Corvette Dominates GTE Pro Class at 24 Hours of Le Mans

With a light rain falling, the Corvette Garage filled with anticipation, American flags waving from the stands, and Corvette fans around the world tweeting with joy, the #64 Corvette C7R crossed the finish line in Le Mans, France five laps (42 miles!) ahead of the nearest competitor.  Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Jordan Taylor drove a perfect race to win the most famous endurance race in all of automotive competition.

It was a joyous end to a week that was, at times, tense and scary.  Jan Magnussen suffered a mechanical failure in  testing which led to an accident.  Thankfully he was not seriously injured.  The #63 car could not be immediately repaired and it was withdrawn from the race.  It was the first time in history of Corvette at Le Mans that a car had been withdrawn.  A single American car was left to compete against teams of cars from Ferrari, Porsche, and Aston Martin.  The Corvette covered 2,854 miles during the race -- the equivalent of a drive across America in 24 hours. 

2015 is the 16th consecutive season that Corvette Racing has competed on the world stage.  Corvette has won the race eight times in this era,more than any competitor.  Last year the C7R Corvettes finished 2nd and 4th.

(The guys in red on either side of the Corvette Drivers are Ferrari guys --they finished 2nd and 3rd)

So far in the 2015 season, Corvette has won every endurance race -- 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and now 24 Hours of Le Mans.

BMW and Viper did not compete in the GTE Pro class at LeMans this year.

Sandi's 1963 Corvette Stingray

The High Point High School Class of 1965 had many cute girls.  We had a few “car girls” (girls who appreciated cars as much as boys did).  And we had one especially memorable Cute-Car-Girl – Sandi Johnson Watt.

At High Point Sandi drove a Mercury Comet convertible with bucket seats, a very nice car.  She cruised to the Mighty Mo with the top down occasionally rat-racing with the boys.  Tanguay (of Beltsville Shell fame) was secretly in love with Sandi, but she knew to keep her distance from boys who hung out at Beltsville Shell!

Fast forward to 1969.  Sandi had graduated from High Point but was still deeply in love with cars.  She had just purchased a dark green, limited edition Dan Gurney Mercury Cougar.  One of her close friends was Don Paterson.  Sandi hung out with Don and many of his friends.  One of Sandi’s girlfriends owned a red 1964 Corvette, and Sandi vowed that if she ever got a chance to own a Corvette, she would.  Don owned a 1963 Corvette convertible.  When the State of Maryland passed the mandatory insurance laws Don was unable to afford the State insurance.  He offered the car to Sandi for $2,500.  Even though she loved her Cougar, Sandi decided that she had to have the Corvette.  Even her mother approved of the car!

After acquiring the car and driving it for a few years, Sandi decided to have it restored to original condition.  She chose one of the finest Corvette Shops in Maryland (or anywhere, for that matter), Tony’s Corvette Shop.  Tony’s guys restored the car to pristine condition.  Here are some photos of the car taken during the weekend of the HPHS 50^th Reunion, May 2015.

Jay Smith at Univ of Maryland

Earlier this month we celebrated the 50th Reunion of the High Point High School Class of 1965.  It was great seeing so many friends.  One classmate, Jay Smith, who attended the University of Maryland with me, reminded me of an event that took place between classes.  Here is Jay's story:

It was 1966 and Cary Thomas and I were both students at the Univ. of Maryland. We both had an interest in drag racing. I had a 1964 Chevy Impala with a 327 engine and Cary had his red super fast Corvette. I did not know exactly what mechanical skills Cary had. I assumed that like all teenagers in that era who were into drag racing that we did most of the car modifications at a local gas station. I did most of my engine modifications at Woody’s Flying A gas station in Greenbelt and Cary did his at the Beltsville Shell station. I did not know that Cary had just put 2 four barrel carburetors on his corvette engine and installed new linkage on the four pumpers. I’ll bet he followed the instructions in the manual that came with the carburetors. There are a set of springs that are involved in linking the 2 carburetors together such that when one lets off the gas the secondarys close down and only the primaries are open. If this linkage connection with the springs is not done properly, both carburetors will remain open after you get hard on the throttle and the engine will remain at full throttle.

I saw Cary walking to his car in the Univ. of Md. parking lot and asked how he was doing. He said to me “ Want to go for spin in the Vette”. Who could say no? We headed out onto Univ. Boulevard which ran outside of the Univ of Md. campus. This road was one the main access roads to and from the campus. We turned left onto Univ. Blvd going uphill and Cary got on the gas about half way. The engine sounded good and the acceleration was impressive. At the top of the hill we turned back onto Univ. Blvd going the other way and a little downhill. There were no cars in front of us or behind us. There were also no Maryland State troopers in the vicinity! Cary got on the gas very hard and soon were doing about 100 mph. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Cary looked concerned. His foot was off the gas but we were still accelerating very hard. A number of things run through your mind at speeds over 100 mph and it appears the car will not stop accelerating!. At that point I saw Cary kill the ignition switch and shut off the motor. We slowly decelerated and pulled off to the side of the road. Cary said – “ I think the linkage got stuck” . Cary was right - the linkage had not been installed exactly right. We almost took a trip together into the hereafter. That’s about as close to death in an automobile that I have ever experienced. It was close – but Cary’s quick thinking saved the day. We both lived to tell the tale. 

Jay, we will have to add this story to the second edition of Beltsville Shell: You are What You Drive!  Thanks for sharing!

Corvette Utility

Corvettes are very useful.  Besides providing reliable transportation, they are easily deployed as race cars in a variety of settings.  Today I found another use for a Corvette!

Nan has been struggling with gophers in her front yard garden.  She has tried everything to get rid of them.  Solar-powered sonic noise-makers, gas bombs, submerged traps, and poison.  Nothing has been successful in getting rid of the buggers.

At the suggestion of our neighbor, Tom, today we tried something new:  carbon monoxide fumes!

We backed the 62 Corvette out of the garage, connect a shop vac hose to one of the tailpipes, stuffed the other end down a gopher hole, revved the engine and let it run for 10minutes.

I will report back soon on the success or failure of this technique!