In the days leading up to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, Chevrolet racing unveiled their brand-new Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The new GT machine, their first to be built under international GT3 regulations, will usher in a new era for Corvette in the sportscar landscape in more ways than one.
The main focus of this machine, outside on track performance, appears to be a customer focused design philosophy across the board. In a press conference after the public launch of the car, Corvette racing executives stated the details of their customer based philosophy as well as gave insight to the future plans for the car beyond its debut at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in 2024.
From a mechanical point of view this car is designed for ease of repair and accessibility to as wide a range of customer teams possible. These features include larger doors to allow easier points of entry and exit for the drivers and increased accessibility for acquiring the hardware necessary to run the car.
Other elements of the car made simpler from a mechanics point of view include body work that is easier to get on and off, engines that are easier to replace when compared to a typical GT machine and damper adjustment made more accessible. The philosophies in and out of this machine are geared twords accessibility for customer teams.
Throughout the press conference, Corvette officials were hesitant to commit to any sort of factory effort for the car. With a large focus clearly given to supporting their customer base in this new era it’s not a surprise, but still a change of pace from their current efforts in IMSA and WEC.
It was confirmed that a number of teams have already reached out with interest to run the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Corvette was not willing to disclose exact figures but hinted at the fact that there could be three to four times the number of teams interested than they are willing to provide cars to at this time.
The Z06 GT3.R will run any customers a baseline price tag of $735k and with that you get delivery of a car ready to run a standard sprint race as well as technical support from Corvette. They also referenced an online portal customers could use to source parts, review documents and review software updates made to the car from Corvette
Overall the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R could make waves around the sportscar world on track and off, changing the way how manufacturer build and market customer cars. If this philosophy pays off for Corvette, we could very well see accessible, customer focused cars continue to become the new norm in the sportscar racing world.
