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68-550: By the mid-1950s GM engineer and future Director of High Performance Zora Arkus-Duntov was convinced that publicity from Corvette racing victories would increase sales of the car. Duntov took a team of three Corvettes to Daytona Speedweeks in February 1956; two cars that were essentially stock and one modified car. John Fitch won the Sports Car division in one of the stock Corvettes, and Betty Skelton took second place in

136-574: A Talbot-Lago for the Indianapolis 500 in 1946 and 1947 , but failed to make the race both years. At this time Zora Arkus-Duntov got an invitation from a British company, while his brother decided to go into finances. Soon he left the United States for England to do development work on the Allard sports car, co-driving it at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952 and in 1953 . His goal

204-480: A 350 cc motorcycle, which he rode at nearby racetracks as well as through the streets of Berlin. When his parents, fearing for his safety, insisted he trade the cycle in for an automobile, Duntov bought a cycle-fendered model from a short-lived German manufacturer called Bob  [ de ] . The Bob was set up for oval track racing. It had no front brakes and weak rear brakes. In 1934, Duntov graduated from Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (known today as

272-487: A De Dion rear axle with leaf springs. The 2024 Mercedes-Benz EQG (G580 EQ) also uses a De Dion type rear axle, with double universal joint driveshafts transferring drive propulsion from the electric motors and incorporating slip joints to equalize the length. Most models of the Kawasaki MULE line of utility vehicles feature a leaf-sprung de Dion rear suspension with a distinctively curved tube axle that clears

340-551: A chance of winning against the international competition. Two other racing Corvettes called SR-2s were built, one car for Jerry Earl, son of Harley Earl , the head of GM's Art and Color Section, and a second car for Bill Mitchell . At the New York Auto Show in December 1956 Chevrolet debuted the 1957 Corvette Super Sport, a show car based on a production Corvette with the latest engine and some features first seen on

408-558: A custom GM designed Al-Fin drum made up of an iron face and inner surface and finned aluminum cover. Heat transfer was increased by flowing aluminum through over 100 holes drilled in the iron drum. The brakes were inboard at the rear. Overall weight for the complete car was 1,850 lb (839.1 kg). Duntov had originally signed Juan Manuel Fangio and Carroll Shelby to drive the car at Sebring in 1957, but both asked to be released from their contracts, so Fitch and Piero Taruffi were substituted on short notice. In practice, and driving

476-674: A lap time of 3:29.8; the fastest lap the SS would achieve. Fitch later pitted to have first a coil wire, then the coil itself, replaced. The car began to overheat. Then the bushings tying the rear lower trailing arms to the chassis split due to having been installed improperly. Fitch retired the SS after 23 laps. In April 1957, the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) voted to enact a ban on motor racing for all of its member companies, which included GM. The ban went into effect on 1 June, and GM accordingly withdrew

544-568: A large heat transfer from the hot gases to the coolant that was eliminated in the overhead valve design. The Ardun heads allowed significant increases in power output from the Ford V8. Ardun grew into a 300 employee engineering company with a name as revered as Offenhauser , but the company later went out of business after some questionable financial decisions by a partner the Arkus-Duntov brothers had taken on. Arkus-Duntov attempted to qualify

612-571: A mid-1990s onsite design review of the then upcoming 5th generation Corvette to which the retired Arkus-Duntov had been invited. After reviewing the extensive changes in the new design, Arkus-Duntov notably observed: "The engine is still in the front". Six weeks before his death, Arkus-Duntov was guest speaker at "Corvette: A Celebration of an American Dream", an evening held at the showrooms of Jack Cauley Chevrolet Detroit. Arkus-Duntov died in Detroit on April 21, 1996, and his ashes were entombed at

680-431: Is a beam axle suspension . The de Dion axle was named after Comte Jules-Albert de Dion , founder of French automobile manufacturer De Dion-Bouton . The axle, however, was invented around 1894 by co-founder Charles Trépardoux , Georges Bouton 's brother-in-law, for use on the company's steam tricycles. Advantages: Disadvantages: Alfa Romeo is probably the most famous adopter of this technology, using it on

748-524: Is important to note that the winners were the invincible Ferrari (6 places), Aston Martin (2 places) and Porsche (1 place), which did not have official development restrictions. In 1962, GM Corporate, under serious pressure from the US government, decided to discontinue support for motorsport. It was exactly the same contract as the AMA, concluded in 1957, but now GM had made policies mandatory for its brands. The reason

