Corvette Stingray (concept car)

Corvette Stingray (concept car)
Overview
Manufacturer	Chevrolet (General Motors)
Designer	Pete Brock Bill Mitchell Larry Shinoda
Body and chassis
Class	Sports car
Body style	2-door convertible

The Corvette Stingray Racer Concept Car was a privately funded concept car that formed a basis for the second (C2) generation Corvette Stingray. The Stingray racer-concept car was designed by Pete Brock, the youngest designer to work at GM at that time, Bill Mitchell, GM Vice President of styling, and Larry Shinoda in 1959. The basis of the Stingray was the 1957 Corvette SS, a stillborn racing project. The Stingray exists today with a 327-cubic-inch (5.4 L), fuel-injected V-8 of 375 hp (280 kW).

The 1957 Corvette SS was a racing car project created by a team of engineers headed by Zora Arkus-Duntov as part of the creation of an official Chevrolet race effort, meant to culminate with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Soon after its race debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring, where it retired after 23 laps, the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) banned manufacturer-sponsored racing, and the SS was relegated to test track duty and use as a test mule chassis. The car was both light and fast, at 1,850 lb (839 kg) and with 375 hp (280 kW), and reached a recorded top speed of 183 mph (295 km/h) at Sebring.

The Stingray used elements of the still-born Q-Corvette design study as well as the SS underpinnings, featuring a 92-inch (2,337 mm) wheelbase. The new car was exceptionally light, with a dry weight of 2,200 pounds, nearly 1,000 lb (450 kg) lighter than a 1960 production car. Its fuel-injected small-block 283-cubic-inch (4.6 L) V-8 engine produced 315 horsepower (235 kW) at 6,200 rpm. The Stingray body design strongly influenced the styling of the next generation Corvette, which saw production as a 1963 model. It also was a test bed for many technical developments, including the four-speed manual transmission, extensive use of aluminum and a de Dion rear suspension.

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