Continuing the same tradition that took place last year, the 33 seasoned drivers racing in the Mitchell Transmissions Open-Wheels 500 will be paced to the green flag courtesy of a GM vehicle. The official announcement was made last week that the Chevy Corvette C8.R will take on the 2020 pace car duties during the event. Last year the honors were bestowed to the Cadillac CTS-V, and the Corvette C8.R is a monumental and unforgettable model fit to pace this event.
Leading the 33 to the green on-track and completing parade laps before the race, the excitement will be mounting as the participants prepare to tap into their track-focused skill sets and dominate the contest. The engineering decision that was years in the making to move to a mid-engined layout for the 8th generation Corvette was officially debuted to the racing world during the “2020 24 Hours of Daytona”.
Six months later, it completed the journey back to Daytona and took 1st place in its second race out with drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and then scored a 1-2 finish at Sebring International Raceway the following week. Under the hood as the latest primo power source is a 5.5-liter engine producing 500 horsepower at 7400 RPM. This is the fourth Corvette completed by Pratt and Miller since partnering with GM in 1999, a meeting of the minds that has yielded 8 victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 11 in the 12 Hours of Sebring, and 3 at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The car has won six different times in the 10 races it has taken place in this year. Over the summer the car made its debut on iRacing, which ultimately led to the opportunity to become the presiding pace car for the Open Wheels 500. As described on the Motor1.com blog, the C8.R is lower and stiffer than the road version of the C8 it shares a base with and rides on custom 18-inch Pilot Sport GT competition tires. All of us here at Chuck Hutton of Memphis have been watching intently as the future of GT racing is very critical to the Corvette namesake, where the name of the game is always wanting to come out on top during the finish.
The existence of the new C8.R possesses a more thorough level of technology transfer between the actual race car and production Corvette, which plays an instrumental role in many of the milestone advancements. Incredibly precise balance and a sensation of being well-connected to the road are just two of the major improvements gained due to the mid-engine placement. As the celebrated model leads the pack during this thrilling race, ultra-bright racing headlights and a centrally-mounted radiator are a few other telltale additions to the mix that enable the C8.R to continue its surge from the starting line of on-track excellence and well-engineered leadership!
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