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816-547: Is why the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) issued a recommendation to refuse to participate in races. However, several accidents over the next couple of years and, according to unconfirmed reports, the intervention of the US government led to the signing of the "Gentleman's Agreement" in 1957. By joining AMA, GM, Ford and Chrysler refused to participate in organized car racing and motorsport of any kind, which led to

884-654: The Alfa Romeo Alfetta, GT, GTV, GTV6 , Giulietta , Alfa 6 , 90 , 75/Milano , SZ/RZ . Other production vehicles using this suspension include the Lancia Aurelia (fourth series onwards) and Flaminia , first and second generation Prince Gloria , the original Mazda Cosmo , Volvo 300-series , Rover P6 , Chrysler minivans (all wheel drive versions from 1991 to 2004), DAF 46 , DAF 66 , all Iso cars ( Iso Rivolta IR 300 , Iso Grifo , Iso Fidia , Iso Lele ) and early Bizzarrini 5300 GT Stradas , some of

952-599: The Automobile Competition Committee for the United States (ACCUS), but the sanctioning body balked at homologating a car with only 5 of the required 100 copies having been built. The car showed controversial results, but after some adjustments and improvements it won first place in the ACC championship in 1963. Driving chassis #004 was Dick Thompson, who earned the nickname "Flying Dentist," because of his original work. The victory in ACC became known to

1020-593: The Caterham 7 (a development of the Lotus Seven after Lotus sold the design rights to Caterham Cars ), are the only cars recently in production that use this arrangement, as well as the products of some kit car companies. A recent vehicle to use this suspension coupled with leaf springs was the Ford Ranger EV . The American-built MV-1 van by VPG, produced from 2010 to 2016, also used this suspension in

1088-629: The Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle II (CERV II) project. Duntov was made Chief Engineer for Corvette in 1967. " (Bill) Mitchell hated him (Duntov), because he felt that Duntov was getting all of the praise for the Corvette, consequently, Mitchell never allowed Duntov into the Styling Center." - Roy Vernon Lonberger Arkus-Duntov retired in 1975, and Dave McLellan became Chief Engineer of

1156-750: The Technische Universität Berlin ). He also began writing engineering papers in German motor publications. While in Berlin Duntov met the fourteen year old Elfriede "Elfi" Wolff, who was in the city to study ballet and acrobatic dance. The two kept in touch over several years while Elfi toured with dance troupes. She eventually settled in Paris as a dancer with the Folies Bergère . The two married in February 1939, just before

1224-471: The accident at the race at Le Mans in 1955 , which claimed the lives of 83 people, the attitude toward motor racing changed dramatically. Numerous protests forced many companies to withdraw from the race, the organizers to review the safety rules, and Mercedes, who was accused of causing an accident and decided not to participate in car racing until the 70s. Dissatisfaction gradually increased in America, which

1292-467: The "SS" badge. When Cole announced the car, it was described as an engineering project researching various features to improve both performance and safety. The Corvette SS was Chevrolet's first purpose-built race car. It was considered the successor to the three "SR" cars that raced at 1956 in Sebring, and the two SR-2 Corvettes, which were based on a production Corvette chassis. Two cars were completed;

1360-507: The 23rd lap, the Corvette SS was forced to leave the track due to suspension and other mechanical problems. Despite the development setbacks of the SS, the new development of the Corvette attracted a lot of public attention, including setting a new lap record. But for Chevrolet, it became clear that with Le Mans would have to wait. Shortly after the race in Sebring, the situation for Duntov and his entire unit became more complicated. After

1428-546: The 40 in (1,016 mm) tuned-length headers developed for the SR2. Power output was 310 hp (231.2 kW) and 295 lb⋅ft (400.0 N⋅m). The transmission was a close ratio four-speed Borg Warner manual with an aluminum alloy case. The differential was a Halibrand quick-change unit. Depending on the gearset installed, top speed was between 143 and 180 mph (230.1 and 289.7 km/h). The brakes were twin-leading-shoe Center-Plane mechanisms from Chrysler with

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1496-524: The AMA racing ban and soon after launched their "Total Performance" program, increasing factory participation in almost all major forms of motor racing. Right after Ford's declaration, Arkus-Duntov's Grand Sport program was approved. The intent was to create a special lightweight Corvette to race on international tracks against not only the Shelby Cobra and other GT cars, but also against racing prototypes from Ferrari, Ford and Porsche. The winning strategy

