5 Amazing Things About the Corvette C5.R

At the recent HSR Classic 24 Hour at Daytona, we got the chance to take a very close look at a bona fide Chevrolet Corvette C5.R, just sitting there on jack stands in all its glory. That’s the cool thing about historic racing: It’s not factory teams guarding cars full of secrets, it’s privateers (rich privateers, to be sure) keeping …

Read the rest of the story

Interesting, especially on that rear bar. Love the pics.

I saw these race at the Grand Prix of D.C., absolutely amazing cars, the noise was incredible from 50 feet away.

That's Chassis #7 that raced in Europe under various privateer teams.  It was restored in '16 by Pratt & Miller with the Famous US '02 season livery.

https://www.racingsportscars.com/chassis/photo/C5R-007.html

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

I suspect it has more to do with dealing with a full load of fuel versus a nearly empty load. 

That can't be the only pics you took of the rear bar setup... quit with the bogarting!

bluej said:

That can't be the only pics you took of the rear bar setup... quit with the bogarting!

Actually this one shows it a lot better:

Those brakes! Those poor tiny intakes!

I hope the C8R is as successful...BOP be damned.

My guess is on the bar mechanism is that it adds a 3rd "heave" spring into the suspension. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

JG, This was really cool to read and see the pictures.  I think this is an opportunity for GRM.  Find top-level race cars and give a photo-and-caption tour of interesting tidbits.  I'd be interested in new stuff as well as stuff as far back as the 1960s.  McLaren 6B, anyone?

The rear bar assembly is indeed a third spring similar to what we ran on the open wheel cars for high speed ovals. It allows the soft wheel springs to handle the typical work of cornering and the 3rd spring to take the aero loads at high speeds. It is possible that there is an adjustable beam in there somewhere operated by the driver control, which would change the stiffness of the 3rd spring.

I can ask a co-worker that worked on the mechanical design of these cars.

Additionally, the splitter is a latter design. The earlier ones presented some problems in the wind tunnel and on track, if I recall the work done 20+ years ago. I may have been there for some of it.

All that I previously knew about the C5.R, I learned from Gran Turismo 3:

1. If the AI was driving it, I could count on seeing its fat ass blocking me for most of the race, even though I could easily have passed it if it didn't ram me in every corner.
    
2. If I was driving it, it understeered like an overloaded toboggan, and ate front tires like a chainsmoker eats Nicorette.

I have no idea how that relates to its real-life racing performance (I suspect not much), but in GT3 I hated that damn thing.

stafford1500 said:

The rear bar assembly is indeed a third spring similar to what we ran on the open wheel cars for high speed ovals. It allows the soft wheel springs to handle the typical work of cornering and the 3rd spring to take the aero loads at high speeds. It is possible that there is an adjustable beam in there somewhere operated by the driver control, which would change the stiffness of the 3rd spring.

I can ask a co-worker that worked on the mechanical design of these cars.

Yes, please!

#6.  It DOES NOT have pop-up headlights 

This is a great write up. Would love some articles with photos and reviews of "behind the scenes" of different racing cars and tech.

yeah the rear sway bar reminds me of the "3rd shock" that the F1 cars had for a while maybe in the early 2000s?  As stated above I think it was called a heave spring.

Well, it's been said twice now, but I will say it again - the rear sway bar looks like an F1 heave spring/roll bar combo... 

I've been looking at them a lot lately, as I build my autocross Model A Ford roadster pickup... You know, because straight axles need push rod/bellcrank inboard springs... (hey, why not?) 

Thanks for the pictures and the write up. The C5R is one of my favorite race cars of all time.

I even have one in my garage! 

Rear sway bar has a 3rd spring, or it sure looks like it.  It can be used to control dive and squat (braking and acceleration), as well as aero loads.  I believe on the prototypes they are usually used for aero load control.  I'm sure it also has more functionality in this case, but in theory, if it is a third spring, it will not change height when both sides of the sway bar move equal amounts, and should only compress/decompress when the entire rear of the car moves up or down. 

Probably can be tuned to keep the chassis under control while still allowing each individual tire to go over bumps smoother.