Michael Schumacher To Test Drive New Corvette
 

LOL!! This should be in the jokes section :wink:

i think someone forgot the fact that Schumacher can't drive anything not badged Fiat or Ferrari :wink:

lol, i guess thats cool though. I wonder how much GM had to pay Ferrari to let him drive it.

lol funny, well not really, I think there is a Schumacher, ontario canada?

who said anything about 7 time world champion, Michael Shumacher driving a vette... :P just a buisness man from Germany :wink:

I have a feeling RC gonna say something about this :roll:

Other than to boost my post count *cough* - it doesn't really warrant a response.

;)

Besides - we won LeMans when it counted.. and if Ferrari couldn't get the 550/575's to win enough even with all that Formula 1 heritage behind them - you have to wonder what good "race heritage" is at the end of the day... :P ;)

Good enough do dominate FIA GT, give the Vettes a run for their money for the time that prodrive was in ALMS and to win Le Mans....and all that by privaters, without the "factory" supporting them everyday :)

Yeah - like ProDrive don't have the ferrari guys on speed dial and can what ever they want when ever they want - :) :P

Anyway - ferrari is an ENTIRE company devoted to high performance - what's their excuse when they don't win?

The Corvette barely has a program to support it - privateers are what fuel the Corvette racing success.. :)

And you can't count GTR victories in this one.. hehe

^^^ thus proving that if it turns right on a track, big companies don't want anything to do with in the states :D

Proving nothing - factory involvment in racing has been a touch and go venture for most car companies since the inveiton of the automobile.

The 100% backed fully promoted factory campaigns have been few and far bewteen - and mostly limited to companies who tried to make a living racing, rather than selling product.

It is after all - still a profit driven market :)

Yeah yeah yeah...The LM Vette team has full 100% factory backing, all their hardware is from GM, whilst prodrive basicly took a road car 550 and made it into a racer, Ferrari started selling their own GT/GTS ready 550s/575s not so long...

Why would prodrive have Ferrari on speed dial when they do not use Ferrari hardware? Basic chassy and engine block is all they use thats stock I guess, no need for speed dial to Maranello there....

Ferraris exvuse when they dont win? Well the only motorsport that FERRARI races in is F1, so their excuses for current loses is basicly "we fucked up"...

Uhm - just to set the record straight - the idea that there exists a GM factroy team is misinformation.

GM does not race - period.. the C5R is a GM endorsed project that was undertaken by Pratt & Miller and dates back to 1998/99.

So - at the end of the day I would declare the "factory" effort of the Ferrari winners and Corvette winners a draw.

Now that the factory is "in on the program" (As always - the big wigs step up to take credit after all the ground work is done ;)) they make it seem like the C6R was a GM conceived idea - so sure you can have your C6R factory team branded as such - but the C5R is still being provided to and supported as a privateer fieled car - with nothing more than GM parts being sold to the owners :)

Doesnt GM own a small percentage of Fiat?

LOL ;)

It's the Corvettes first year in FIA and they have already done pretty good.

Beat me to it RC!

We'll see this weekend at LeMans. I still have high hopes for the Vettes even with the ACO and thier nonsense 3:55 rule.

true
but a large amount of auto makers do race their own cars
Rally teams anyone?

Ford, BMW, Mercs, AUDI, VW, Bently, Ferrari, Lambo, Mistu, Toyota, Honda...
The french :D

I would put good money on it, that more then 1/2 the (BIG- not some 5 guys in a farm in the UK) auto companies race their own cars.

NASCAR? what is that pace car again? :D

They are privately funded and developed race teams.

Yes - this is a brand new philosophy that only came about because the private innitiatives were so successful.

As has been said before, a classic case of "the privateer breaks the ground, the big copr reaps the cash" so to speak.

A few short years ago this was a completely different story - all the racing support was under the table and the best you would get was race kits for privateers, and the likes of Pratt & Miller, Lou Giggiolotti etc would build race winning setups - and would not get official "open architecture" support.

Plus, the rules have changed requiring the race cars to more closely match the production components - so in order for GM cars to remain competitive they need to (for example the C6 Z06) come from the factory with race worthy components.

Still not sure what argument you are trying to win?

But the bottom line is - the teams are still privately funded and owned.

Couldnt care less about the Vette in FIA GT, just simply stating that 550 is/was a dominant car in the series. Toughest GT series by far.

Sheeet ladies, looks like the Ferraris are fast down in France today.

Just had a look at the live timing and scoring, the Ferrari's are running roughly 5 seconds slower than the Vettes. The Vettes, are running almost 5 seconds slower than the Astons.

Funny part is, the Corvette team is being accused of sandbagging qualifying. Makes sense, since Dehan said he doesn't care about qualifying times.

Go Corvette!

Go Aston! :P

Go VILLA!!!!!

GO BANANA!

No really --- Go VILLA!!

Aston Villa... ;)

Ralph Wiggum is my hero!

Man that cant be right, 10sec difference from fast to slow, thats fucking huge!

SOmething smells fishy mate.......Vettes 5sec slower then Aston? Ferrari even slower then that? Just not long ago the had all the top spots(this morning was reading about it).

We'll find out tomorrow during the prequalifying. It rained and the Vettes weren't pushing it apparently. Fehan has already said he doesn't care what the qualifying numbers are, it's a 24 hour race.
The numbers will be much, much closer tomorrow as it's those numbers that will matter.

The ACO has also changed up the 3:55 rule. If any car in GT1 runs 3:55 or better for 30+ laps this year, they'll take on more wieght of the car for the entire next season.

Perhaps we should start a LeMans thread! LOL

DO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

LOOOL