GM racing manager proud to be building a greener Corvette
Click the GT1 Corvette C6R for a high res gallery from the 2008 Detroit Sports Car Challenge
Last year, at the same press conference where American Le Mans Series CEO Scott Atherton announced the Green Challenge, Chevrolet general manager Ed Peper announced that the C6R Corvettes would be running on cellulosic ethanol in the GT1 class. After a year of tearing up the tracks powered by non-food-sourced biofuel, GM Road Racing Group Manager Steve Wesoloski is proud of the team's accomplishments. He also welcomes Michelin on board as the title sponsor of the Green Challenge for 2009. Ethanol obviously remains a controversial fuel, but Wesoloski said, "It's going to be a long time before the auto industry finds the one magic solution. In the meantime we're all looking for answers. This [cellulosic E85] is one. We're saying you don't have to be afraid of ethanol." Lessons learned converting the race car to E85 are being shared with the production side at GM. Now, with a GT2 car under development for its debut later this year, the team is working on weight reduction by using the aluminum chassis of the production Z06 and ZR1 models. Hopefully, some of those weight reduction lessons will also make their way to production GM cars.
Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: American Le Mans Series]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ale 6:03PM (2/07/2009)
I'm excited for a packed GT2 field this year in ALMS; however, the only good race will be Sebring, unless Champion gets to utilize R10 or R15s... I just wish they had good filled fields for each class, otherwise, what's the point, like Corvette last year... but like I said, GT2 is gonna be a battle all year, I'm excited, LMP2 should be good too, Mazda, Acura, and Courage chassised cars, throw in two Dysons, it'll be a fight to the finish... :D
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ale 6:35PM (2/07/2009)
whoops, Dyson's doing the Mazda factory program...