1968 Chevrolet Corvette C3 Sport Coupe

Some of the earliest American assaults at LeMans was by the legendary sportsman, Briggs Cunningham. Tony Settember and Jack Tuner followed, and in 1967, Dick Guldstrand's Dana Chevrolet contested the race, co-drive by Bob Bondurant.

In 1957 the AMA racing ban went into effect, effectively disallowing any factory support for General Motors racing programs. Though there would be no direct support, some manufacturers found ways around the rules, to aid in victories for vehicles that bore their name. For Chevrolet, their Corvette had been the brainchild of Zora Arkus-Duntov, a four-time LeMans participant and twice class winner.

This example is a 1968 Chevrolet Corvette, built to contest LeMans with a not-so-secret support from Chevrolet. GM's European promotions director, Bob Lutz, and Henri Greder approached Swiss racing patron Georges Filipinetti with the idea of entering a two-car Corvette team at LeMans. A short time later, two L88 Corvette coupes were sent to Filipinetti, fully race prepared for the 24 Hours under Zora Arkus-Duntov's supervision. This car, chassis number 194378S410300, was for Greder and Jean-Claude Killy. The other was for Sylvain Garant and Jean-Michel Giorgi. The L88 engine was believed to be capable of an astonishing 550 horsepower. In the front was a coil springs suspension with the rear retaining the Corvette's standard transverse leaf springs independent setup. They were given a 2.56 rear end gears to take advantage of the 427 cubic-inch engine. Top speed down the Mulsanne straight was clocked at 191 mph. The Achilles heal of the car were the brakes, which were not suitable to cope with the high speeds and massive amounts of power.

Just prior to the race, GM vetoed Killy and Umberto Maglioli stepped in to fill the void. The Corvettes dominated the Porsche competition and led the GT category until the 6th hour, despite the braking problem. Another problem presented itself, one that would be detrimental to the Corvette racing effort. A carburetion problem melted a piston, causing Garant to wipe out the other Corvette in the Dunlop curves in the 14th hour.

Greder's L88 Corvette returned in 1969, now driven by Reine Wisel and co-driven by Ronnie Peterson. It had an M22 'Rock Crusher' gearbox, which endured 16 hours of aggressive downshifting, to use engine braking to relieve the brakes' shortcomings. This excessive use was too much, and the car was forced to retire while leading the GT category.

The Greder Corvette continued to race at other venues. it was supplied with the latest high performance parts from Chevrolet Engineering's back door. In total, Greder and his co-driver Vigneron captured seven of the eleven events.

The car was later sold to Jean-Claude Aubriet and entered by Aubriet's 'Ecurie Leopard' a further four times at Le Mans from 1970-73, finishing as high as 18th overall and 2nd in class. The car would be used to contest an active schedule of other racings, including the Tour de France in 1970 and 1971.

This L88 Corvette raced at LeMans six years in a row, along with numerous other races with many podium finishes along the way.

In 1989 it was sold to Bob Rubin, then to Marc de Peescara. The present owner acquired it in 2000. It was professional prepared in preparation for vintage racing. It made its debut performance at the 2001 Monterey Historics. It received an invitation to the 2004 Le Mans Classic, but the teams schedule precluded it from attending. Along with historic racing, it has been put on display several times at important events.

It is currently powered by a 1970's vintage 454 in the guise of the classic L88. It still has the coil spring front suspension as fitted by Zora. It has been given a lightened flywheel, carbon fiber clutch, M22 'Rock Crusher' close ratio gearbox and J56 heavy duty brakes.

In 2009, this LeMans racing Corvette was offered for sale at the Sports & Classics of Monterey auction presented by RM Auctions. The car was estimated to sell for $500,000 - $700,000. As the gavel fell for the third and final time, the lot had been sold for the sum of $572,000, including buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2009