1989 Corvette Challenge Detroit Race

Another exciting race from the Corvette Challenge Series. Bill Cooper's interesting qualifiying strategy worked!

[@michaellorenson2997]

These had the 'Tuned Port Injection' (TPI) 5.7L (350ci) engine, known by its Chevy engine code 'L98', and normally rated at 245hp / 330tq in the Corvette. Not a bad engine at all, actually. It makes serious torque from literally idle-speed on up. You have to go out of your way to even approach catching it 'flat-footed'; there is always power available. And it's very quick-revving and responsive. At the high end, its peak of 245hp is made at 4,300 RPM (with the standard exhaust). So it's a small-block Chevy that _acts_ like a big-block Chevy. TPI is a cool system, technologically on-par with contemporary German Bosch 'Motronic' systems, and it wrings a very competitive combination of low emissions, fuel efficiency, and power out of the ancient (1955) but compact and lightweight Chevy. For the Corvette Challenge race cars, I'm pretty sure all they did was make sure the engines were flawlessly built in fully stock configuration, including the exhaust manifolds (which are actually halfway-decent little short-tube headers). In this case, flawless means port-matching of the complete intake system, balancing the rotating assembly, and making sure all the measurements and tolerances were as nearly perfect as is possible. They were dyno tested to verify that power output was equal. The only mod was a completely free-flowing exhaust system, from the manifolds back. This combination brought the L98 up to the claimed ~300hp of the race cars. Sounds like they were making peak power something like 500 RPM higher - so about 4,800 RPM instead of 4,300. In race trim, with the added safety equipment, they probably weighed about 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilos) - plus driver. With a sophisticated and well-tuned suspension, world-class brakes, very wide stance and tires, low CG, and a fairly short (96in / 244cm) wheelbase that gave nimble handling, the C4 Corvette so utterly dominated its class in American SCCA racing (against all the world's best opposition) that they finally just created the Corvette Challenge as a separate, spec-Corvette class.

[@hansdahl19]

Please post more of these. They are great!

[@nicopatrizi1953]

Detroit was a very decent track and offered good Races both in F1 and Imsa and support events.😊

[@andyberridge6455]

Thanks for this, enjoyed it. Love the cars, look great.

[@MrCgford1]

My man Peter 💪 great Ole entertainment

[@user-gz3cc8vh7g]

The support events for indycar Formula Atlantic, super vee ,Trans am and this series were often more entertaining than the indycars

[@michaellorenson2997]

Excellent, thanks

[@carypyke935]

300 hp from the race engine...oh my

[@grabacoffee1204]

Classics

[@Steez51]

The A/C units on modern Vettes make 300HP alone.

[@Firewoodguy]

I wonder where are these cars now it would be cool to own one

[@MrSrScott]

Corvette toy store has 2 of them for sale but they are not cheap! they have a 1988 for 49K and a 1990 for 69K.

[@SmokeyYunick13]

I’m planning a race on Xbox S/X with the 95 because that’s the closest we have in the game on Forza Motorsport

[@dclipper8052]

Does anyone know what happened to Kendall's car at the end when the butt was sagging? Broken leaf spring?

[@peter_dc2rx]

you can see something underneath in the middle too

[@NetzKanal]

Somehow this was more like a talkshow than showing a race unfortunately.