What if Chevrolet had said yes to Zora Arkus-Duntov and built 1100 Grand sports ?

[rodneym]

From what I have read, Anthony is right.
Miles and the 'Turd' turned the Chevy smiles to frowns once again.

And Zora may have been on the cutting edge of technology back then but the Cobra's improvements were built from the the ground up, on the track. The Cobra was a race car and had gentler versions for the street. The Corvettes were street cars (and the first ones pretty darned lame) that had to be made race ready for the track.
Cobras were home on the track. Corvettes were at home at the Racquet Club parking lot.
rodney

[barabar]

BT-Snake
How ironic, my first build was a build sheet I followed from Zora Duntov, 283, Duntov30/30 cam, fuel injection pistons,3-2s in a 56 chevy, muncie 4 speed, 456 posi. About 300 hp. But to mention his name on this site you might get shot with a silver bullet or a stake through your heart.

[BT SNAKE]

Rodney,ated
I think it has to be said that the GS were not classed with the Cobras as they were not production certified with 125 units.

Here is a blurb found at Mongoose Motorsports...


Early on, the Grand Sports showed brilliantly at times while racing. When they ran head to head against the Cobras, they showed that they were both faster and better handlers than Shelby's snakes. The Cobras, having met the 125 minimum were certified as production cars while the Grand Sports were not. That was an important distinction. Since it wasn't classed as a production car pursuant to FIA racing rules, the Grand Sport had to compete in the prototype class where it ran against the likes of Chaparral, Porsche RS-60, and "Birdcage" Maseratis. The Grand Sport wasn't competitive against those full blown racers.

Barabar,
You had a monster back then as I had a similar setup in a 31 Chevy Coupe. It was quick.
Zora was a way ahead in his day. He was a very good driver as well. I have no bias for Ford or Chevy. I think it is fun to revisit those times and dream. Maybe because I lived in that time.
Just to change the subject: How about that Jim Hall guy? I think he did some good things with a Chevy. I love his 2D Chaparral.

The golden days of racing, what a great story waiting to be made an Oscar winning movie.

Hersh

[rodneym]

I see it like this:

1. Cobras DOMINATED Corvettes.
2. Corvette built prototypes (the Grand Sports) that couldn't compete against the world's racers who (by the way) weren't attempting to run a car that resembled a model in the showroom floor, ie Corvette.

So why would Chevy go to all that trouble?

3. Corvette simply wanted to get across the/a finish line ahead of the Cobras, that's why. They knew the risk of not running the minimum production numbers. Its was happening left and right in the 60's. Sanctioned by GM or not, points race or not, Chevy wanted wins desperately.

We can't ignore the 'class' argument. So what if a proto beats a GT? To be expected.
If a GT or production car beats a proto (although likely due to a protos mechanical failure), then that's something to brag about, and I'm pretty sure Cobra's did that more than once.

rodneym

[RodKnock]

Now, we could settle this argument if someone were to buy one of the SPF Grand Sports, outfit to nearly identical specs and then race it against one of the many nearly identical Cobras here on CC.

Who wants to volunteer and purchase an SPF GS?

[rodneym]

Rodknock,
That sounds like fun but aren't the SPF GS's lookalikes? Or are they true to the originals?

Bad question for a forum like this.

rodneym

[Mark IV]

The SPF Grand Sports are true to original. they have the tubular chassis and modified suspension as opposed to the standard C2 stuff. Keep in mind there are two levels of SPF GS: the street cars that have some creature comforts added and the "race cars" which are built by Duntov Motors based upon the GS design.

Either is potent, but the "race car" would not be a fair comparison to a street Cobra. However let us tweak an SPF MK III up and then lets go!

[BT SNAKE]

Rodknock, I got a feeling that's going to happen at
Run & Gun sooner or later.

Rodney, I see what you're saying and it makes since.
Chevy just didn't follow through when it counted.

Hersh

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by BT SNAKE

Rodney,ated
I think it has to be said that the GS were not classed with the Cobras as they were not production certified with 125 units.

Here is a blurb found at Mongoose Motorsports...


Early on, the Grand Sports showed brilliantly at times while racing. When they ran head to head against the Cobras, they showed that they were both faster and better handlers than Shelby's snakes. The Cobras, having met the 125 minimum were certified as production cars while the Grand Sports were not. That was an important distinction. Since it wasn't classed as a production car pursuant to FIA racing rules, the Grand Sport had to compete in the prototype class where it ran against the likes of Chaparral, Porsche RS-60, and "Birdcage" Maseratis. The Grand Sport wasn't competitive against those full blown racers.

I'm guessing that when they refer to cobra's, they are referring to small block cars, not the turd or the big block cars.

As you may remember, the 427 cobra also had to initially compete in the proto class as well, due to the same reasons. I'm guessing that the Cheetah had a higher potential than the GS vette, but again, it had to compete in the proto class, and as we know, a fire at the shop put the end to its production.