Mcrider

https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2019...th-imsa-radio/

Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan did a podcast with IMSA Radio to kick off the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech Championship season. Truth be told, I have yet to listen to the whole 1 hour and 38 minutes of the podcast and am saving it for my Saturday morning drive from Tampa to Daytona as I head to the Roar Before the 24.



However, I did catch an interesting quote from Doug around the 1:32.00 mark which, surprisingly, was in regards to any retirement plans. Doug mentions the C8 Corvette during that segment, describing it as “…the most spectacular Corvette ever built, beyond anybody’s wildest dream“. If that’s not a ringing endorsement for the next generation Corvette, I don’t know what is!

jdmvette

BIG Dave

Foosh

Doug Fehan is not a GM employee, he's Pratt & Miller's Corvette Racing boss. However, he is, no doubt, intimately familiar with the car.

As head of a world-class race team that is now struggling to stay competitive with ME rivals, I'm sure he's thrilled. Were it not for BOP, it would be a lot worse for the C7R. He's also fully cognizant of the need to keep the company paying the bills happy.

EDIT: I was wrong about Fehan not being a GM employee, which was corrected below . . . my bad!

FLS2K

Jeff V.

He is a GM employee. He's the Program Manager for Corvette Racing, and he answers to Mark Kent who is the Director of GM Racing.

ltomn

And it was clear that this is true by the way he spoke in the podcast. He was delighted to have spend his life doing something that came under the heading of "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

rmorin1249

I like Fehan and he speaks his mind most of the time but I wouldn't expect anything other than what he said about the C8 if he wants to keep his job. Time will tell if the C8 is truly as good on the track as he says it will be.

I am also interested to see how BMW intends to remain competitive with their FE M8 race car in the coming years. I am not aware that BMW has any ME cars in the pipeline.

sunsalem

Very true.

This pretty much settles the P&M/GM relationship question: GM is the contractor, P&M is the sub.

FrankLP

Regarding his possible retirement timeline, he states, "...if/when we debut that (i.e. the C8) at Le Mans..." that would be a good time.

Those of you that know better than me... I am assuming Doug saying debut means that this will be the first time the C8 races at Le Mans; not that Le Mans will be the first time the C8 races ever. Correct?

Foosh

I took that comment as meaning 2020 with C8Rs racing at Le Mans. He's all about racing, not marketing.

EDIT: I see you edited so yes, I think he meant the first time C8R races at Le Mans. C8R will most likely race debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2020 and have several races before Le Mans in June 2020.

Jeff V.

That would be a very nice cap on his career. Run the new car at Le Mans in 2020, and hand the team off to a new generation.

Foosh

Agree, would be a fitting way to end a distinguished career.

Michael A

I don't know who comes up with these silly sayings. They are downright misleading. I'm doing what I love, and I've never worked harder in my life.

steve8

Cidra!!

FrankLP

Cool. And I should've been using C8R (not C8) too. Thanks.

ShagVette

Well come on, what's he gonna say.... something like oh yeah, that new Corvette, they've been running into some major electrical issues, so be patient

sunsalem

From P&M's POV, yes, but not from GM's.
True.

Foosh

I've hired a lot of contractors like P&M in my government and corporate career(s). We expect them to do all the heavy lifting on the job, but we always have/had government or corporate project managers overseeing every aspect of it, and providing management direction. That's my view of Fehans' role. I'm guessing the crews are also P&M employees, but not sure who the driver paychecks come from.

It's no different than DoD contracting with Boeing to build a military aircraft. Boeing is going to build it, but military personnel will be overseeing and testing every aspect of it. The Gov is the client, and Boeing is the contractor.

Zaro Tundov

Heed these words, guys:
“…the most spectacular Corvette ever built, beyond anybody’s wildest dream“

Those aren't the words of a company man saying it's great because what the f ck else is he going to say. Those are the words of someone who is blown away by GM's new masterpiece. Reuss describes it as "the tip of GM's technological spear" and I believe he means that on the C8 project the bean counters rode in the trunk while the engineers took the driver's seat.