Celebrating the noise: why we’ll miss Corvette at Le Mans

Corvettes at Le Mans

It’s official and there’s no going back now: we’re facing the first Le Mans of this millennium without a Corvette thundering around La Sarthe.

The team had announced in May that it had taken the difficult decision to withdraw, citing the date change to September and the global uncertainty. And in the last few days, race organisers released the 62-car entry list with four reserves, none of which were from the American factory. 

This is what we’re going to be missing.

When it all began

The first time Chevy Corvettes sailed across the Atlantic to Le Mans was back in 1960, courtesy in no small part of Briggs Cunningham’s squad.

Three BS Cunningham Corvettes entered, packing the biggest punch in the field, but just one finished. John Fitch and Bob Grossman had run as high as sixth but fell back to eighth as their engine slowly seized.

Camoradi chips in

A fourth Corvette was entered by Camoradi USA, for Fred Gamble – who would enter the Italian Grand Prix for the squad later in the year – and teammate Leon Lilley.

Despite logging 275 laps, they were classed as non-finishers for not covering enough ground relative to their engine capacity. 

Teams change

With Cunningham now running Maseratis and a Jaguar E-type, the latter with quasi-factory backing, Scuderia Scirocco took up the mantle in 1962.

At the helm was Tony Settember and Briton John Turner, and once again its stock-block V8 was the biggest unit in the field.

’Vette boxed by ’box

Despite the number 1 on its flanks because of that big capacity and the promise of Tony Settember, the car’s race ended after 150 laps.

The car ran with only first and fourth gear for long periods, so that early bath could have been blessed relief…

Stingray runs

It would be half a decade until a Corvette returned to Le Mans, though one entered in 1963 but failed to materialise.

The experienced Bob Bondurant led the entry, backed by Californian dealership Dana Chevrolet Inc.

Victory denied

Leading the GT class into the morning, a con-rod failed and sent the car to the sidelines.

Two weeks later Bondurant’s career was all-but ended when he crashed heavily in the United States Road Racing Championship.

Swiss Corvette

Ecurie/Scuderia Filipinetti carried the Corvette flag in 1968, normally seen running slightly more exotic fare such as the 275LM and GTB entered the same year. Later cars included Ferrari 512 sports prototypes, famously.

Two ’Vettes lined up, with Jean-Michel Giorgi sharing with Sylvain Garant (pictured), and Umberto Maglioli with Henri Greder.

Targa king

Maglioli had won the Targa Florio for the third and final time earlier in the season with Vic Elford and Porsche, driving a 907.

He had less luck at Le Mans, seen here ahead of Andrè de Cortanz and Jean Vinatier’s Alpine A220, and retired after just six hours. 

Corvette flies solo

Greder returned with Filipinetti the following year, this time with future Grand Prix racer Reine Wisell.

The big V8’s seven litres claimed the number 1 for the car, as race numbers were still being handed out in order of engine capacity. 

Wisell’s bad luck

Hopes were high for the talented Wisell when he entered Formula One in 1970 with Team Lotus. He’d battled with SuperSwede Ronnie Peterson back home in single-seaters and won the Formula Three title, but struggled to make an impression in Grands Prix despite a debut podium.

His visits to Le Mans were tough, retiring here with the Corvette and crashing out heavily in 1970 with the team’s Ferrari 512. 

Third time unlucky

Greder’s 1970 entry ran under the banner Greder Racing and partnered compatriot Jean-Pierre Rouget.

A second French Corvette bolstered the ranks in the GT class, the Écurie Léopard car shared by Jean-Claude Aubriet and Joseph Bourdon.

Denied by the rulebook

The Greder car ran well, battling for the GT class lead in a three-car fight.

But by the flag, which it reached a fine sixth on the road, its 285 laps were not enough to be classified when calculated with its 7-litre capacity.

In a bizarre twist of red tape, the class win went to the Porsche 914 a lap back – the first of seven class wins for Claude Ballot-Léna.

Groundbreaker

The Greder team made history in 1971 when the ACO allowed Marie-Claude Beaumont to partner him in the twice-round-the-clock epic.

A top-10 finisher on the Tour de Corse and a class winner in the Spa 24 Hours, she was the first female to race at the event since Gilberte Thirion in 1954. 

Little red Corvette

An American Corvette reappeared in 1972, entered by none other than NART, Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team.

A Prancing Horse stable usually, and Sam Posey and Tony Adamowicz scored sixth overall in a Ferrari 365 GTB/4, it even ran with a Ferrari logo on it.

Dave Heinz and Bob Johnson were the pilots, and gained entry through NART’s spare slot thanks to tyre manufacturer Goodyear. An eventful weekend resulted in 15th overall. 

Stars and stripes

Johnson returned the following year in more appropriate, and patriotic, colours with John Greenwood.

One of the team’s pair of cars was excluded before the race even began after testing on the public road… And this car lasted just four hours.

Greder and Beaumont found success, though, winning the GTS 5000+ class. 

Greder bows out

Greder still wasn’t done, and he and Beaumont struggled on to 18th place overall and second in class in 1974. 

It would appear again in 1975, failing to finish and ending Greder’s career. 

