The sole C8.R entry of Corvette Racing will be a bit heavier during this weekend’s IMSA race at Laguna Seca.
The only Corvette C8.R in the IMSA WeatherTech field has received a rather significant 176-pound (80 kilogram) ballast weight increase for the two-hour, 40-minute race at Laguna Seca, along with a 12 percent decrease in engine airflow. These Balance of Performance changes were made in an attempt to slow Corvette Racing down after the factory-backed Chevy squad took a commanding victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring last month. The team also displayed race-winning pace at Long Beach earlier this month, but its chances at victory were thwarted after it was handed a drive-through penalty.
While these Balance of Performance changes will slow the Corvette C8.R down a bit, drivers Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia are more concerned about tire management. The tires were the biggest change in moving from the GTE-spec package it raced last year to this year’s GT3 package. Chevy was able to use a Michelin tire formulated specifically for the Corvette when it competed in GTE, however GT3 rules require teams to all use an identical Michelin control tire. The team has less experience running this off-the-shelf tire than its rivals, which could make this weekend’s race particularly challenging due to the old, abrasive surface at Laguna Seca.
“We’ve already learned quite a bit this year about tire management and how important tire degradation will be,” Taylor said. “Sebring was a great learning experience for us in a positive way for understanding the car and tire. Laguna Seca is usually a big tire degradation race. Whoever can manage that the best is usually at the front at the end. Historically we’ve run well there so we have a good understanding of what we need to do.”
Garcia echoed Taylor’s thoughts about tire management.
“Laguna Seca always has been a track where you need to make the tire work at its best,” added Garcia. “Usually the performance window is narrower than it is anywhere else on our calendar. We’ve never run this specification of car there or this tire there. We have some information that can transfer from other tracks, so I hope we are in the right spot when we get there.”
The two-hour, 40-minute Hyundai Monterey Sportscar Championship race will kick off on May 1st at 3:05 p.m. EST.
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Comments
Just maybe the other JUNK racing team should upgrade their crap to keep up with Chevy Vettes.
WTF
You are right. This is crazy.
If you can’t compete build a better race car.
This shiit really pissssis me off.
This is not a competition. If I were to show up with a Honda Civic they would make the race fair buy adding 1000lbs to the Corvette!!
If other race cars can’t compete then go home. Come back with a competitive car.
This is like NASCAR .. There is no more competition between MFGs . They all run the same engine. This type of BS ruined Nascar….
Very pisssed about this.
Just a shame, politics in racing …
Not politics but economics.
All teams want to be competitive and they all want to contain costs. So BOP come to play.
They all complain but they all threaten to leave if IMSA does not contain cost.
This is not the first change as Chevy was slow at Daytona. The BOP helped them as this car is not really a optimized GT3 chassis.
We should not cry about this as this car would be in trouble this year snd next til, the new real GT3 arrives.
Todays car is a GTLM car with smaller spec tires and Al, the weight placed in the passenger side floor. This has really hurt this car and between the hood work of Pratt and Miller along with help from the BOP it has kept them in the hunt.
80kg is too much weight…
I’m only a very casual-follower of this series, and I don’t object in concept to airflow and weight penalties to make things more competitive, but this much all at once is far too much to add in my view…regardless of which team or car we’re talking about.
@Tony, I’ve been watching this for many years when the gen 5 was dominating the sanction. Back then, there were many competitors, not like today, with only 5.
BoP has always been more restrictive for the Corvette and less restrictive for certain racing teams based on new entries with less the 8 cylinders.
In the last few years in the GTLM series, many manufacturers left… it goes without saying, those that left were never going to win based on BoP and decreased funding for mainly that reason.
Moving down a level, does cause adapting pains and restructuring to have a competitive car but, adding more weight such as 175 lbs to a very light racecar is like adding a boat anchor on the bumper and just plain penalizing a racecar that in theory should be a couple cars faster than GTD but is a couple cars slower with BoP for all GTDP contenders.
The BoP always impacts the long stretch straight a ways and during fuel refilling.
Interesting to see what happens this weekend.
On top of all these very constructive comments, I believe that when you, as a team, gets this “BoP”, you are forced to come up with solutions from every end, and at the end of the day, the learning experience is so valuable that it has proven that such teams are winners all the way. Adapt or die. Most of the humans when pushed to the limits, usually find their way around. And yes, it has been Porsche sometimes and Aston Martin others.
But as the drivers say: their main concern is tires, not the BoP. If they are the ones at the wheel they must be right.
Lets go racing on Sunday and have the beloved Vettes and the drivers and crew show the world that they keep running strong!
Where is the #4 car?
The #4 or the #64 as it appears in the WEC series runs this Saturday in a 6 hr. race at Spa. On Motor Trend Network I believe.
The # 4 car is racing the WEC calendar.
Ok I read the posts about keeping the series competitive and costs down.
But
What ever happened to building a better car then using those designs in advancing the technology of everyday vehicles..
A weight penalty is not the way to go.
Why bother watching a race to see who has the best car when a good car has penalties to degrade its performance?
Not worth watching
LMAO so theyre saying the C8 Corvette is too good, so they have to add weight to it and detune the engine???
How about this, they should balance race cars based on money spent. Kind of like a sports team where each team has a certain amount of cap space they can spend on players. If that was the case, Corvettes would literally dominate everything in it’s sight. The fact that an affordable Corvette can beat Ferrari’s and Porsches that cost at least triple the price is just amazing. Same with Camaros, they compete with cars that cost double the price.
This is BS.!!! I to have been i’m watching this for many many years.. with the new car I thought there can’t hold all the new improvements back now.. . But same B.S it’s suck so hard to even watch..