For the first time in the 50 years history of the 24 Hours of Daytona there will be Corvette bodied machines competing in Daytona Prototype category and it looks like they’ll be bringing the high heat. The fellows over at Vette Magazine are reporting that DP Corvettes were the fastest vehicles around the Daytona course during a three day test session.
4 different teams were there running DP Vettes and the top five times posted over the three days all belonged to members of that contingent. The Corvette has a long and storied history in endurance racing with Zora Arkus Duntov leading the charge in the late 1950s and early 1960s to establish the car as capable of hanging with and beating anything the Europeans could throw on the track. It is important to clarify that these cars are not based on production Corvettes. They are mid-engine race cars with snappy ‘Vette-ish body work, but they are not production based racers.
The Camaro GT-R which is going to be competing in the (you guessed it!) GT division was only a few tenths of a second off the quickest lap set by the Ferrari entry. We’re sure that GM would like nothing more than to win both categories to really start the 2012 motorsports year off with a bang.
The 24 Hours of Dayonta is slated to run January 28-29 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida. We’ve always wanted to hit this race along with Sebring later on in the year. These cars carve corners and then get up on the banking and really haul the mail at up over 200mph! That’s a hell of a show.
Link: Vettes lead test session for 24 Hours of Daytona
Looks like a zonda vet ?
not a corvette ?
Its a “Vette” styled body that is placed on a Daytona Prototype chassis. They are tube framed, mid-engined racecars.
Best looking DP cars so far … most of those things are just fugly.