1564-479: The Corvette SS was a tubular steel space-frame unit inspired by that of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. The full-spec car had a body made of magnesium, rather than the fiberglass used by production Corvettes. The mule had a fiberglass body. A transparent bubble top was also produced for the car, but was not used when racing. Front suspension was by short-long arms with coil springs over tubular shock absorbers. At

1632-415: The Corvette in 1957. He is credited with introducing the first mass-produced American car with four-wheel disc brakes . A conflict arose between Duntov and Chevrolet chief designer Bill Mitchell over the design of the new C2 Corvette "Sting Ray" model. Mitchell designed the car with a long hood and a raised windsplit that ran the length of the roof and continued down the back on a pillar that bisected

1700-531: The Corvette racing team being accepted with his promotion to the post of director of the high-performance car department in 1957. Duntov's new project was the Corvette SS with a magnesium body for the 24-hour Le Mans race. For preliminary testing of the car, the American counterpart, "12 hours of Sebring" was chosen. The difficulty was in the timing, since before the annual Sebring there were only 6 months left. According to rumors, in order to be in time, Duntov copied

1768-714: The Corvette. Following his retirement Arkus-Duntov remained active in the Corvette community. A member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame, the Chevrolet Legends of Performance, and the Automotive Hall of Fame, he took part in the rollout of the one millionth Corvette at Bowling Green in 1992. He drove the bulldozer at the ground breaking ceremonies for the National Corvette Museum in 1994. In a 2024 interview, Tadge Juechter recalled

1836-553: The GM bosses, who asked Duntov to return all the cars and not participate in races. Having received the cars back, Duntov improved the cars with chassis #003, #004 and #005, adding air vents and installing wider 9.5 inch wheels. Due to these changes, traction has increased, and lateral acceleration has decreased from 1.9G to the optimal 1.1G. After all the changes, Arkus-Duntov decided to send the Grand Sport to compete with Shelby Cobra at

1904-618: The Nassau Trophy race (1954-1966) in the Bahamas. Officially, all three of the improved Grand Sports were on behalf of tycoon John Mecom Jr. They beat all competitors by 10 seconds. Both the Shelby Cobra, and even the Ferrari GTO were left behind. However, this was not the end of the Grand Sport program. Taking the previously unimproved chassis #001 and #002, Duntov removed the roofs making them roadsters to improve aerodynamics, and

1972-594: The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Pulitzer Prize winning columnist George Will wrote in his obituary that "if... you do not mourn his passing, you are not a good American." Despite Duntov's work on the CERV I and CERV II and many mid-engine design studies, the idea of a mid-engine Corvette was not approved by GM management until 2019 with the announcement of the release of

2040-519: The SR and SR-2 racing cars. Harley Earl brought Jack Ensley's Jaguar D-Type into GM's Research Studio. He instructed the team to convert the car to left-hand drive, install a Chevrolet V8 engine, and restyle the car incorporating styling cues from the production Corvette. Work on the D-Type conversion started May 1956. Engineers working on the conversion identified several problems with Earl's idea, leading to

2108-586: The SS from further racing. The drivers that had been arranged for the 1957 Le Mans did not learn of the withdrawal until a month and a half after Sebring." For 1958 the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) reduced the maximum displacement limit to 3.0 liters for sports cars, effectively disqualifying the Corvette SS from any future European events. At the opening of the Daytona Motor Speedway in 1959, Duntov took

Chevrolet Corvette SS - Misplaced Pages Continue

2176-521: The SS out on the track and set fastest lap with a speed of 155 mph (249.4 km/h). Zora Arkus-Duntov Zachary "Zora" Arkus-Duntov (born Zachar Arkus ; December 25, 1909 – April 21, 1996) was a Russian and American engineer whose work on the Chevrolet Corvette earned him the nickname "Father of the Corvette." He is sometimes erroneously referred to as the inventor of the Corvette; that title belongs to Harley Earl . He

2244-558: The board of General Motors, and Duntov was ordered to close the project and destroy all the cars. The board feared that the antimonopoly department would require the company to be broken up. Duntov agreed to stop work, but handed over three cars to Texas tycoon John Mecom and hid the remaining two in a Chevrolet research garage. Before sending the cars with chassis numbers #003 and #004 to Texas, he handed them over for testing to two private racers: Chicago Chevrolet dealer Dick Doane and Grady Davis from Gulf Oil. Homologation papers were filed with

2312-416: The body removed. The Mercedes' chassis was cut and modified to accept a new small-block V8 drivetrain and new rear suspension of Duntov's design. This first chassis was used to create a development mule that would receive a fiberglass body. That frame was also used as a template for building all subsequent SS chassis. The official name for Project XP-64 was the Corvette SS. This was the first Chevrolet to wear

