Learning Curves

Automotive Industries, May, 2001 by Gerry Kobe

GM's factory backing of the C5-R Corvette benefits the race team and production team equally, but the real beneficiary is the customer.

If any car in history can endorse the benefits of racing, it's the Chevrolet Corvette. Introduced in 1953 as America's first sports car, Corvette was nearly discontinued in 1955 because of slow sales. Owners of early Corvettes complained about the car's anemic 235-cubic-inch 6-cylinder engine, and by 1955 Ford Motor Co.'s V-S-powered Thunderbird was outselling Corvette by more than 20 to one.

But Chevrolet had a secret weapon in the person of Zora Arkus-Duntov, a young engineer who would be assigned to head the Corvette program and try to save the struggling marque. Arkus-Duntov's formula was simple: horsepower and racing.

In 1956 he put Corvette on the radar screen of the American public by piloting a 265-cubic-inch small-block V-8-powered Corvette to a record speed of 150.583 mph in a flying-mile run during Speedweeks at Daytona Beach. Corvette sales blipped in response and Arkus-Duntov readied a new weapon -- the Corvette SS -- to compete with the Jaguars, Ferraris and Mercedes for the 1957 running of the Sebring race.

In June of 1957, the Automobile Manufacturer's Association, in cooperation with General Motors Corp. management, threw a wrench in Corvette's long-term strategy when it banned automakers from direct participation in racing. But the car's brief brush with the sport had already polished its image enough that they would continue to be raced successfully and independently for the coming decades -- long after the factory ban was lifted.

Factory-Sponsored Racing

When Chrysler Corp. decided to finance a factory-backed effort in GT racing with its Viper GTS-R program in 1996 (see sidebar, pg. 30), eyebrows raised at GM. If the Chrysler effort was successful, GM ran the risk of having Corvette lose the image of America's sports car icon. Compounding the problem, Corvette was having an identity crisis following the launch of the C5.

"When we came out with the C5 production car in 1997, the message we communicated was how much more refined the car was than its predecessor," says Dave Hill, Performance Car vehicle line executive (VLE) and Corvette chief engineer. "We had to tell that story because that was what was most different from Corvettes of the past. I think as a result, Corvette's image lost some of its sparkle as an all-out performance car, which was part of the decision to go racing in 1999-- we knew racing would get that back."

In putting the racing program together, Hill worked closely with Joe Negri, GM group manager of road racing, to establish a strategy that would benefit both the production car as well as the racecar. The image boost to Corvette was a given, but the two programs needed to compliment one another on many levels.

"It was extremely important we felt connected to the production group," says Negri. "Right now I don't remember if this was my idea or Dave's, but we thought it would be good if an engineer from his organization would get assigned to the race program for a limited number of years and then cycle back to the production side. We tried to be mindful that while a person would feel honored getting tapped for the job, we didn't want them to stay so long that they lose out on their career path."

The first, and so far only, production engineer to be drafted into the Corvette racing team is Ken Brown, total vehicle integration engineer for GM Performance Cars. In 1997, Brown had just finished designing the chassis for the C5 and was nominated for the team because he showed the right mixture of knowledge, spirit, breadth of understanding across the car and a working knowledge of the resources available at GM.

According to Negri, racing groups tend to get isolated from what is happening in the day-to-day world inside of the company, often being unaware of technologies that are available to them for the asking. Brown served as a conduit to that knowledge, matching needs within GM's racing community to company resources that could shortcut a problem.

"Racing is a different world," says Brown. "On the production side there are more boxes to check because you are building thousands of cars, so you have people and facilities to help you do that. I was able to bring those contacts to the team. In contrast, on the race side I am responsible for the whole deal. I don't have to make a business case; I have to get the job done before the next race -- that's my timeline. It creates a passion and tenacity for getting the job done, and that is what I'm bringing back to the production side as I cycle back"

Along the way, Brown and other team members learned that one of the primary benefits of racing is contact with the customer. Hill says it is the single best source for ideas that will be incorporated into future Corvettes.

"Engaging the customer is a very real benefit of racing," Hill opines. "At the races, you get a real understanding of the customer. It's not just showing them something and asking if they like it -- you already know they like it and they have ideas to share on how to improve it. You begin to think like your customer and know what turns them on or off. You can actually start to anticipate their needs, and that doesn't happen at a clinic."