Zora Arkus-Duntov's quest to turn the Corvette into a world-beater
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By Peter Brock
Dec 9, 2024 |
Chevrolet,
Corvette,
Zora Arkus-Duntov,
Zora,
Corvette SS | Posted in
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Few today remember that famed Corvette guru Zora Arkus-Duntov didn’t see his first one until 1953. He’d recently arrived from Europe, where he’d been involved with Sydney Allard in developing the fearsome J2X, one of the first American V8-powered sportsters that dominated our early ’50s club racing scene.
That first Corvette encounter at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel involved a working prototype known within GM Styling as EX-122. It had been fathered by GM’s visionary head of Styling, Harley J. Earl, as both a marketing concept and a test of a then-new material called fiberglass.
The potential for low-cost tooling and production was as important to Earl as some positive sales response he hoped to get at that first Motorama. Earl had built the concept on a minimum budget that required most of its internals to use existing off-the-shelf components from some of Chevrolet’s prosaic sedans, but its futuristic styling created a stir in the automotive press.
With its soggy suspension, rather anemic Blue Flame six-cylinder engine and two-speed automatic, the first Corvette was hardly what real sports car fans in America were looking for, but it was enough to light the fires that still burn fiercely today. Zora saw the potential–not just for the car but for himself as an experienced, knowledgeable performance consultant to GM Engineering. He was certain he could direct the development of the Corvette into the market contender Earl intended.
Through friend and brilliant English engineer Maurice Olley, Zora managed to talk his way into a meeting with Earl and Ed Cole, then head of Chevrolet Engineering. That meeting eventually led to a position within Chevrolet that would change the Vette forever.
Today, Zora is best remembered by Corvette fans for all he did to constantly improve the marque. To some in GM’s then ultra-conservative management, however, he was best remembered as an intense nonconformist with a thick Russian accent who was constantly requesting controversial engineering improvements, most of which were usually considered far too complicated or expensive to those responsible for keeping costs “within reason.”
But by 1955, with the backing of Cole, the original Corvette had been seriously upgraded with the insertion of Cole’s now famous fuel-injected, small-block V8 and matching four-speed transmission. It was still far from Zora’s idea of “perfect” but still fast enough to show its taillights to any foreign or domestic production challenger.
Zora was highly respected by Earl, so the great man wasn’t averse to accepting Zora’s advice on how the Corvette might gain international respect with its now significantly improved performance and engineering. Zora explained that leading manufacturers in Europe would build one-off concepts to test market reaction by racing them in major events like Le Mans, Monza and Spa-Francorchamps.
This idea appealed to Earl, so he agreed to let Zora develop something special that Chevrolet could enter and race for overall honors in America’s premier road racing event, the 12 Hours of Sebring, in 1957.
Since no one within GM had the experience to understand the complex rules of international competition necessary to design a completely new race car, Earl reverted to what he’d done to create the first Corvette: Simply order the best from Europe, have it disassembled to analyze every detail, and then reconfigure or adapt it to what he thought would be best for American taste. He based the Corvette’s basic dimensions, especially those used for the cockpit, on Jaguar’s beautiful XK120 roadster.
Earl wanted something better and faster for Chevrolet’s first foray into international competition. After carefully listening to Zora’s advice, he ordered a D-type Jag to analyze, as it was then the fastest and most successful racing car in Europe. One problem found upon its arrival, though: Its semi-monocoque chassis also partially served as the body, meaning Earl’s vision wouldn’t be accomplished with just a simple modification of the exterior.
Fortunately, a top young design engineer on Earl’s GM Styling staff from Latvia, Tony Lapine, who also happened to be a factory-trained Mercedes mechanic, quietly suggested a Mercedes 300 SL as a suitable starting point. Brilliant.
One of the few examples in America was soon acquired, and the body was removed, revealing an advanced, lightweight, space frame chassis with suitable space for Cole’s latest fuel-injected V8. Because Mercedes, still recovering from World War II, hadn’t yet regained enough capital to finance the design and production of a totally new engine for the 300 SL, its engineering team had been forced to adapt the engine from the brand’s 330 SE sedan. For the SL, the Mercedes team cleverly laid it over on its side to reduce its height, added fuel injection for increased power, and then included a dry-sump oiling system to improve ground clearance.