In the summer of 1962 Chevrolet Engineering and Zora Arkus-Duntov
and his team began building a special light weight Corvette in a
clandestine way that Chevrolet hierarchy never new was happening. By
November and December of 1962 Grand Sport #1 was taking place in a
windowless cubicle at
Chevrolet
Engineering
Center. The idea was to build 125 world
beater race cars. It was to have massive horsepower and super light
weight. Liberties were taken with the body to accommodate as big a
tyre as could be fitted at the time with Halibrand magnesium wheels.
Chevrolet who had signed an agreement along with the other Big 3
started getting wind of the existence of the Grand Sport. The next
thing the Axe fell on the program after the parts for only 5 cars
had been assembled and before any major development work had been
completed for the new “special engine”. Rather than becoming
expensive museum pieces two cars were lent to very good friends of
the Division who could be counted on to put the cars to good use. In
1963 these people campaigned them with limited success. Being
blocked by GM policy from building 100 Grand Sports Chevrolet
Engineering still wanted to show Ford what they would be up against
if Chevrolet seriously raced. To do this they utilized one young
John Mecum Jr. and his Mecum Racing Team to take the cars to Nassau
Speed week. They got back the two cars on loan and made a third car.
Arriving a day before the event these cars were ready to race.
Chevrolet engineers were there in force, supposedly on vacation, to
make sure there cars did the job. Although having a few problems the
cars showed well, on day 1they took front row grid positions. The
next race was 3rd, 4th and 6th, the
nearest Cobra 8th. In the final race and running 3rd and
4th they had to stop a few times to have there hoods
taped down and ended the day in 4th and 8th,
the best Cobra in 7th. There point had been made and this
is the history that created this incredible car as a tribute to
these Corvettes. Power in this car is an LS1 Corvette motor with
Stage 2 Patriot LS6 heads and intake manifold giving a dyno rated
414.68 horsepower at the rear wheels. It has 1996 model Corvette
front suspension and ZR-1 rear suspension. The gearbox is a 6-speed
and the wheels are Halibrand with 17x8’s at the front and 18x10.5’s
at the rear. It is a complete custom built tube chassis of the same
style as the original cars. Comfort features include power windows,
air conditioning, 10 disc CD and BMW leather interior. It is an
incredible vehicle and at
www.lateral-g.net/sidelnyk you can actually see the construction
of this car. Finished in Silver with a Royal Blue racing stripe over
the top and a superb matching Blue and Grey interior.