Twas the Night Before Christmas - Corvette Style - Description ...

The Story Behind Team Corvette’s 1957 Raid On Sebring
Sebring International Raceway has
always been a place for the sports car
elite to prove their dominance. Back in
1957 General Motors decided it was their
time to officially enter the 12 hours of
Sebring. Thinking they might have
higher odds to bring a car into the
winner circle against a field dominated
with European teams, GM prepped four
race ready corvettes for the event.
First on hand was Zora Duntov’s alloy
bodied Corvette Super Sport. The blue
number one shaved 1000 pounds and
with it’s aluminum heads gave his car over 30 additional horsepower than the stock production Corvette.
The number two Sebring Racer was there as well with new red paint and white stripe. GM brought two
additional production F.I. Corvettes that had been modified for Sebring racing.
Along with the other cars General Motors brought a Corvette SS which was nicknamed “P” for
“Practice”. This was a stripped down car that basically had plain white paint on the fiberglass body.
After John Fitch ran his practice laps, Dunton gave the wheel to two famed GP racers, Juan Fangio from
Argentina and Stirling Moss of England. Both men from Team Maserati were allowed to run courtesy
laps in the practice car.
Previous to this day the track record stood at 3:29.7, Fangio broke this time in his second lap and on his
third lap broke it again running 3:27.4. Then it was time for the Moss to sit behind the wheel. He broke
the record set in 1956 and ran a 3:28. Unfortunately Team Corvette could only get within a few seconds
of the record, but couldn’t break it. In the end the team could not overcome the many challenges which
plagued them and could only last 23 laps of the race before calling it quits.
Wrecked Vette: Roasted Marshmallow or Burning C4 Corvette?
Yet another Corvette carbeque took place in the
month of August, but the cause of this particular fire
has yet to be determined. A white C4 erupted into
flames near in Trenton, New Jersey on August 11.
According to the Lawrenceville Patch, after receiving
several 911 calls about the car fire, both the Trenton
Fire Department and volunteer firefighters from the
Lawrence Township’s Slackwood Fire Co. were
dispatched to battle the molten mess of fiberglass on
New York Avenue. The team from Lawrence
Township arrived on the scene a mere thirty seconds
before the Trenton firefighters, allowing them to
quickly get the upper hand on the burning Corvette.
Oddly enough, the Corvette driver was not on the scene when fire crews arrived, leaving the authorities
puzzled. Perhaps the car was stolen, abandoned or the driver took on foot in search of help, but in any
case it remains a mystery. Another driver spotted the smoldering C4 and tried to extinguish the fire with
a small fire extinguisher, but the fire proved to be too intense. After viewing the images of the damage
caused by the fire it is unlikely this car will ever make it back on the road. Whether or not it was stolen
remains to be seen, but if the C4 was abandoned there are certainly plenty of Corvette enthusiasts who
would have given the car a proper home.