Filed under: Motorsports, Chevrolet
Sebring: Corvette Racing's #3 car wears white in salute to Fellows
Click image for gallery
Corvette Racing transformed the #3 C6.R from Velocity Yellow to Arctic White before the start of today's 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race in Florida. Ron Fellows, making his final Sebring appearance as one of the #3 car's co-drivers, has a similarly liveried limited-production Corvette Z06 named for him. The change to the race car is an obvious tie-in to the production machine, as it's identical in scheme right down to the red fender stripes.
GM points out that this is the first time since Le Mans 2003 that one of Corvette Racing's cars have run in a color other than yellow. Their press release does not point out that 2003 was the year that the Vettes, in their navy blue anniversary livery, were bested by Prodrive's 550 Maranello at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As of Sebring's 10-hour mark, it looked as if running in a non-yellow color might not the luckiest thing for the C6.R. The O'Connell/Magnussen/Fellows #3 car was running second in GT1 behind the still-yellow #4. The #3 led early in the race, however, and the cars were on the same lap as of the last posted standings, so there's still time left for it go out and bust that color jinx.
UPDATE: #4 car wins GT1 (7th overall), followed by the #3 (8th overall). Gap between the two was 17 seconds.
[Source: GM via ALMS]
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DPC car videos 9:05PM (3/17/2007)
Like the yellow better. And in the third picture where the guy is instaling the wheel, I think those wheels look awesome Chevy should consider putting those wheels on the Z06 cars.
Reply
amp 10:15PM (3/17/2007)
Holy F#*(&#$% S)(*$#!!!! What a GT2 Finish!!!!!!!
Do yourself a favor and find it on youtube, now!!!
Reply
lintsniffer 10:16PM (3/17/2007)
What a GT2 finish though...
Reply
lintsniffer 10:18PM (3/17/2007)
There was nothing like that Porsche flying past the Ferrari at night before the last turn with fireworks going in the background, only to have the Ferrari start bumping up against the Porche to sneak the lead back :(
Awesome race (disappointed in no GT1 action, though)
Reply
Snix 10:47PM (3/17/2007)
I never thought that I would EVER see a finish like that in an endurance race. AMAZING!!!
Good job on the Corvettes also!
Reply
Alex Nunez 11:08PM (3/17/2007)
Amen on the GT2 finish. Holy crap. If anyone finds the video, send us a link using the tips email link under "Resources" on the homepage.
Reply
Dr. Greenthumb 11:50PM (3/17/2007)
Fan-freaking-tastic finish GT2. Rewound it a couple of times on DVR - Now I subjected to this parade F1 calls a race. What a downer.
Reply
Dr. Greenthumb 11:53PM (3/17/2007)
Quite NASCAResque that GT2 finish.
Reply
BKadalur 12:24AM (3/18/2007)
i missed it. anyone have a link?
Reply
Tired Watcher 3:47AM (3/18/2007)
That finish was amazing! Bergmeister was quite mad. I can understand, but you do what you got to do to defend that position. Plus the Porsche didn't exit that well compared to the F430. It would've won anyway.
Reply
Bob-o 4:39AM (3/18/2007)
"Now I subjected to this parade F1 calls a race. What a downer."
rofl. I can't fathom how you can think endurance racing is more exciting than any sprint race. This finish was a freak of nature...it'll probably never happen again in the history of the world.
Reply
Dr. Greenthumb 9:48AM (3/18/2007)
rofl. I can't fathom how you can think endurance racing is more exciting than any sprint race. This finish was a freak of nature...it'll probably never happen again in the history of the world.
----------------------------------------------------
Ya obviously watch enough racing son. "Endurance" races of today, are essentially 6, 12 or 24 hour sprint races. I don't expecially care for the prototypes. Haven't cared about a protype since the days of the Porsche 962s and the SilkCut Jaguars.
Was at the 1996 24 hours of Daytona, when Max Papis in a Ferrari 333SP pinned his ears back, and hunted Wayne Taylor down like he was a fugitive. This is how he earned the name "Mad Max".
Here is what F1 lacks:-------
"With every blazing lap Papis made, the “200mph tape” holding his Ferrari’s left side together (damage caused by Wollek’s pass attempt) would relieve it’s grip slightly. Was Papis’ abused and battered red sled falling apart on him? Was his Ferrari going to be the car that broke first?
With less than ten minutes remaining in the 24 hour spectacle, Max drove the fastest lap of the race. He was possessed. What would be the punishment if he didn’t finish the race at all after being handed the car while in second place? What would happen if he won? The mind wonders.
----------------------------------------------------
This time the hero didn't win. But no one will ever forget that drive.
Here is the link to the entire story.
http://www.ktsmotorsportsgarage.com/papis/index.html
Reply
Dr. Greenthumb 10:00AM (3/18/2007)
Typo in post 12:
^^Ya obviously don't watch enough racing son.^^
Other than Alex Wurz almost getting beheaded, the wasn't anything memorable about the '07 Austrailian GP.
Reply
lintsniffer 11:55AM (3/18/2007)
I fell asleep in the middle of the Australian GP.
Plus, about 10 different people said "We've been running qualifying laps for the past 5 hours" at Sebring.
Reply
Justin 10:17PM (3/18/2007)
They really needed an onboard camera on a C6R, what a badass sounding machine.
Reply
Bob 5:54AM (3/19/2007)
WOW!! 1st and 2nd in class!! What a performance!! Wait...ummm..there were only 2 cars in that class...oh well...
Reply
Mr. Oak 11:43AM (3/19/2007)
Actually there were three GT1 cars. There was a privateer Aston Martin DB9-R that finished 7 laps behind the 'Vettes.
Reply