IMSA to Le Mans

The Chevy that rocked up in 1976 was no average Corvette. A class for IMSA cars from America welcomed a variety of monsters from the States.

A 911 RSR won the class, but among the entrants was a Chevrolet Monza and this 7-litre ’Vette. Greenwood was back, with WRC rally winner Bernard Darniche. They lasted just five hours. 

Callaway’s turn

A gap of nearly two decades was ended in 1994, when the Callaway Corvette ‘SuperNatural’ arrived with Boris Said, Le Mans podium-finisher Frank Jelinsky and Michel Maisonneuve.

A C4 LT1 was given a 6.2-litre Chevy V8, but ran out of fuel. It finished ninth a year later, and third in class.

GT1 by name

While the Callaway Corvette was heading to the podium, a ZR1 GT1 was heading for the back of the 1995 grid. 

John Paul Jr was the controversial star, a Daytona and Sebring winner back home, but the car barely troubled the timesheets. Slowest in qualifying behind even the GT2s, engine problems put them out after 50-odd laps.

Factory racing at last

Rocky Agusta ran a ’Vette in ’96 and ’97, but with the new millennium came the real deal.

The factory-backed Pratt & Miller Corvettes arrived in 2000 and a new era was sworn in. 

Two Corvette Racing C5.Rs lined up and bagged a GTS class podium on debut, in 10th. The sister car followed home in 11th.

GTS winners

Glory soon followed. A strengthened line-up including home heroes Scott Pruett and Johnny O’Connell put them second in class on the grid and, after a slow and steady run, on top of the podium.

That a brace of GT class Porsches finished in front of them didn’t detract from the celebrations.

Double celebration

Both Corvette Racing cars starred on the podium in a 1-2, ahead of the American Saleen featuring future Corvette stalwart Oliver Gavin.

Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins and Frenchman Franck Fréon piloted the sister car, #64.

Two in two

Gavin teamed up with O’Connell and Ron Fellows to retain Corvette’s title in 2002, with Pilgrim, Collins and Fréon again runners-up.

Pole was claimed by more than two seconds in a class with a decidedly American flavour, as the above shows.

And this year, the ’Vettes were the first cars behind the prototypes…

Three in four

Denied by the Prodrive Ferraris in 2003, Gavin and teammates Jan Magnussen and Olivier Beretta set the record straight in 2004.

Beaten to pole by Ferrari, Corvette led when it mattered for another 1-2, with Max Papis joining Fellows and O’Connell in the second car.

Formation flying

Despite the 11 laps between them, the cars lined up for the obligatory photo finish come Sunday.

It hadn’t been a clean run, and spares were running dry, but the battle of attrition had been survived. 

Prodrive, featuring Colin McRae, completed the top three 16 laps adrift.

New class same result

The revival of GT1 in 2005 meant a new dawn at Le Mans, and the beginning of the friendliest of tough rivalries: Corvette vs Aston Martin, new C6.R vs DBR9.

America drew first blood, with Corvette retaining its title and taking its fourth win, with the same Gavin, Magnussen and Beretta trio. And, as was becoming customary, they were joined on the podium by their second-placed teammates.

Hat-trick heroes

Gavin, Beretta and Magnussen made it three in three in 2006, heading the GT1 field and claiming fourth overall behind Audi’s revolutionary diesel Audis and the Pescarolo.

Their teammates (pictured) had less good luck and achieved a seventh-in-class finish.

Aston supreme

Aston Martin broke Corvette’s run in 2007, when the Gavin car gave up and O’Connell, Fellows and Magnussen finished second.

In 2008 (pictured), Aston held off the two charging Chevys again – the top two on the same lap, but Britain on top, just. 

The sister ’Vette was three laps adrift, but good enough for third. 

C6 signs off GT1 on top

There would be no hat-trick for Aston, but a winning send-off for the C6.R.

O’Connell, Magnussen and Antonio García claimed the honours and Luc Alphand Aventures’ privateer entrant followed it up in second place. The Danish ex-F1 racer pulled out early on, leaving his teammates to chase the win as a duo.

Top of the new class

Having dropped to GT2 in 2010, the launch of GTE-Pro meant another major win in 2011, with the familiar trio of Beretta, Gavin and Magnussen heading a star-studded field with renewed interest for manufacturers.

Four brands filled the top four, Chevrolet, Ferrari, BMW and Porsche, but the American marque’s experience won out. 

C7.R launches on to the podium

The long-serving and much developed C6.R sent into retirement, the seventh Corvette carried on the line of success with a second-place finish on debut in a strong GTE-Pro field.

Often as thrilling as the big boys fighting for overall victory, if not more, the trains of GT cars stole attention and TV time.

C7 goes one better

In year two the C7.R reigned in another titanic battle of marques, a threat throughout and let off the leash when a Ferrari retired from the lead.

Gavin scored his fifth class win, with American teammates Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor. By the flag its nearest rival was five laps adrift.

Corvette cruelty

Le Mans has been less kind since, leading on to the last lap in 2017 only to be passed by Johnny Adam’s Aston Martin in a battle of whose tyres would last best.

Taylor’s gave up and he dropped to third in a thrilling final tour.

This year was supposed to be the dawn of the middie Corvette, but circumstances have conspired and a long run is at a temporary pause.

Until next year…