2380-426: The brakes. Also behind the rear window was an air intake. Lightening was further facilitated by the use of organic aviation glass. The wheels also became lighter, thanks to the magnesium alloy material employed. The result of all the work was a reduction in weight from the 3,199 lb (1,451 kg) of the standard model to 1,900 lb (862 kg) for the Grand Sport. News of the Grand Sport's development reached

2448-527: The cessation of all explicit support for racing in Chevrolet. At the same time, almost none of the automakers stopped the development of sports cars. Many found loopholes: from the establishment of third-party engineering companies (SEDCO Co.), which issued instructions for improving production cars with detailed indication of the part numbers of the automaker and step-by-step instructions for the support of “individual enthusiasts” of individual racers, as well as

2516-633: The chassis at US$ 500,000. After its career ended, the Corvette SS remained in storage at various locations within GM until Duntov convinced John DeLorean , Chevrolet's new general manager, to donate the car to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway . In 2006 a plan was made to apply the Corvette SS name to a special version of the C6 Corvette . This enhanced Corvette was eventually released as the Corvette ZR1. The chassis for

2584-405: The company introduced their own aluminum, overhead valve, hemispherical combustion chamber cylinder heads for the flathead Ford V8 engine . Conceived by Duntov, the heads were designed by George Kudasch. The purpose of the overhead valve design was to cure the persistent overheating of the valve-in-block flathead V8. The flathead 'siamesed' the two center exhaust ports into a single tube, creating

2652-488: The conversion being abandoned, and the project moving in another direction. Some suggest that the entire D-Type episode was a ruse by Earl to get Duntov committed to the project. The redirected project received GM designation XP-64, with approval given in August 1956 to ready two cars to race at Sebring in six months time. The ultimate goal was to race the car in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . GM designer Clare MacKichan headed up

2720-403: The development car called the "mule", and a full-spec Corvette SS. Three additional Corvette SS chassis were built, but not turned into complete cars. Some references report that Mitchell later bought the complete development mule for just US$ 1 as the base for his Stingray racer. In interviews Shinoda and Mitchell both describe Mitchell buying a spare SS chassis for US$ 500. He estimated the value of

2788-399: The drive wheels, it is sometimes called a "dead axle". A powered de Dion suspension uses universal joints on both ends of its driveshafts (at the wheel hubs and at the differential ), and a solid tubular beam to hold the opposite wheels in parallel. Unlike an anti-roll bar , a de Dion tube is not directly connected to the chassis , and is not intended to flex. In suspension geometry it

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2856-534: The eighth generation C8 Corvette. Rumors circulated that a high-performance version of the C8 could be named the "Zora". On a pre-production camouflaged version, observers noted small stickers that resembled the profile of Zora Arkus-Duntov. De Dion tube A de Dion axle is a form of non- independent automobile suspension . It is a considerable improvement over the swing axle , Hotchkiss drive , or live axle . Because it plays no part in transmitting power to

2924-509: The engine, the magnesium body provided no such protection, allowing the heat into the interior unimpeded. He also encountered problems with the brakes on the car. Parts from the mule were swapped over to the SS. For the race, the starting grid was determined by engine displacement, so the SS started in the number one position. Fitch was in the car for the Le Mans start. After the third lap he pitted to have two front tires replaced, then turned in

2992-463: The frame for the new Corvette from the Mercedes 300SLR. To test the joint work of all the components, Duntov built a second car with a fiberglass body as a test mule. The results shown were positive, the team gained confidence in the victory. Later, the mule more than once proved its usefulness during the development and testing of new, improved versions. However, there was not enough time to fully test

3060-505: The headlights were introduced. According to the terms of the FIA GT races of those years, the wheels had to be "within the body", so the wheel arches were expanded, but barely passed according to the standards, since they also served to remove air from under the belly of the car, which gave its special shape. In order to use the oncoming airflow even more efficiently, near the rear window there were two air intakes (one from each side) that cooled

3128-402: The household. Even after the divorce, Jacques continued to live with the family, and out of respect for both men, Zora and younger brother Yura took on the hyphenated last name of Arkus-Duntov. In 1927, the family moved to Berlin. While Duntov's early boyhood ambition was to become a streetcar driver, streetcars later gave way to motorcycles and automobiles . His first motorized vehicle was

