**The Dominant Corvette C6.R: A Racing Legend**

In a world where speed and performance reign supreme, one car stands out among the rest – the Corvette C6.R. This racing machine has dominated its class in the 24 Heures of Le Mans, winning three times and placing second two other years. But what makes it so special? We'll explore the secrets behind this yellow monster's success.

**A Brief History**

Before the mid-engine Corvette put fear into Ferrari in the land of spaghetti, Corvette Racing was already slapping that Italian ass with the Corvette C6.R in the world's most famous endurance race – the 24 Heures of Le Mans. Not only is it one of the most prestigious races of all time, but it's also one of the most grueling. Just finishing the 24-hour period is a big accomplishment, as you'll encounter changing weather conditions and even pee your pants on purpose (it kind of happens!).

**The American Le Mans Series**

In addition to its success at Le Mans, the C6.R also dominated the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Born out of the spirit of the 24 Heures of Le Mans, this Corvette Racing machine won the championship by winning all but two races in its first ALMS season. The next year, Dodge dropped out of the series, and the C6.R took the championship again. In another year, Saleen gave the old Irish goodbye, and yes, the C6.R won the championship once more.

**Aston Martin's Exit**

In its final year, Aston Martin said (beep) it, we're not racing the whole season. And again, this car brought home the title. When you win that much, when you dominate the competition the way this car did, it's kind of like when you beat your brothers so bad that you make 'em rage quit.

**What Made It So Special?**

So, what made everyone else act like a bunch of squares and just stop racing? What made this C6.R such a good race car? This yellow monster was built by Pratt and Miller, one of GM's official racing teams. They know every good race car needs a solid foundation, and the C6.R is no exception.

**The Chassis**

Let's start with the first thing a race team tackles when they decide to build a race car – the chassis. The CL.6 chassis is your standard UNSC soldier, but the C6.R is a freaking master chief. The racer frame rails on this beast are made of hydroformed steel, and the P&M team wanted to stiffen things up a bit by integrating the roll cage into the chassis.

**The Suspension**

You can't win races without a good handling car. The production C6 uses a composite leaf spring system, but for a race car, that's impractical. The C6.R uses Penske adjustable coil-over shocks with remote reservoirs. The control arms are also custom and made from chromoly steel – steel is used to cover cast aluminum because it can withstand more G forces.

**Reducing Unsprung Weight**

There are a few ways this C6.R dropped a couple pounds to be super light. Any time you can reduce your unsprung weight, it's a win for the race car overall. This yellow beast sits on one-piece forged magnesium BBS 18-inch wheels.

