Callaway Competition, the motorsports-focused offshoot of the well-known American tuning outfit, has announced it will take a step back from its current GT3 racing program to develop a road-legal, track-prepped version of the C8 Corvette.
Callaway has been racing a privateer C7 Corvette GT3 car in the hugely competitive ADAC GT Masters series in Germany since 2015, although the team has been active in the championship since its inception in 2007. This week, Callaway Competition CEO Ernst Wehr confirmed the team, which is the longest-running and most successful in the ADAC GT Masters Series, will take a step away from the series to focus its resources on developing a tuned, road-legal version of the C8 Corvette for track day enthusiasts. The track-ready Corvette variant will be developed in partnership with Berlin-based exotic car dealer Autohaus Kramm.
The GT3-spec C7 Corvette that Callaway fielded in the ADAC GT Masters was designed, engineered and built entirely in-house by Callaway at its shop in Leingarten, Germany. The car was in no way related to the similar-looking Corvette C7.R, which was built to higher-downforce GTE specifications by GM’s factory racing partner Pratt & Miller at its facility in Michigan and featured a different, purpost-built 5.5L V8 engine.
Callaway’s GT3-spec Corvette was a fan favorite in the ADAC GT Masters paddock due to its uniqueness and the distinct sound produced by its LS-based 6.2L V8 engine. The car was also highly successful, carrying Callaway and driver Jules Gounon to the team and driver’s championship in 2017 and consistently beating entries from rival manufacturers like Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
“We sat down together after the season and closely analyzed the last two years,” Wehr said in a statement. “It was with a heavy heart that we came to the decision that we would withdraw from the GT Masters for the time being.”
“But now we want and need to conserve our resources again and concentrate more on road vehicles,” Wehr added. “Of course, we’ll continue to keep an eye on the scene and how it develops.”
Callaway Competition has plans to return to the ADAC GT Masters in 2024, Wehr said, with the team currently in talks with GM to field its new Corvette C8 GT3.R customer race car in the series. Unlike the Callaway-built C7 Corvette GT3, the Corvette C8 GT3.R will be built by GM itself and sold to privateer teams like Callaway for use in international GT events.
GM Authority will have more details on Callaway’s new track-prepped C8 Corvette once it becomes available. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more mid-engine Corvette news, Corvette C8 news, Corvette news, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comment
A few months ago I wrote here about Callaway Competition Germany and the Corvette C7 GT3 development. These Corvettes were the most successful racing cars in Germany that were actually developed, built and used privately. Since 2020, the German and Italian manufacturers have been more and more involved in GT3 sport invest and use a lot of factory drivers, of course, the small Callaway Competition Germany team with a single Corvette GT3 is in the minority and has recently been rammed off the race track quite often. It will be a long time before GM comes out with the new Corvette C8 GT3 in 2024 and then evaluates the European market as an important sales market for GM vehicles!
But one can say that the new Corvette C8, which will only be on the EU market from 2022, is already very popular. The C8 Z06 will probably completely reassess the supercar market in Europe and a lot of new customers will probably buy Corvettes. Good this way!