3196-466: The largest Opels, such as the Opel Diplomat "B" of 1969, all Aston Martins from 1967 to 1989, Ferrari 375 and 250TR , first generation Maserati Quattroporte , Bugatti Type 251 , Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 as well as Auto Union Type D . The Smart Fortwo (and Smart Roadster before) micro-compact cars produced by Daimler AG, Mitsubishi i kei car produced by Mitsubishi Motors and

3264-611: The meantime, Duntov and Yura hid in a bordello. Five days later, Elfi met up with Duntov and his family and later they boarded a ship in Portugal bound for New York . Settling in Manhattan, in 1942 the two brothers established the Ardun Mechanical Corporation, the name a portmanteau of Arkus and Duntov. Ardun initially produced dies and punches for ammunition and later produced parts for aircraft. In 1947

3332-423: The mule rather than the full-spec SS, Fitch managed a lap time of 3:32, while Taruffi turned in a time of 3:35 in the same car. Duntov persuaded both Stirling Moss and Fangio to try the mule in practice, and they turned in times of 3:28.2 and 3:27.2 respectively. Late Friday Fitch did a few laps in the magnesium-bodied SS, and found that while the fiberglass body of the mule insulated the driver from heat produced by

3400-510: The other, while Duntov won the Modified Sports Car division in the modified car. Four Corvettes, all with the new SR package and one with additional modifications including an enlarged engine, appeared in the 1956 12 Hours of Sebring . Duntov declined to participate, so Fitch acted as Team Manager. General Manager of Chevrolet Ed Cole , watching the 1956 Sebring race, realized that only a Corvette built specifically for racing stood

3468-605: The outbreak of World War II. Following the outbreak of the war first Yura, then Zora, joined the French Air Force . When France surrendered, Duntov obtained exit visas from the Spanish consulate in Marseilles, not only for Elfi and himself, but for his brother and parents as well. Elfi, who was still living in Paris at the time, made a dramatic dash to Bordeaux in her MG just ahead of the advancing Nazi troops. In

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3536-457: The production of “especially durable / long-life parts” Ideal for turning production cars into sports cars (Pontiac). Arkus-Duntov could not stop the new agreement. At his insistence, the driver Briggs Cunningham changed the three main Corvettes within 24 hours of Le Mans, each of which was equipped with an innovative 283-horsepower V8 fuel injected engine. Despite only achieving 10th place, it

3604-421: The racing Corvette. Therefore, having arrived in Sebring and joining the Corvette core team, SS pilot John Fitch still could not figure out the brake lock problem. The start of the race looked positive for the SS, but the problem with the brakes only intensified. By the end of the third lap, the pilot could no longer control the front axle of his car. After a quick tire change, Fitch continued to race, but already on

3672-712: The rear subframe to provide 50mm (2 inches) of wheel travel. Benefits include simplicity, durability, compactness and a relatively low liftover height for the cargo bed. Walter Snow Fighter plow trucks produced by the Walter Truck Company of Long Island, New York throughout the mid 20th century used de Dion axles with portal gear hubs for both the front and the rear suspension, allowing the use of large differentials for durability without increasing unsprung weight or reducing ground clearance. Forged steel axles were used instead of tubes. And Mowag Duro . UC San Diego’s Formula SAE team, Triton Racing, has employed

3740-450: The rear was a De Dion tube with two pairs of trailing arms and coil over shocks. The engine in the Corvette SS was a production Chevrolet small block V8 that displaced 283 cu in (4,640 cc). It was fitted with Rochester Ramjet fuel injection. 9.0:1 compression aluminum cylinder heads and a deep-sump oil pan made of magnesium were used. The camshaft was a special “Duntov” profile solid-lifter piece. The exhaust system used

3808-496: The rear window into right and left halves. Duntov felt that the elongated hood interfered with the driver's view of the road ahead, and the rear pillar obscured the driver's view rearwards. The split rear window was widely criticized, and a one-piece backlite was put in its place the next year. The first sports Corvette was designed and constructed by Duntov in 1956, who built 3 copies. The SR1 and SR2 projects met with Harley Earl's approval, which led to Duntov's proposal to establish

3876-469: The rear with leaf springs. 4WD variants of the Honda Fit and Honda HR-V subcompact SUV have been reported as using a de Dion style suspension; however, these vehicles actually have a twist-beam rear suspension , with the cross beam element located even further forward (and thus even more like a trailing arm and less like the beam axle of a de Dion) than the 2WD variants. The Mitsubishi Fuso eCanter uses

