This is the C6 Corvette prepared by Leighton Reese that runs under the Banner Racing program. Using the Grand AM nomenclature this is a Prep 2 Corvette. That means it’s a tube frame car. This car was built by Pratt and Miller. Last year it was a Pontiac. When GM closed Pontiac, Leighton Reese hung some new Corvette body panels over the tubes. The car also runs a stock Corvette motor. Most teams are getting three races out of these engines. When it comes time to rebuild these engines you can get all of the necessary parts from your local Chevrolet dealer. This is why you see privately owned Corvettes in the Grand Am series and only factory Corvettes in the ALMS series. General Motors is the only group that can afford to race in the ALMS series.

One of the great Corvette stories of the Homestead event was the Rolex GT pole position scored by Leighton Reese’s Banner Racing Corvette. This was a Pontiac team last year. When Pontiac ceased to exist, this team refused to let one simple problem spell the end of his Grand-Am team. They surmised “Why don’t we just put some Corvette body panels on this car”.

Reese and his Wisconsin-based team had a busy winter, transforming their Pontiac GXP.R into a Corvette. Reese explained that if you were to put this Corvette right next to a Pontiac GXP the size difference would surprise you. The Corvette is 6.6 inches shorter than the Pontiac. Reese explained that they used the same roll cage as they did for the Pontiac but lowered it about 4 inches and moved it back about 6 inches. They then moved the driver’s seat back 2 inches and shortened the whole chassis 6.6 inches. Reese added that “like everything you do, one change creates 50 more changes so the process was a lot more complicated than just shortening the drive shaft and all that sort of stuff.”

Poor weight distribution was always a shortcoming with the Pontiac. The nose-heavy nature of the Pontiac always created understeer and punished the front tires as a result. With so much weight moved rearwards on this re-bodied chassis, the Corvette is much easier to drive.

“By getting the car shorter we changed the center of mass. Everything is compressed into the middle of the car. The oil tank had to move forward while the driver had to move back. Even the hood is much lower. Actually everything is about 6 inches lower. All of this means the polar moment of inertia is much lower on the Corvette.”

Although there have been a few issues with the aero balance of their Corvette Reese’s Corvette hasn’t seen a wind tunnel yet. They’ve been able to draw from wind tunnel data and experience they gained with their Corvette during their World Challenge program.

Text & photo by Richard Newton