history of GRAND SPORT CORVETTE HASH MARKS,ETC.

grumpyvette

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Staff member
history of GRAND SPORT HASH MARKS, for those to young to remember these STRIPES were originally stripes of RED colored duct tape ,
slapped on hoods /fender so pit crews could easily identify which driver was in which of three 1963 grand sport corvettes, that were raced at the Bahamas sports car race from a distance The 3 Grand Sports never raced like that again..
these were custom built light weight corvettes built to promote Chevy in racing, and driven by independent drivers

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During some races of the original 1963 Grand Sports, the teams painted one, two, or three stripes (or placed strips of tape) on the driver's side fenders instead of livery numbers to identify the cars. The red hashmarks on the front left fender of the 1996 version simply commemorates these markings on the original race cars.
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TRACO BUILT 377 SBC
In short..
The Grand Sport stripe is actually called a HASH MARK and it was USED ONE TIME AND ONLY ONE TIME on a racing original Grand Sport. That one time started a legend and history.

The hash mark was NOT on the fender- didn't show up on the fender until the NON RACING 1996 tribute edition.

In 1963 John Mecom took 3 Grand Sports to the Bahamas for Speed Week (rich boys in the early 60's went there to race on street courses, google Bahama Speed Week and the Nassau Tourist Trophy-also understand that GM NEVER raced the Grand Sports, private parties only).

All three Mecom Grand Sports were painted the same color of blue. A single HASH MARK (red, white and black I believe-sorry too tired to go look it up) was placed on the nose of each car--THE NOSE--this allowed the car to be identified as it came down pit lane. This is 1963, no cell phones, no laptop computers, no in-car radios...just a sign board telling a car to come into the pit...can't see the "side' of a car coming at you down pit lane thus the hash mark to id the car.

The HASH Marks were done with TAPE NOT PAINT. The 3 Grand Sports never raced like that again...just that single week frozen in time....thus no more hash marks.....until 1996 and later during the C5R and C6R programs. Also understand the history or racing and 'safety--in 1963 pit lanes were not 40 mph safe zones of today...they were just part of the main straight...you worked on the car while racers blew past 20 ft away at 120mph. You didn't step into pit lane (the damn racetrack) unless you had to and for your car-thus car id was critical.



http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3312 ... Coupe.html

http://www.racingicons.com/gs/index.html

http://www.grandsportregistry.com/faq.htm#2

http://www.racingicons.com/gs/chassis.htm

http://www.corvettelegends.com/grandspr.htm
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"In short..
The Grand Sport stripe is actually called a HASH MARK and it was USED ONE TIME AND ONLY ONE TIME on a racing original Grand Sport. That one time started a legend and history.

The hash mark was NOT on the fender- didn't show up on the fender until the NON RACING 1996 tribute edition.

In 1963 John Mecom took 3 Grand Sports to the Bahamas for Speed Week (rich boys in the early 60's went there to race on street courses, google Bahama Speed Week and the Nassau Tourist Trophy-also understand that GM NEVER raced the Grand Sports, private parties only).

All three Mecom Grand Sports were painted the same color of blue. A single HASH MARK (red, white and black I believe-sorry too tired to go look it up) was placed on the nose of each car--THE NOSE--this allowed the car to be identified as it came down pit lane. This is 1963, no cell phones, no laptop computers, no in-car radios...just a sign board telling a car to come into the pit...can't see the "side' of a car coming at you down pit lane thus the hash mark to id the car.

The HASH Marks were done with TAPE NOT PAINT. The 3 Grand Sports never raced like that again...just that single week frozen in time....thus no more hash marks.....until 1996 and later during the C5R and C6R"

'63 Grand Sport Corvette History In the early 1960's Carroll Shelby's Cobras were dominating America's Sports Car, the Corvette in racing. The Cobra was about 1,000 lbs. lighter than the Corvette and while the power generated by Chevrolet engines was comparable to the aluminum bodied Cobra; the nimble "snake" consistently beat the fiberglass Corvette.

In late 1962 rumors began to circulate that a Corvette was being developed that would end Shelby's dominance on the racing circuits. Bowtie fans and racers were ecstatic.

Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Corvette, and others at Chevrolet launched a plan of building 125 ultra light Corvettes called the Grand Sport. By building 125 cars, the Grand Sport would qualify as a GT production car under international racing rules. Sadly, the General Motors front office stopped the program. When the cease and desist order came down from the ivory tower, five Grand Sports had already been completed.
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General Motors pulled the plug on the Corvette racing program because in 1957, General Motors President Red Curtice persuaded the American Manufacturers Association to pull out of providing any more factory participation or assistance in racing events. It was believed that Henry Ford pulled a political end run to get Curtice involved so that General Motors in particular would no longer be making special or export parts for their cars.

Ford, in gesture only, said they would observe the ban, while continuing to supply parts to racing teams through an outside agency. Under the guise of being an independent company, race teams like Holman and Moody worked closely with the Ford factory in development of NASCAR and other racing programs and so called "export" parts for Ford engines.

Chrysler Corporation closely followed Ford's lead in that area, except they labeled their development "police packages" or "severe duty" parts. A group of Chrysler engineers on their own formed an organization which provided assistance to any one that asked for help. They were not paid through any funds from Chrysler itself. Only General Motors strictly observed the racing ban participation, which is exactly what Henry Ford II wanted.

Duntov's objective with the Grand Sport was to make it ultra lightweight. In the end, they weighed in at about 1,900 lbs. or about 1,350 lbs. lighter than a stock Corvette coupe. They had a 377 cubic inch aluminum V-8 engine putting out 550 horsepower. They ran with a 4-speed transmission and 4-wheel independent suspension.

Le Mans 1963 was to have been the Grand Sport's debut in Europe. Since the requisite 125 cars had not been built, the effort had to be scrapped.

Early on, the Grand Sports showed brilliantly at times while racing. When they ran head to head against the Cobras, they showed that they were both faster and better handlers than Shelby's snakes. The Cobras, having met the 125 minimum were certified as production cars while the Grand Sports were not. That was an important distinction. Since it wasn't classed as a production car pursuant to FIA racing rules, the Grand Sport had to compete in the prototype class where it ran against the likes of Chaparral, Porsche RS-60, and "Birdcage" Maseratis. The Grand Sport wasn't competitive against those full blown racers. The Grand Sports went to racers and teams like John Mecom and Roger Penske. Before they went to private hands, GM pulled the 377 cubic inch motors. In the hands of privateers, they were mostly run with the big block 427 motor. Initially, even though the 427 was heavier than the small block 377, the Grand Sports ran with some measure of success. At Nassau in 1963, they put on an exciting show besting the Cobras and finishing third and fourth behind two prototypes. Roger Penske returned to Nassau in 1964 and won the Nassau Trophy race, serving pretty much as the swan song.

Carroll Shelby and Ford came with their own 427, whereas in the ensuing months and years, the Cobra continued to be developed and improved while the Grand Sport and racing Corvettes were stagnating in trying to compete with no factory support. It was like going to a gun fight with a pocket knife.

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During their short life span, the Grand Sports ran at tracks like Sebring, Watkins Glen, Daytona, Nassau, Road America and Mosport. Some of the notable drivers were Roger Penske, AJ Foyt, Jim Hall, Dick Thompson, John Cannon, Don Yenko and Delmo Johnson.

Remarkably, all five of the original Grand Sports are restored and exist today. It is difficult to access their value, but it is believed they are insured for more than $5,000,000 each.

The opportunities to see one of the original five Grand Sports are few and far between. Only once in history, at the 2003 Amelia Island Concours in Florida, were all five of these historic racing icons ever together at one time.

Thanks to Mongoose Motorsports and Grand Sport Vettes, one can own a beautiful recreation of this piece of Corvette history. As one cruises down the boulevard in one of these spectacular cars, one can only muse at what could have been.
 
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Re: history of GRAND SPORT HASH MARKS,

Guess I'm too young, I don't remember this. :)

Sure would like to drive the corkscrew turn shown in the picture of the #3 Vette.
 
Re: history of GRAND SPORT HASH MARKS,

these cars were very light weight corvettes custom fabricated with 377 cubic inch engines and weber carbs that produced significantly more horsepower and weighted a whole lot less than the factory cars, because they were to compete with cars like the 289 COBRAS
which were easily 800lbs-1000lbs lighter with the driver in the car than the factory corvettes were empty which meant that no mater how much horsepower you put into the heavier factory produced cars the handling and braking made them far less competitive.


want more info? read the links

http://www.racingicons.com/gs/power.htm

http://www.guinns-engineering.com/Ricks ... %20Cam.htm

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/spe ... ress1.html

http://www.corvettemarket.com/Affordabl ... 09/Winter/

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