more gm bad news

[Clem Z.]

Re: more gm bad news

i also heard the lou wesloski who was road racing manager for GM has left the corp. right before team corvette leaves for le manns

correction the first name is steve and the confusion come from the fact i have a friend whose name is lou wesloski

[Ray C.]

Re: more gm bad news

...given the current situation I'm surprised they're still going to LeMans, but they may have contracts that can't be broken without penalty.

I watched the ALMS race from Long Beach on TV this weekend, and it was said that GM is still going to run a GT2 Corvette in ALMS races after LeMans. We'll see.

BTW, GT2 is turning into a real kick-as... class. I wish they'd just get rid of the prototypes and make it a single GT class under the current GT2 rules. With all the manufacturer support and cars that start from production versions, this is going to be the best racing since the old Trans-Am events from the late sixties to early seventies.

Duke

I was at the Barrette-Jackson auction in West Palm Beach a couple weeks ago and Chevrolet had a large display at the auction. There was a new Camaro and a C6-R on display. I was very curious about GM involvement in Corvette racing this year and especially interested about the change to the GT-2 class. One of the GM Representatives new very little about Corvette racing, but the other was very knowledgeable. He stated there was no better ambassador for GM than Corvette Racing program and stated that in down times for the auto industry, the need for positive press/information is very important. Corvette racing provides this positive image for GM. When I inquired about how the GT-2 Corvette would perform, he told me they test drove the new GT-2 Corvette against the C-6R GT-1. The new GT-2 car held it's own against the C6-R even when they changed drivers from one car to the other.


Ray

[Clem Z.]

Re: more gm bad news

I was at the Barrette-Jackson auction in West Palm Beach a couple weeks ago and Chevrolet had a large display at the auction. There was a new Camaro and a C6-R on display. I was very curious about GM involvement in Corvette racing this year and especially interested about the change to the GT-2 class. One of the GM Representatives new very little about Corvette racing, but the other was very knowledgeable. He stated there was no better ambassador for GM than Corvette Racing program and stated that in down times for the auto industry, the need for positive press/information is very important. Corvette racing provides this positive image for GM. When I inquired about how the GT-2 Corvette would perform, he told me they test drove the new GT-2 Corvette against the C-6R GT-1. The new GT-2 car held it's own against the C6-R even when they changed drivers from one car to the other.


Ray

corvette advertising budget is spent on the corvette race team not in ads on TV or magazines

[Duke W.]

Re: more gm bad news

The new GT-2 car held it's own against the C6-R even when they changed drivers from one car to the other.

On a two minute track the GT2 cars are only a few seconds slower than GT1. What counts in racing is good, close competition.

With works support for Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, Jaguar, and Panoz the competition should be close and fierce. It already is between Porsche and Ferrari.

Also, the GT1 cars are basically "silhouette cars" - like the Porsche 935s from the eighties, which started with a tube frame rather than a 911 unibody. Other than the frame rails, virtually no production parts make up the GT1 Corvettes, but all the GT2 cars start with a production car - just like the original Trans-Am, so the cars you see racing are basically what you can buy.

It looks like Team Corvette has budget to run this year as planned. I hope they also can run next year, but GT2 is much more affordable for a privateer, so if the GT2 Corvette is good, some private teams may be able to run them next year with commerical sponsorship and some technical support from GM.

Duke

[George C.]

Re: more gm bad news

The loss of Corvette Quarterly won't bother me, but Corvette News was a much better magazine.

Joe Pike is turning in his grave.
Corvette News was the Best. Save the Wave.>George

[Stuart F.]

Re: more gm bad news

AOL News speculates on demise of Corvette Brand Name. Interesting point was noted that most of todays vehicles, when up to operating temperature are putting out cleaner emissions at the tail pipe than the air they take in. Makes no difference to our Government. They want our cars and us people to stop exhauling CO2. So, the logic is, kill the babies and the Cars. Sounds about right.

Stu Fox

p.s. Instead of babies, I think we should substitute Politicians.

[William L.]

Re: more gm bad news

Disappearing Cars
In a move largely seen as giving in to Washington, General Motors recently closed it High Performance Vehicles division. The HPV team was largely responsible for GM's most exciting cars including the Cadillac CTS-V and the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.
Bureaucrats have little use for performance-oriented V-8 powered cars, so don't expect cars like the Chevy Corvette, Dodge Viper, Chevrolet Camaro SS, or Dodge Challenger R/T to survive long term. Their survival is no longer tied to customer demand, but to the demands of the government that now controls the product portfolios and development dollars at GM and Chrysler. Recently, GM announced it was killing its Pontiac brand, a concept that seemed to define performance all by itself some decades ago. Now that brand is gone.
Ford Motor Company will also likely be affected. New emissions regulations may keep future V-8 editions of the Mustang in the barn.
According to John Wolkonowicz, Senior Analyst at HIS Global Insight, "With Obama's plan, everything changes in the domestic automotive world. The government will be able to dictate what General Motors and Chrysler can sell. Washington believes it knows what Americans should drive, and this bail out gives them the means to dramatically change the market." Wolkonowicz sees the potential for a significant narrowing of choice in the automotive market. He says, "With the power given them by the bail out, the government can simply mandate certain classes of cars and trucks out of existence, regardless of whether they are popular with American drivers or not."

[Clem Z.]

Re: more gm bad news

AOL News speculates on demise of Corvette Brand Name. Interesting point was noted that most of todays vehicles, when up to operating temperature are putting out cleaner emissions at the tail pipe than the air they take in. Makes no difference to our Government. They want our cars and us people to stop exhauling CO2. So, the logic is, kill the babies and the Cars. Sounds about right.

Stu Fox

p.s. Instead of babies, I think we should substitute Politicians.

when the environmentalist movement started up everybody said all they want is clean air and clean water and who does not want that. well now we know what they wanted,to change the way americans live and they now have the feds on their side