Corvette drivers Jordan Taylor and Nick Tandy say that Corvette’s previous two outings at the Rolex 24 at Daytona have served to prepare the team for the C8.R’s Le Mans debut, despite its very limited experience running the new car in France.
The American team is back at Le Mans for the first time since it was forced to miss the 2020 edition of the race due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, the team has very limited experience running the car at Le Mans and in European competition, with the exception of an outing at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year.
The team does, however, have reasonable experience in running 24-hour enduros with its mid-engined challenger thanks to a pair of appearances in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The C8.R was given its racing debut during the Florida enduro in 2020 and went on to win the race one-two a year later.
Speaking to MotorsportWeek.com ahead of the 2021 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, both Taylor and Tandy explained that the lessons learned by Corvette durin those two races, as well as two editions of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, have helped Corvette to prepare for the challenge it could face in France.
“I think you look at things like brake wear and engine usage, those types of things, a clutch, all those sort of wear and tear items are things that you want to understand and know for long distance races,” said Taylor, who shares the #63 car with Antonio Garcia and Nick Catsburg.
“So for us this year at Daytona, I think at the same time, we were competing for the win but as well, we were kind of preparing and understanding what the car needed for when we came to Le Mans.
“This is the big race for us all year so everything we can learn leading up to this is important. Both Rolexes [24 at Daytona] we did, the Sebring 12 Hours we did, we’re all kind of understanding what the car needed from a durability point of view, to be strong enough to here to Le Mans and to last for 24 hours, it is a unique track.
“So anything we can learn in America, to prepare us for here is really important. And then adding on all the simulator work we did to kind of prepare the setup of the car as well, or set us up well, I think coming into this week.”
Tandy, meanwhile, shares the #64 car with Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims. He reckons that the Daytona runs were vital for Corvette to ensure the car’s reliability during an intense 24-hour race.
“It is very important,” the Briton said. “A lot of the reliability stuff, 98% of the car is the same as what we run at Le Mans and most of the hardware, all the wearing parts are the same.
“You can do all the testing you like and, dyno running and this sort of stuff, but until you get the car through 24 hours plus, plus the testing and stuff like that, of hard competition, that’s kind of when you really find out the weaknesses, or if there are any weaknesses and put everything under stress and pressure.
“So from a reliability and technical point of view, it obviously helps that we have had these long runs at Daytona before.”
“Yes, coming here with the different aero kit and the different demands that puts on certain parts of the car is still a bit new to us.”
“But it’s not Corvette Racing’s first run at Le Mans. So we’ve got some idea of what’s what. We’re in a place where we can really look towards performance of the car, knowing that we’ve got a backup of a information on data and stuff on the reliability front of the car.”
Taylor: Test Day issues for #63 car ‘a bit of a fluke’
Test Day was not smooth for the #63 Corvette driven by Taylor, as it spent a significant amount of time in the garage with reliability problems. A reported electrical issue eventually forced the team to carry out a full engine and gearbox change, costing it a lot of running time.
According to Taylor, the problem was ‘a bit of a fluke’, and the team is confident that the car is reliable for the weekend to come.
“I think we’re confident. I think what we had on the test day was a bit of a fluke. It’s something that happens to every team is something you can’t really prepare for.
“So a small issue ended up being a long fix but at least we know what it is and we can kind of resolve it for the rest of the weekend. But it’s something that hasn’t popped up on the car for two years now.”
“So for us, we’re confident obviously, the car ran very well at the Rolex 24 this year with no issues over 24 hours.”
“So I think from a reliability point of view, we’re confident. From a setup point of view, I think we rolled off the truck quite strong here, considering it was the first day we were at Le Mans with the C8.R. But hopefully, today and tomorrow, we can keep developing and getting stronger.”
