What Might Have Been: Corvette LMP1 challenger
Click above for high-res gallery of the Pratt & Miller LMP1 Corvette that never was
Autoblog friend and sports car racing junkie, Mike Laney, recently got the chance to tour Pratt & Miller (a.k.a. Corvette Racing HQ), and besides building the Speed GT Cadillac CTS-V, Pontiac GTO.R & GXP.R, C5-R and C6.R ALMS GT1 Corvettes, the company also makes the ZR1-rivaling C6RS road car. During his tour of the facilities, Mike spotted a wind tunnel model of an unfamiliar race car. As it turns out, the model was the car that P&M had envisioned for Corvette's attack on Le Mans, or rather, a scale model version of that car. As Mike puts it:
"Pratt & Miller had been working on an LMP1 Corvette, due to race in the American Le Mans Series and at the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans. The ACO's proposed LMP1 EVO regulations (then due to go into effect in 2010 or 2011) looked very appealing to GM as it'd give them a way to fight for overall victories and do it with a car that looked decidedly like a Corvette... Due to the economy, regulation changes, and the struggles at GM, this car will unfortunately probably never be anything more than a wind tunnel model."
It's really a stunning model, with just enough Corvette DNA in the styling to make it recognizable as America's preeminent sports car. To think that this might have mounted an assault on Le Mans makes us long for a time not so long ago when the global economic condition was a lot more favorable to racing and the auto industry in general. Heck, we hope General Motors keeps the model around when plans for the C7 get into high gear. Thanks for the inside scoop, Mike!
Gallery: Pratt & Miller LMP1 Corvette
[Source: Mike Laney]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Quote the Raven 1:10PM (5/26/2009)
Nice Veyron.
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FousString85 1:11PM (5/26/2009)
???
zamafir 1:13PM (5/26/2009)
It looks nothing like a veyron.
Matt (that likes ford) 1:47PM (5/26/2009)
Nice Ignorance.
Clay Garland 8:50AM (5/27/2009)
I'm just going to pretend that you didn't make that comment. About 6 or 7 years ago, I can't remember exactly, I worked at Château Élan as a banquet server. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Petit LeMans held at Road Atlanta every year. After another class victory, the Pratt & Miller car was on display in our largest ballroom for an awards dinner. I was bartending that evening, and I had been chatting with the C6R team all night long about this and that and they had all gotten somewhat intoxicated. They needed to get the car back to the truck which was just a few hundred meters away, but the layout of the hotel would have made this almost impossible to push. Their judgement, I can only assume, being quite impaired, they decided that they would let me drive the car up to the trailer, under power! I never broke 3 miles per hour but I walked around with a boner for what must have been a week.
Quote the Raven 9:41AM (5/27/2009)
LOL, so I'm a "retard" and display "ignorance" because a clay model reminds me of another car?
“The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.” Elbert Hubbard
zamafir 1:12PM (5/26/2009)
What's the point of making it look like a production car, it's LMP1, not nascar. The R15 looks nothing like Audi's production cars, same goes for the Peaguets, Acuras, etc. The purpose of LeMans is to build the absolute best team/car for 24 hours of driving at speeds greater than nascar, with left turns, for a day straight, even *gasp* at night.
Model? Quite hot. Need to make it look like a north American production car for a race damn near none of GM’s customers even know about? Pointless.
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Talisman 1:22PM (5/26/2009)
You act like its a negative thing that it actually resembles a production car. Perhaps the looks serve no purpose at all(although I think some vette enthusiasts do watch Lemans), but that doesnt mean it's not cool.
I for one think a race cars outward personality counts for something and if it helps marketing the car at the track at all, thats huge given how much sponsors play a role in professional racing.
fury604 1:29PM (5/26/2009)
@Talisman
On the contrary, a LMP1 car shaped like an production car IS a bad thing. As there is a reason that large automakers like Audi, Honda, etc shape their LMP1 and LMP2 cars differently as it produces more down-force for better cornering meanwhile still reducing drags where it is not needed. Since LeMans cars are not burdened with safety regulations such as bumper standards that production cars do, their shape would be decidedly different and can be shaped to be more aerodynamically efficient vs safer for low speed impacts.
