GM’s Grand Sport Corvette is arguably one of the most iconic and expensive American sports racecars built in modern times. Only five were built and amazingly all are accounted for. While they may look like 1963 Corvette Sting Rays, the five cars share little with production models. The Grand Sports were purpose-built racecars designed, engineered and built at the direction of Corvette Godfather, Zora Arkus-Dutov at Chevrolet Engineering. The plan was to build 125 for FIA homologation and go head-to-head with the best racecars in the world. Duntov had set his sights on Carroll Shelby’s Cobra. That’s what he wanted. GM’s Board had different plans; killing the program before the sixth GS could be built.
The Grand Sport looked like a Corvette Sting Ray, was built at GM yet it bore little resemblance anything you could find at a Chevrolet dealership. In ready to race form it weighed in at anywhere from 1,900 to 2,100 pounds, was powered by a variety of fuel-injected and Weber-carbed Corvette engines and had disc brakes two model years before the first disc-braked Corvette.Duntov had grandiose engine plans for his racer. Prior to coming to GM, Zora and his brother Yura Duntov partnered on the legendary Ardun OHV conversion heads for Ford and Mercury Flathead V8s. That project was done in their shop in New York City primarily for trucks that needed more hill-climbing power. Zora consulted with his brother on the Grand Sport engine project and came up with a 16-plug Hemi-head aluminum small block that was to displace 402 cubic inches. They later settled on 377 inches. The heads were fitted with big 2.02 intake and 1.70 exhaust valves and the experimental development engine pumped out 550 horsepower! The Hemi-head Chevy remained experimental and never made it to the track.
Working with a 160-pound tube frame with drilled-out rear radius arms, highly-modified suspension, lightweight aluminum differential with a Dana limited-slip and aluminum caliper Girling disc brakes, Duntov and his team designed a lightweight clone of the ’63 Sting Ray body sans split rear window. The hand-laid, one-piece GRP body was just 0.040-inch thick and utilized lightweight aluminum framework around the doors and windows. The Grand Sport was a far cry from any Sting Ray that rolled off the line at the Corvette plant in St. Louis.
Of the five Grand Sport coupes built, two were converted into roadsters and the #002 roadster, originally sold by GM to Roger Penske, can be seen at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Penske modified the roadster’s chassis to take a 427-inch big-block and then sold it to George Wintersteen, Villanova, Pa. Wintersteen campaigned the car in the 1966 United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) series. But by that time the car was hopelessly outclassed.
When it comes historically important racecars, few people are as passionate as Dr. Fred Simeone, the vintage-racing neurosurgeon and racecar collector. Last year Simeone turned his private collection of more than 60 of the most significant sports racing cars ever built into a public museum. The central theme of the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is “the spirit of competition.”
“The Corvette is really the only sports car that America has produced consistently, and the Grand Sport is the most iconic Corvette racer they ever built,” commented Simeone. “If General Motors hadn’t stopped the program early, who knows what it may have achieved.”
One interesting aspect of Simeone’s acquisition of the #002 Grand Sport is that it came with a complete, duplicate body and a second engine. The replica body was commissioned by the former owner and mounted on the original chassis so that the car could be raced without exposing the original body to potential damage.
For more information about the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, visit:
To learn more about the history of the incredible Corvette Grand Sport, go to: www.grandsportregistry.com/63_history.htm
Another great Grand Sport resource is Corvette Grand Sport by Dave Friedman and Lowell C. Paddock, published by Motorbooks International (ISBN 0-87938-382-8).