The Corvette C6.R is an unparalleled racing machine that has left its competition in the dust. Its dominance in the 24 Heures of Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series is a testament to its exceptional performance and handling capabilities.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(engine revving)- Ferrari, Aston Martin,Porsche, the Dodge Viper,this car beat them alland beat them so bad that some of themhad to quit their class within racing.How did it do it?And what does it take todo something like that?We're about to find out.I'll tell you just howdominant this car was.What's up, guys?I'm Felipe and we'regonna go bumper to bumperon possibly the coolest Corvette ever.This C6.R Corvette that won Le Man.(upbeat music)- Thanks to CuriosityStreamfor sponsoring this episode.If you don't know, CuriosityStream isa new service withthousands of documentaries,exclusive originals, and nonfiction titlesavailable at your desire.The best part is it's only $2.99 a month!That's less than I spendat Redbox every nightrenting movies in aconvenience store parking lot.I don't even have to leavemy friggen house anymore.CuriosityStream is availableon almost every platform.And I'm a generous guy, so for you,our beloved audience, the first30 days are completely freeif you sign up atCuriosityStream.com/Bumper2Bumperand use the promo code Bumper2Bumperduring the sign up process.Get your education on and thank me later.- Before the brand new mid-engine Corvetteput the fear in Ferrariin the land of spaghetti,Corvette Racing was already slappingthat Italian ass with the Corvette C6.Rin the world's most famous endurance race,the 24 Heures of Le Mans.Not only is it one of themost prestigious racesof all time, it's alsoone of the most grueling.If you've seen Ford V. Ferrari,you kind of know what I'm talking about.(upbeat music)Because endurance racingis one of the toughestforms of racing out there,just finishing is a big accomplishment.In a 24 hour period,you encounter changingweather conditions, sometimes evenpeeing your pants on purpose,a little bit more on that later.It kind of happens.It's the ultimate test of man and machine.So, when you win one,it's kind of a big deal.(engine revving)The five years that Corvette Racingran this car at Le Mans, itwon it's class three times.The other two it placed second.Back in the states there was anotherendurance race seriesthat the C6.R raced in.The American Le Mans Series or ALMS.Born out of the spirit ofthe 24 Heures of Le Mans,this C6.R raced attracks across the nation,following the same rules as Le Mans.Also, I say raced in quotes because, well,yes, it did race on a trackand, yes, it did have some competitionbut you almost couldn'treally call it a competition.Kind of like me in Call of Duty.In it's first ALMS season in 2005,the Corvette Racing C6.Rwon the championshipby winning all but two races.The next year Dodgedropped out of the seriesand the C6.R again took the championship.In one more year, Saleengave the old Irish goodbyeand yes, the C6.R won the championship.And in it's final year, Aston Martinsaid (beep) it, we're notracing the whole season.And again, this carbrought home the title.And when you win thatmuch, when you dominatethe competition the way this car did,it's kind of like whenyou beat your brothersso bad that you make 'em rage quit.After this car dominated the ALMS,ended up dropping the GT1 class.So, why did everyone else act likea bunch of squares and just stop racing?What made this C6.R such a good race car?This yellow monster wasbuilt by Pratt and Miller.And since 1999, they've been one of GM'sofficial racing teams.Building fast AF Vettes,ATSVs, and GTOs to name a few.Winning races andchampionships along the way.The P&N team know everygood race car needsa solid foundation.And this C6.R is no exception.So, let's start with the first thinga race team tackles when they decide tobuild a race car, the chassis.If the CL.6 chassis isyour standard UNSC soldier,the C6.R is a freaking master chief.The racer frame rails on this beastare made of hydroformed steel.The P&N team wanted tostiffen things up a bit,so they integrated theroll cage into the chassisby welding it into the frame rails.So the C6.R gets a banger chassis, great.But, you can't win raceswithout a good handling car.The production C6 uses acomposite leaf spring systembut for a race car, that's impractical.The C6.R uses Penskeadjustable coil over shockswith remote reservoirs.The control arms are also customand made from chromoly steel.Steel is used to cover cast aluminumbecause it can withstand more G forces.(engine revving)There's a few ways this C6.R droppeda couple pounds to be super light.Any time you can reduceyour unsprung weight,it's a win for the race car overall.This yellow beast sits on one piece forkedmagnesium BBS 18" wheels.13" wide in the rear and 12.5"wide up at the front, damn.Helping the car come toa stop are carbon ceramicdisks with AP Racing fourpiston calipers on the frontand the rear.And not only to carbon ceramic brakesreduce unsprung weightbut they can withstandmuch higher temperatures.And they don't suffer from brake failureas often as normal brakes do.What this all means isthat he can brake harderand later when going into the corners.(engine revving)Where do you design theshape of your race carwhen you want it to hit speedsclose to 200 mph?Well, apparently you usefluid dynamics softwaredeveloped for freaking missiles.Using that software, engineers alteredthe shape of the car toprovide optimal airflowat high speeds.At the front of thecar, sadly, gone are thepopup headlights from the C5and while the popup headlights are greatfor songs like (upbeat music).♪ Pop up, up and down headlights ♪- They aren't great foraero as they create drag.