Take a look at F1 cars vs. Nascar, which corner/accelerate faster and how are they shaped?
P B 1:39PM (5/26/2009)
But if they could make it have the same aero features while keeping the Corvette look, why not do it?
mike 1:43PM (5/26/2009)
You need to get your facts straight before you clamor on aimlessly like an idiot. This car was being designed for a NEW class, called LMP1 EVO, and at the time, current LMP1 cars would have been phased out. The idea behind LMP1 EVO was to make the top class of cars cheaper to build and run as well as affording manufacturers more marketing opportunity by deeming cars should look more like their road going counterparts. Aero would also be much simpler and more conservative than today's LMPs.
The point of making the EVOs looking like their road going counterparts is that in today's economy, manufacturers NEED to be able to justify their racing programs to the shareholders and just being cool and fast doesn't cut it anymore. A prototype racer that can instantly be recognizable as a car from a distinct brand goes a long ways towards making a racing program more viable.
Unfortunately for GM, they were the only ones that were interested in this new EVO concept, and the idea was canned shortly after.
zamafir 1:59PM (5/26/2009)
@mike, yup, just like the current Peugeots are. Your tawdry slurs aside my critique was aimed more at the autoblog commentary than GM’s move to make it look like a vette. Having been an ardent fan of LeMans for a decade or so, there’s no new info in your post.
Talisman 2:00PM (5/26/2009)
@fury604
I didnt say "shaped like a production car", I said "resemble a production car". Those are two different things. I understand completely about aerodynamics and race cars. It's obvious since this is a wind tunnel model that aerodynamics is a top priority. Once again, it just happens to "resemble" a vette also and I fail to see how this is a bad thing if it still performs well as an LMP1 car.
Ryno917 2:57PM (5/26/2009)
LeMans for a decade? So you came into it about the time ALL of the brand identity had been washed away from the top classes. This concept was very similar to the GT1 (the then top class) of the late 90s which had cars like the CLK-GTR and 911 GT1.
As you obviously don't know, LeMans is sportscar racing. Notice the title? "Sportscar." It started out with people racing production sports cars. It slowly developed into prototypes with cars like the 917 and P4. You don't know your history, apparently.
As much as I love the contemporary sports prototypes, I'd still love to see a class like this back at LeMans (maybe in tandem with the LMP cars).
Carlos 1:20PM (5/26/2009)
I do agree that it is a bit pointless to make it look like a Corvette, but who cares this thing looks awesome.
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jordanGP 1:23PM (5/26/2009)
Actually I am sure a large majority of Corvette fans know about the 24 hrs of lemans and the 12 hours of sebring (the big 2 races for sports car endurance). Corvette's racing heritage/lineage is one of the defining elements that has allowed the R&D that has resulted in the world-class supercar that is today's Corvette in comparision to what it was at the beginning.
And Audi's R15 does share family traits with the road cars in its headlight design (utilizing their trademark LED eyebrows). I will give you that this looks WAY more like a corvette road car than the R15 obviously but this was a design study.
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georgeA 4:09PM (5/26/2009)
It's not a design study, it's the wind tunnel model for what was an active program for the LMP1 EVO class (as mike noted). The program was pretty far along by the time politics (both internal to GM and in Yurrup) kiboshed the entire class.
LBuzzer 1:23PM (5/26/2009)
2015 Corvette right there.
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RG 2:31PM (5/26/2009)
Couldn't agree more.
Dear dissidents of a non-front engined Corvette-
You're argument just took a HUGE hit today with this model of a rear mid-engined Corvette looking so amazing. It presents the Vette DNA in a whole new package.
Bring it on is all I can say.
Motor_Yakuza 1:26PM (5/26/2009)
Yep, it should be nice to see this 'vette kicking Audi's butt at Le Mans, let's hope that Toyota can do it in 2010.
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