A Le Mans Corvette Jim, but not as we know it

[moffspeed]

Christmas time, so Santa (with a bit of persuasion) delivered several of Quentin Spurring's wonderful decade-by-decade accounts of the LM24 race.

So many highlights but I'll start with this.

1990 and for the previous few years modified racing Corvettes, with a touch of Lola input, were going about their business in the USA within the GTP category. Eyes wandered across the pond and inspired by John Greenwood's LM monster Corvettes of the mid 1970's something unusual was entered at Le Mans in 1990.

A GTP Corvette, or more accurately an Eagle 700. Didn't look too much like a stock Corvette and the engine was also unusual in that, yes it was a Chevy V8, but a dragster-based Eagle engine and with a capacity of 10.2 Litres.

Unfortunately it never popped and banged in the correct order and was a non-qualifier.

Edited by moffspeed on Tuesday 30th December 19:16

[moffspeed]

1976 was my first Le Mans and, as a very poor student with 3 mates, we braved a coach journey from London, a bumpy hovercraft crossing, a bottle of Martini each on the train and a night on a park bench in Paris. LM was a revelation the following day - the Greenwood Corvette was one of the many highlights of our first trip :

[Turbobanana]

10.2 litres: that's bigger even than Can Am cars. Was it the largest ever displacement to run at Le Mans?

My first 24hrs (1989) was also by coach, one of those "straight there and back" jobbies that you could get for about £100 back then. We left Friday morning and I was back at work by Monday, with no sleep in between that I can recall.

Oh to be young again...

[reddiesel]

moffspeed said:

1976 was my first Le Mans and, as a very poor student with 3 mates, we braved a coach journey from London, a bumpy hovercraft crossing, a bottle of Martini each on the train and a night on a park bench in Paris. LM was a revelation the following day - the Greenwood Corvette was one of the many highlights of our first trip :

Wonderful to read and a great memory for you to have

[moffspeed]

Turbobanana said:

10.2 litres: that's bigger even than Can Am cars. Was it the largest ever displacement to run at Le Mans?

My first 24hrs (1989) was also by coach, one of those "straight there and back" jobbies that you could get for about £100 back then. We left Friday morning and I was back at work by Monday, with no sleep in between that I can recall.

Oh to be young again...

Yes, plenty of 7 Litre cars over the years but the Eagle topped them all by a couple of Litres.

At the opposite end of the spectrum all of those tiny (mainly French) cars that ran during the 1950 s/early 60 s hoping to win the Index of Performance. In those days the IoP win was much coveted and arguably as important as overall honours. A featherweight chassis and a sub 1 Litre engine was the magical answer.

Here we have the Panhard X88 that won the IoP in 1953. All of 611cc and just about capable of the ton on the Mulsanne. The Cunninghams and C Types were heading up to the 160mph mark by then….

Edited by moffspeed on Wednesday 31st December 14:23

[Turbobanana]

Well if the Corvette was the largest, the smallest is the Simca 5 at around 5.6% of the 'Vette's displacement:

24 H Le Mans said:

The car was equipped with the smallest engine ever entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (568 cm3). With a top speed of 110 kph, it clocked an average 85 kph (compared to the average 92 kph of the winning Chenard & Walcker in 1923) and won its class three years in a row (1937, 1938 and 1939), including the Index of Performance in 1938.