(upbeat music)The material all of these body panelsare made out of, well, it's carbon fiber.The total weight of the car is around,you know, 2,400lbs dependingon who's driving it,that's about 10 Vances or eight Nolans.I don't know about you guys but I'm donewith the body, I wanna go look at theLS that's under the hood.The part that I've beenwaiting for all day,under the hood is thisLS7, 7.0L small blockmaking 590 horse powerand 640 pound feet of torque.Seven liters!That's the amount of milk thatNolan drinks in the morningand then in the afternoon,guess we just have to eatour cereal pretty dry.If you think this is the sameLS7 in the C6 Z06, it's not.They share the same nameand overall LS architecturebut this is an all out race motorbuilt by Katech Race Engine Development,the custom LS7 gets CNCported cylinder heads,a billet steel crank shaft,titanium balancing rods,and Nikasil coated cylinder bores.Nikasil is a type ofelectro-deposited coatingthat allows aluminum cylindersand pistons to play nice with each other.A carbon fiber intake box fed by two ductsbrings in air necessary tobring the motor to life.Inside each of those ductshouses a restrictor plate.If you guys take a veryclose look at this,you can actually notice that the inletsfor the air has a large diameterwhich then narrows downand what that does,well, it limits the amount of horsepoweraccording to the FIA sanctioned rules forthe Le Mans series.It's a little bit moreon the even playing fieldwith the rest of its competitorsin the GT1 category, or whichever categorythey're actually racing in.If we were to remove those, well,the horsepower goes all the way upto close to 800 horsepower.The motor revs out at 6200 RPM.Although it rarely exceeds 5k,because the engine uses high lift,short duration camshafts, itgets high torque at lower RPM.(upbeat music)The exhaust exits under the doors,it's really cool, it's like the OJ Vipers.And it's the perfect placefor auditory ear-gasms,according to the internet.All right.There's one last thing left.Let's go check out the inside of the car.This is the coolest car I've ever sat in.Inside the C6.R, it's very race car.I mean, race seat with fivepoint harnesses, check.Removable steering wheel, check.Air conditioning, check.Oh yeah, race cars runhot inside the (beep) pit.Temperatures range from 165to 185 degrees fahrenheit.So, to cool the drivers down, an AC systemis installed right where thepassenger's seat would be.It's that thing right there.A large suction fan isused in the rear of the carto take hot air out as inlets integratedinto the mirrors to keepfresh air flowing in.Not only does it keep the driver coolbut also all of the electronicswhich there's a ton of them in this car.This car was piloted by three drivers.You had Johnny O'Connell,Jan Magnussen, whohappens to be the fatherof Kevin Magnussen, if you watch F1.And the third driver was Antonio Garcia,which, you know, prettyrad, Spanish driver.And they all had to share this (beep) pit.So, throughout the race,they're all taking turnsdriving behind the wheel.And you can't just, youknow, go to the pits to pee.So, what do you do?You just let it flow.And then you sit in yourhomie's pee for the next run.There's two things on this steering wheel,one of them is missing,one of them is on itthat I find very interesting.The first on is, there's a map of Le Mansright on the wheel cause, you know,during racing, you canget pretty delirious.So, you can ask your engineer, hey,what corner am I approaching?And he'll be like,dude, you're on fifteen.And be like, sick, all right,there's a couple hairpins coming upand you kind of prep your mindand you're ready for it.But the other one is,there's no paddle shiftsbehind the wheel.This thing still has a sequential shifterwhich is not very common any more.Unless you're a rally driver or Ken Block.I'm staring at the switchthat I really wanna hit.It's the ignition switchbut, unfortunately,we can't start the car.You see, this is a full blown race carand because the engine'smade out of metal,well, it's all kind of compact together.You're actually supposed to hook up acoolant heating systemthat allows the engineto come back up to operating temperaturewhich gives you clearances everywhere elsethat you need for things to actually flowand move as they should inside the enginewithout damaging anything.And unfortunately, we don'thave that machine with us.But take my word for it,this car sounds amazing.Look at this clip thatBruce Meyer shared with uswhen he took the car toThermal with his son.(engine revving)(upbeat music)Pratt and Miller only built six C6.Rs.This is number 007.It was retired after it wonthe 24 Heures of Le Mansin 2009 under crew chief Dan Binkswhom is still the crew chiefand is helping develop the new C8 Corvettefor endurance racing.This C6.R is in the same condition it waswhen it left the racetrack for the last time.Heck, it still has the champagne stainsand look at all thisdirt and like road funk.It's so cool.The C6.R marked the end of an erawhen Corvette racing dominatedthe American Le Mans seriessince they debut it in 2005,it has won 38 races,making it the winningestGT1 car in the series.And second all timeregardless of its class.If you were ever curiouswhat the most badassCorvette race car looked like,well, you're looking at it.And I'm sitting next to it.This is it.(upbeat music)Myself, personally, andthe rest of the Donut crewwould really like to thank Mr. Bruce Meyerfor allowing us to come to his garage,hang out, and film his car.Also, huge, huge, huge thanks to Tom Kennyfor all his help making this shoot happen.He helped us move all the cars around,and that was pretty amazingand kind of put the wholething together for us.Underneath that sick 24Heures of Le Mans stickeris that little hole.You bring this in, thisis hooked up to a hose,and it's filled with nitrogen.You pop it in this little holeand that jacks the whole car up.Then you can take your actual gunand start changing out yourtires during your pit stop.That's pretty sick.(upbeat music)