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May 24, 2023

Are These the 8 Greatest Racing Corvettes of All Time?

A new exhibit opening at the Petersen Museum begs the Corvette question. You could argue all day and into the night about what is the greatest racing sports car of all time—I mean all-around all-time,

A new exhibit opening at the Petersen Museum begs the Corvette question.

You could argue all day and into the night about what is the greatest racing sports car of all time—I mean all-around all-time, like daily driver/fun car/Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans racing sports car. Sure, you had your Cobras, your Cheetahs, your Austins Healey. Those came and went. But really, has there ever been—and it’s still in production right now as you read this by the way—any better all-around racing sports car than the mighty Chevrolet Corvette?

Of course not.

Every generation of Corvette has been raced. And every future generation will almost certainly be raced, too. To celebrate this, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles has gathered together eight of the great racing Corvettes from seven generations. (The current C8.Rs were all busy being raced and couldn’t participate.) Starting with a genuine C1 Briggs Cunningham Le Mans Corvette, and going all the way up to the last front-engined Corvette racer—the C7.R that garnered class victories at Daytona and Sebring—they’re all represented.

Scroll through, pick your favorite, and tell us why in the comments.

The exhibit, meanwhile, is titled, “Corvettes in Competition: Racing America’s Sports Car.” It opens to the public Saturday, August 5, at noon in the Charles Nearburg Family Gallery on the Petersen Automotive Museum’s second floor. But that’s not all. To further commemorate the Corvette’s 70th anniversary, the museum will also host a cruise-in this Sunday, July 30. If that’s not enough Corvette for you, see your doctor. You might have Corvettosis, for which there is no cure.

Engine: 4.6-liter V8 (315 hp)

Corvette racing didn’t start victorious right out of the box. The first model made only 150 hp and had to force that power through a two-speed automatic and a solid-beam rear axle. But it was a start. By the time Zora Arkus-Duntov convinced gentleman racer Briggs Cunningham to enter a three-car team at the 1960 Le Mans, things were looking serious. This car was the second in the team, with a 4.6-liter V8 making 315 hp. The car made it all the way to lap 207 in the race before blowing its engine. But its sister car finished first in class and eighth overall. Corvette had arrived.

Engine: 6.2-liter V8 (485 hp)

By 1962, Arkus-Duntov had begun work on a secret project aimed at winning Sebring and Le Mans: a dedicated lightweight race car in the guise of a C2 Corvette. To skirt GM’s racing ban, 125 cars were planned for sale to private teams. Aluminum was used wherever possible, including in the chassis, which was 93 pounds lighter than stock. Bonded to it was a single-layer fiberglass body, the carbon fiber of its day. After a mere five cars were completed, GM executives learned of the project and shut it down. The Grand Sports were sold but, in private hands, proved to be formidable racers. This car, chassis 004, was the most successful in competition. It cleaned house at the Nassau Speed Week of 1963, beating the Cobras handily.

Engine: 7.8-liter V8 (975 hp) Top Speed: 222 mph

Is it gaudy, or gorgeous? You decide. John Greenwood, the man behind Greenwood Corvettes, was a successful driver and engineer, with his own ideas about aerodynamics. “The IMSA rules didn’t say anything about the fender flares so we shaped them to add downforce and left the back ends open,” he wrote on his website.

Number 76 here qualified ninth at Le Mans in 1976 but lasted only 29 laps before a fuel leak took it out of the race. No matter, “The Spirit of Le Mans” had made its patriotic point during the country’s bicentennial year. You can still buy a Greenwood Corvette, or just read about them, at the company's website, greenwoodcorvettes.com. The C3 was produced from 1967 to 1982.

Engine: 5.7 liter V8 (245 hp) Top Speed: 154 mph

In the mid-1980s, Corvettes were virtually unbeatable in SCCA, the Petersen says. So, in 1988, the organization banned them. But to placate GM, the SCCA devised a make-specific race series, the Corvette Challenge, which ran from 1988-‘89. It was a big hit with fans because it highlighted driver talent over engineering. Each driver piloted an identical, factory-built and race-prepared C4. This was GM’s first official factory-backed racing since the car’s inception. The #20 shown here was driven by racer Al Lamb for the 1989 season to two poles and multiple top 10 finishes.

Engine: 6.2-liter V8 (670 hp) Top Speed: 185 mph

The late Reeves Callaway, who passed away just a week ago, was a Corvette aficionado through and through. He’s most famous for making The Sledge Hammer, an 880-hp, 255-mph street-legal C4. But his racing interests ran far and wide. This C4 LT1 was completely redone by Callaway, with a carbon-fiber body and a race-ready 6.2-liter V8.

In its first year at Le Mans, the car captured pole position, but it did not finish the race. The following year, three Callaways started at Le Mans. The one pictured here, which is in the exhibit, won the GT2 pole, finishing third in class and 11th overall. It would then win the 1996 SCCA Pro World Challenge Series, winning the first three races and garnering five podiums in 10 races.

Engine: 7.0-liter V8 (575 hp) Top Speed: 200 mph

The C5.R, built by Pratt & Miller, made a rocky racing debut in 1999 before developing into one of the top GT race cars in the world, clinching four straight team championships and three drivers’ championships from 2001-2004. This car is a second-generation C5.R with a wider track and improved suspension. It was driven by both Earnhardts, Dale Sr. and Dale Junior, at the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona where it finished second in class behind another C5.R and fourth overall. It was Earnhardt Sr.’s only start in a sports car endurance race. Chassis 004 would go on to claim three victories in the Petit Le Mans series as well as place second in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice.

Engine: 7.0-liter V8 (590 hp)

The C6.R race car was developed alongside the road-going C6 with design elements from the competition version making their way to production cars. This not only made the road car better, but also made the race car easier to homologate. Despite being mechanically similar to its predecessor, the C6.R was even more dominant on the track due to lighter weight and better aerodynamics. Aluminum was used extensively throughout, and the car’s profile was recontoured for more downforce.

This car had three victories and never finished lower than second place in the GT1 class in the 2007 American Le Mans Series. It was also GT1 runner-up at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France that year.

Engine: 5.5-liter V8 (575 hp) Top Speed: 183 mph

Powered by a 5.5-liter V8 derived from the regular Corvette LS7 unit instead of the supercharged Z06 small-block due to GTLM class regulations, the C7.R was the last front-engined Corvette race car. It was developed by General Motors and Pratt & Miller alongside its road-legal Corvette counterpart. It sports carbon-fiber bodywork over an aluminum monocoque from the production Corvette Z06.

This car accumulated 10 top-five finishes and helped Corvette Racing win the endurance triple crown in 2015 with class victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. An accident in qualifying at the 24 Hours of Le Mans meant it did not start, but its stablemate C7.R was victorious in the LMGTE Pro class.

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