The Sting Ray Racer had a thin fiberglass skin with first aluminum and later balsa-wood reinforcements in high-stress areas. A fuel-injected small-block V-8 provided considerably more than the Abarth's 45 hp, so the car was away.
Welburn notes that this was also the first application for such advanced features as an aluminum radiator and high-compression aluminum cylinder heads.
Like the Corvette SS, the Sting Ray had a steel-tubing space frame, a four-speed manual transmission, short-and-long arm front suspension, finned-drum brakes, a Halibrand quick-change differential, cast magnesium wheels, and a deDion-type rear axle.
Painted a brilliant red and wearing the number 11 for its debut race at Marlboro, Maryland, the Sting Ray Racer finished fourth, which Mitchell found encouraging.
Mitchell tapped Dr. Dick Thompson to drive the car in all but one race, where John Fitch filled in, and Tony Lapine also served as Thompson's co-driver in one long-distance race.
With those drivers at the wheel, says Welburn, various teething troubles were sorted during the 1959 season in preparation for a serious attack on the Sports Car Club of America's C-Modified championship the following year.
Things went pretty well, since the hard-charging Thompson had the championship wrapped up by the half-way point of the 1960 season. Indeed, in 10 races he scored more than twice the points of the nearest challenger.
With that victory on the scoreboard, Mitchell then converted the Sting Ray Racer into an official GM concept car for presentation at the 1961 Chicago Auto Show, wearing a spectacular metallic-silver paint job and Chevrolet livery. Along with the Corvette badges, the retired racer also got a second windscreen, and a flush cover over the passenger side of the cockpit.
Now known officially as the Corvette Sting Ray Racer after a short run on the show circuit, the car did duty as Mitchell's personal road car. This was nothing unusual for GM's design king; during his 18-year reign, Mitchell commissioned the construction of at least three special cars or motorcycles per year, many for his own personal use. This kind of behavior is absolutely impossible at GM now, as several of Mitchell's successors have sadly noted.
The car was loaned out to Hollywood in 1964, for a cameo role in Viva Las Vegas, the Elvis Presley movie about racing that featured Ann-Margret as his love interest and created the gambling capital's unofficial theme song.
When an all-new Corvette finally arrived in the 1963 model year, says Welburn, the origin of its distinctive shape was quite evident. The "mid-year" 1963-67 second-generation Corvettes are considered by many enthusiasts to be the ultimate in sports car design. For example, in 2004 Automobile magazine editors ranked a 1967 427 Corvette roadster number one on its list of 100 Coolest Cars.
The model for all that fame spent the next three decades doing road and auto show duties, Welburn notes, so the Sting Ray Racer had more than earned its trip to the restoration shop.
GM Design Staff personnel, who Welburn points out are all UAW members, stripped the car down to its basic elements and "refurbished all the component parts to restore this priceless heirloom to its original function and beauty."
They found that the steel-tube space frame was in sound condition and needed little more than stripping and a fresh coat of black paint, and the chassis bushings, bearings, dampers, and brake components were reconstructed using period-correct hardware when possible.
Welburn notes that this was also the first application for such advanced features as an aluminum radiator and high-compression aluminum cylinder heads.
Like the Corvette SS, the Sting Ray had a steel-tubing space frame, a four-speed manual transmission, short-and-long arm front suspension, finned-drum brakes, a Halibrand quick-change differential, cast magnesium wheels, and a deDion-type rear axle.
Painted a brilliant red and wearing the number 11 for its debut race at Marlboro, Maryland, the Sting Ray Racer finished fourth, which Mitchell found encouraging.
Mitchell tapped Dr. Dick Thompson to drive the car in all but one race, where John Fitch filled in, and Tony Lapine also served as Thompson's co-driver in one long-distance race.
With those drivers at the wheel, says Welburn, various teething troubles were sorted during the 1959 season in preparation for a serious attack on the Sports Car Club of America's C-Modified championship the following year.
Things went pretty well, since the hard-charging Thompson had the championship wrapped up by the half-way point of the 1960 season. Indeed, in 10 races he scored more than twice the points of the nearest challenger.
With that victory on the scoreboard, Mitchell then converted the Sting Ray Racer into an official GM concept car for presentation at the 1961 Chicago Auto Show, wearing a spectacular metallic-silver paint job and Chevrolet livery. Along with the Corvette badges, the retired racer also got a second windscreen, and a flush cover over the passenger side of the cockpit.
Now known officially as the Corvette Sting Ray Racer after a short run on the show circuit, the car did duty as Mitchell's personal road car. This was nothing unusual for GM's design king; during his 18-year reign, Mitchell commissioned the construction of at least three special cars or motorcycles per year, many for his own personal use. This kind of behavior is absolutely impossible at GM now, as several of Mitchell's successors have sadly noted.
The car was loaned out to Hollywood in 1964, for a cameo role in Viva Las Vegas, the Elvis Presley movie about racing that featured Ann-Margret as his love interest and created the gambling capital's unofficial theme song.
When an all-new Corvette finally arrived in the 1963 model year, says Welburn, the origin of its distinctive shape was quite evident. The "mid-year" 1963-67 second-generation Corvettes are considered by many enthusiasts to be the ultimate in sports car design. For example, in 2004 Automobile magazine editors ranked a 1967 427 Corvette roadster number one on its list of 100 Coolest Cars.
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| Sting Ray Racer (photo: General Motors) |
GM Design Staff personnel, who Welburn points out are all UAW members, stripped the car down to its basic elements and "refurbished all the component parts to restore this priceless heirloom to its original function and beauty."
They found that the steel-tube space frame was in sound condition and needed little more than stripping and a fresh coat of black paint, and the chassis bushings, bearings, dampers, and brake components were reconstructed using period-correct hardware when possible.