3944-641: The same years, Carroll Shelby raced in Allard machines. Soon, Duntov was invited to join the Porsche team. He drove an 1100 cc Porsche 550 RS Spyder at Le Mans in 1954 and 1955 , taking class wins both years. Arkus-Duntov joined General Motors in 1953 after seeing the Motorama Corvette on display in New York City . He found the car visually superb, but was disappointed with what

4012-466: The small-block V8 engine to the Corvette in 1955, providing the car with much-needed power, he set about showcasing the engine by ascending Pike's Peak in 1956 in a pre-production car (a 1956 Bel Air 4-door hardtop), setting a stock car record. He took a Corvette to Daytona Beach the same year and hit a record-setting 150 mph (240 km/h) over the flying mile. He also developed the famous Duntov high-lift camshaft and helped bring fuel injection to

4080-527: The team designing the bodywork. Also on the design team were Robert Cumberford and Anatole Lapine . Some references include Bob Cadaret in this group. Although the Jaguar was gone, its shape influenced MacKichan's design. Development of the car's chassis, drivetrain and running gear took place in Duntov's skunkworks shop at GM. At Lapine's suggestion, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was obtained, put up on stands and

4148-502: The tone for what he was about to accomplish in a memo to his bosses. The document, "Thoughts Pertaining to Youth, Hot Rodders and Chevrolet", laid out Duntov's views on overcoming Ford's lead in use by customizers and racers, and how to increase both the acceptance and the likelihood of success of the Chevrolet V8 in this market. In 1957 Arkus-Duntov became Director of High Performance Vehicles at Chevrolet. After helping to introduce

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4216-671: Was also a racing driver , appearing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times and taking class wins in 1954 and 1955 . Arkus-Duntov was born Zachar Arkus in Brussels , Belgium, on December 25, 1909, into a Jewish Russian family. His father, Yakov “Jacques” Arkus, was a mining engineer on contract in Belgium, and his mother, Rachel Kogan, was a medical student. After the family returned to their hometown of Saint Petersburg – then Petrograd – Duntov's parents divorced and his mother's new partner, Josef Duntov, an electrical engineer, moved into

4284-477: Was based on firstly making an aluminum version of the "small block" V8, equipped with special spark plugs (At 377 °C, its power was 550 hp. at 6400 rpm.) and secondly, an unprecedented decrease in vehicle weight. A new ladder chassis with large diameter (4.5 in (114 mm)) tubular main rails was built. All body panels were of thin fiberglass with no gel coat, and the aluminum door handles were taken from an old Chevrolet pickup truck. Special attention

4352-425: Was paid to aerodynamics. The door handles were lightened and recessed into the body, and the headlights were hidden behind transparent plastic. However, aerodynamic lift tended to cause the Grand Sport's front axle to come off the ground at high speeds. To help alleviate windage, ventilation holes were added throughout the body: "gills" on the hood, openings behind the front and rear wheels, and even multiple openings at

4420-547: Was preparing to send them to the race in Daytona. But General Motors entered into an agreement with Duntov on the termination of any races, since the risks of the division of the company reached a maximum level. All 5 cars were handed out to private individuals and could no longer continue the competition due to the stop of design work. In 2009, the last surviving #002 chassis was auctioned off for $ 4.9M. The end of Grand Sport project did not stop Duntov, and in 1964 he began work on

4488-492: Was that by 1961, about 53% of the entire US car market belonged to General Motors, which greatly interested the Department of Justice. In the event that the company's market were to grow to 60%, the antimonopoly department had promised to break up General Motors. Fearing this, management hoped to reduce auto racing revenues. But the most famous achievement of Arkus-Duntov was yet to come. In 1962 Ford officially withdrew from

4556-486: Was to improve and prepare the company's cars for the race "24 hours of Le Mans." It is noteworthy that some of them were Ford V8, on which Duntov applied, among other things, his old achievements. The owners and at the same time Allard racers Sydney Allard and his wife Eleanor noticed the achievements of the engineer. In 1952–53, Duntov acted as a Le Mans racer on the Allard J2X Le Mans and Allard JR models. In

4624-457: Was underneath. He wrote Chevrolet chief engineer Ed Cole that it would be a pleasure to work on such a beautiful car; he also included a technical paper which proposed an analytical method of determining a car's top speed. Chevrolet was so impressed, engineer Maurice Olley invited him to come to Detroit. On May 1, 1953, Arkus-Duntov started at Chevrolet as an assistant staff engineer. Shortly after going to work for Chevrolet, Arkus-Duntov set

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