| In 1972, Chevrolet has the most successful Corvette of all time until the marque is officially back in competition with the C5R in 2000. 11th of June 1972: the Corvette L88 driven by Dave Heinz and Bob Johnson finished at an excellent 15th place OA in the 24 hours of Le Mans, a very difficult race this year with only 18 cars finishing whereas a lot of cars retired. The corvette began a legend even if, originally, the car had been refused to race at Le Mans this year. GoodYear, the number one in the world in tyres business at that time, will ask (or even force) the NART (North American Racing Team) racing Ferrari's, to race the corvette in their team. That is why the car is painted Ferrari red with NART colors. The result in Le Mans is a success that just confirmed how quick was the car. Few months before, it finished 1st in GT class in the 6 hours of Daytona in February, and in March it finished 1st in GT class and 4th OA in the 12 hours of Sebring (the best result to date for a corvette in Sebring). The car we have is a replica of the famous Dave Heinz and Bob Johnson corvette. It has been built by a marque specialist in south of France for an enthusiast that wanted a fast car elligible for any major historic event. He has thus ordered a replica of the 1972 Le Mans car based on a 1968 Corvette stingray (as the original). The FIA rules have been used to get the best car possible and beeing fully compliant to the FIA at the same time. The engine is thus a 454 ci (7.4 L, 650 ch.) with aluminium heads, forged and lightened crankshaft, forged pistons and push rod, dry sump, and has been dynoed at 650 HP. The gearbox is a G-Force M22 4 speed, like the original. The entire car is brand new, and has been restored the best way possible from A to Z. The mechanics is new : engine, gearbox, axle, LSD, brakes, suspensions. It is a body off restoration. The chassis has been sand blasted, reinforced according to the original race chassis, and fitted with a FIA rollcage. The body has been stripped, fitted with the wide group4 fenders and repainted in the NART 1972 Le Mans colors. The electric harnesses is custom made and brand new, the FIA fuel tank, the interior, everything is new. It would be bothersome to describe here all the amount of work carried out to get to this result, but the cost of the building of the car is far higher than the asking price. The car has been used three times on tracks for setup purpose, that is to say around 4 hours of driving. It is thus currently in new condition, and ready to race. It will come with FIA HTP papers and will thus be elligible to race in the major historic events (Le Mans Classic, Monterey Historic races). This is a car built to perfection with very high quality work done on it. It happened to be very quick during the tests, and it is probably a winning car against the best cars of the class. It is available in France with a French registration and its HTP papers. This vehicle is available immediately. The price includes all European Union taxes and commissions. This car has been finished in 2008. 115,000 Euros. December 30, 2009. |
