Keith@VetteFinders

I spent Friday and Saturday at the track in St. Pete for the World Challenge races and I interviewed O'Connell Saturday afternoon in which we discussed his leaving Corvette Racing, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe Racer and his future racing plans.

The video with race highlights and the interview is here:
http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2011/...32811_oconnell

Cadillac got hold of something special when signing Johnny O to the program. One of the best American road race drivers ever, he owns records from Sebring to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Plus, he is a heck of nice guy that will be a great spokesman for Cadillac.

Here are some photos I took this weekend as well:

dvandentop

great shots thanks for posting

Katech_Zach

I am in love with this car.

Crankedupforit

Great article. Thanks for posting. Happy you Corvette guys are sharing some talent. Johnny and Andy Pilgrim are a tough act to follow.

racerbob4

God those are great looking cars. I am still mad at GM's bankrupsy but also happy they are back in racing. So maybe the stimulus did work.

Bill Dearborn

It is one mean looking machine. Too bad the venue doesn't get enough coverage so GM could get more value for the money they have invested in the program.

Bill

Lawdogg

What's up with the reverse wing mount?

RX-Ben

to keep the air clean under the wing

argonaut

Can anyone explain the purpose/reasons for the interesting rear wing mounting? Is it dictated by series rules or some other reason.

Edit - wow, you guys are fast with your answers...faster than I can type. But why keep the air clean under the wing, what does that do for you as opposed to a normal mount?

J.R.

You keep the wing below top of roofline ( I believe SCCA rules ) and move it rearward, increasing lever arm effect, and downforce.

I think the aero testing by Chevy also indicated the this style wing was more effective below roofline. Tom, John or David may have more input and info on the Chevy aero testing.

heavychevy

It's the air under the wing that gives a car DF, not the air over the wing. The idea is to get air moving faster under the wing than over it. This is why Gurney Flaps are becoming so big now, they force more air under the wing and give you more DF at a far lesser penalty of drag than running more angle of attack on the wing itself.

(this is the very simplistic version, I can't explain it any better)

Aero is confusing, it's all about pressure zones, so things you see aren't always doing what they look like they would be doing (I.E. Canards)

Kubs

Cool article! Im surprised P&M kept those big elephant ear mirrors on the car instead of using something smaller.

C5-vette

Very cool interview with Johnny O.
He appears to be a "salt of the earth" kinda guy.

John Wiz

Johnny is a really cool guy and is definitely down to earth... a couple years ago at his auction my wife bid on and won a bumper (actually 3/4 of a bumper) from one of the C5R cars. It was really cool of her do that, but the only problem was we had our Vette and there was no way it was going to fit.. So we were talking to Johnny after the auction and he took it home and had it shipped to us..

He really is a great guy...