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GM Plots New Chevy NASCAR Development Center In North Carolina

General Motors is planning to build a new racing technical and development center in North Carolina sometime in the near future, Chevy NASCAR program director Eric Warren revealed to GM Authority in an exclusive interview.

The automaker originally announced plans to construct the new racing engineering hub in the Charlotte region last January. Those plans materialized in the purchase of land and the construction of a large building in Concord. However, the project was put on the backburner as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the nation and the world. Shortly after, in June 2020, the automaker’s GM Defense subsidiary was awarded a $214.3 million government contract to provide the U.S. Army with its Chevy Colorado-based Infantry Squad Vehicle. Rather than build a brand-new facility to manufacture the ISV, the automaker decided to utilize the existing building it had constructed for the Chevy NASCAR racing center to produce the military truck.

Now the Chevy NASCAR program is looking to set up another new racing technical center in North Carolina, Warren explained, and the new facility will be even better than the one it had planned initially.

“Originally, we purchased the [what is now the GM Defense plant in Concord] facility for our racing technical center and then with COVID and all the austerity measures, we put it on pause,” Warren told GM Authority executive editor Alex Luft. “The center was already purchased at this point. Then GM Defense business came up and it made a lot of sense to dedicate it to GMD. But there is still going to be a racing technical center, just not at that facility.”

“There were some compromises with that facility too, like there is only one door, but at the time we were going to push really hard for it,” he added. “With the location going to GM Defense, that gave us time to go back and look at other areas and the new technical facility we’ll probably be announcing really soon. At one point in time, we were going to have a groundbreaking on the new technical center the next day after the GM Defense announcement, so we thought we’d give that some space.”

GM’s advanced racing and development simulator

When GM initially announced the racing technical center last year, it said the facility would allow it to expand and enhance factory support for Chevy NASCAR race teams, as well as various other GM racing teams. The facility was set to contain high-tech driver-in-the-loop simulators, vehicle simulation tools, an aerodynamics development center and other tools designed to advance its racing and production capabilities. The new facility will likely feature the same equipment, although GM is staying tight-lipped on details for the time being.

GM is eyeing a new racing tech center just as it prepares to start racing the new NASCAR Next Gen Chevy Camaro ZL1 from the 2022 season onward. The NASCAR Next Gen car is significantly more modern than the current Gen 6 car, featuring carbon-composite body panels, a sequential transmission, larger wheels with centerlock hubs and larger ventilated disc brakes, among other advanced tech.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. Nascar is dead. Why would gm waste money on Nascar and a soon to be dropped Camaro? gm wokeness has killed GM.

    Reply
    1. The design and poor sales killed the Camaro, not GM “wokeness”. That being said, I do agree with the rest of your statement. Unless this facility is also going to support Corvette racing, what is the point investing in NASCAR? There won’t be a pony car to benefit from any “trickle down” of technology.

      Reply
      1. There’s a gen 6 Camaro sitting in the driveway here. The Camaro is a badass car for what it is designed to do and in reality a much better car than the Mustang or the Dodge. It is a little tough to get big feet over the door sill and the back set is negligible in usefulness but the same can be said for the 66 Mustang yet they sold a pretty fair number of those. The technology in the Camaro is stellar and it handles like a slot car for that type of driving. My only complaint on the Camaro is the 8 spd auto which is a turd. The visibility complaints are anon issue as they have stepped up on that one. The main shortcoming on the Camaro is it’s weak straight line performance (horsepower isn’t competitive). But if you give one a objective drive you’ll most likely love the car.

        Reply
        1. I have driven a SS and do love it. I am a big fan of the gen. 6, but there is no denying it didn’t quite resonate with buyers quite the same way the gen. 5 did.

          Reply
    2. What is killing the Camaro is that it was never the cheapest in class and that coupe sales are in the tank everywhere.

      Woke matters little to people buying performance coupes.

      NASCAR has its own issues as does all of racing. Attendance has been down before the virus and if there is no recovery racing in general is at risk some, asleep or what ever.

      If we get hit with inflation there will be major issues for racing and funding.

      Reply
  2. What Wins on Sunday, Sells on Monday.

    Reply
  3. There is an empty GM plant in Kokomo Indiana and we are 1 hour away from the indy 500 race track where the brickyard runs.

    Reply
    1. Hendrick performance is supplying the engines and many of the fabricators in the area are just what they need.

      Charlotte area is a prime area to fab short run vehicles like this. Large plants are not efficient for these projects.

      Reply

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