cruise of 2014 today and to caravan down to see the exhibit.  We were very fortunate to have Bob Rabourne, who is a volunteer for the Museum, serve as our personal guide.  Bob even arranged for our group to have reserved parking behind the Museum!

We first gathered at Cary's Garage . . .

Then drove down to Balboa Park, and parked in our reserved spots around back . . .

Then saw all the nice Corvettes inside!

It was especially heart warming for me to see the car that Joe Hofmann restored (above) since this was one of the two Sting Rays Joe and I purchased from Ron Leahey in 2012!  Nice job Joe!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Cruise!

Final Thoughts on Corvette History in ALMS Racing

The curtain has come down on the racing series known as American Le Mans Racing (ALMS) with the final race at Road Atlanta in October.  From 2001 to 2013 Corvette won its class championship 10 times, won the driver's championship 9 times, and won its class in 78 events making Corvette the most successful team in ALMS history.  Just as in 2012, Corvette won the "triple crown" again in 2013 with first place finishes for Car, Team and Driver championships.  The 2013 season looked like this:

In the 10 race season for the tightly competitive GT class Corvette finished 1st in class five times and second 3 times.  These are impressive accomplishments against world-class competitors like Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Aston Martin, and Viper.

Later this month all of this will change.  The new racing series, racing under the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), will be known as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.  The competition will only be stiffer.  Porsche will now have an official factory team and they will prove to be stiff competition.  The Viper guys had a good second season this year and will be very competitive in 2014.

Corvette is bringing the new C7.R to the track.  Corvette will race in the new GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.  Here is the press release for the new race car:

Corvette C7.R Unveiled

The kickoff race is coming to Dayton with the 24 hour race the weekend of January 25-26.  Let's see what happens in 2014!