The Lure of Le Mans

Customer teams (vs the factory Corvette Racing team) will carry the flag for Corvettes at Le Mans for the second straight year and the foreseeable future.

The 24-hour race on June 14-15, 2025 is the fourth (and most important race) in the eight race World Endurance Championship Series. 

WEC rules require teams to enter all eight races. 12 cars are signed up for the LMGT3 Class.

The UK-based TF Sport team has two Z06 GT3.R Corvettes.  Ben Keating from Texas is the lead driver for the # 33 and Tom Van Rompuy from Belgium the is lead driver for the # 81.

The Canadian AWA Team of Andrew Wojteczko received a special invitation from the WEC for their Corvette that normally races in the IMSA GTD Class.  Orey Fidani is the lead driver for the # 13 Z06 GT3.R, decked out in red for the occasion.

 Back in the days

The Briggs Cunningham (3 cars) and the Camoradi team (1 car) were the first Corvettes at Le Mans in 1960.  John Fitch & Bob Grossman piloted the # 3 Corvette to a dramatic win while the 2 others dropped out; and the # 4 Camoradi Corvette fell short of the distance to be classified.

The Corvette team of Frenchman Henri Greder appeared in 1969 through 1975, assisted by Belgian-born Corvette Chief Engineer Zora Arkus Duntov who also had raced at Le Mans.

John Greenwood entered Le Mans three times under Zora’s tutelage: in 1972 & 1973, shod with BFG tires and in 1976 with his eponymous widebody design.

Reeves Callaway and his Callaway Competition cohorts from Germany entered their slick fourth-generation Corvettes from 1994 through 1997.  At their first outing, Race Officials strongly advised Callaway to enlist a French driver.  Well after the sun went down, Michel Maisonneuve missed instructions to stop for fuel, ran out of gas on the Mulsanne straight and walked away into the night.  Of course those officious Race Officials disqualified the # 51 Corvette.

A shoestring effort by Doug Rippie entered “the mother of all” IMSA supercharged ZR1 Corvettes in 1995.  The car was sold off in Europe after it blew up just past halfway.

The GM-backed Corvette Racing Team followed with the revolutionary new C5, C6, C7 and C8 Corvettes that won the most races for GT Sports Cars in the history of Le Mans.

Nigel Dobbie catalogs C5 thru C7 in his book which you can order.

https://corvettestore.com/products/corvette-racing-the-first-20-years-by-nigel-s-dobbie?srsltid=AfmBOooUL5a-xI-lVNYj35NIjRqg7ls-dxPEjfE1bI99owBCbMt45kTO

Photo credits: WEC, AWA, Greenwood Archives, Richard Prince

 

 

 

 

The Market Outlook for Historic Corvette Race Cars

Whether a seller collects them or races them, today there are far fewer buyers than sellers. Some sellers have chosen Bring-A-Trailer online auctions.

Details

1968 at Daytona

2002 at Monterey Historic Races

2011 Dick Guldstrand at Corvette World Tribute

These cars can also appeal to buyers who own a condo at a privately owned motorsports complex where they can store them and drive them. They are loud and they turn eyeballs.

1963 Corvette with period and vintage racing history

2012 at Watkins Glen & now with a party who has access to a track in a private motorsports park in FL

1972 Corvette being offered

2023 at HSR Sebring Classic 12

Suitable for a private motorsports park

Sellers of historic Corvette race cars are not getting any younger and expenses are going up which is why we welcome you to support our mission to preserve the heritage of Corvette race cars.