Father of Corvette: The Story of Zora Arkus-Duntov
Daily Slideshow: All true Chevrolet Corvette lovers refer to Zora Arkus-Duntov as "Father of the Corvette" or in short "Mr. Corvette". He created what is sometimes referred to as the only true sports car from America.
Early years
Zora Arkus-Duntov was born in Belgium by Russian born parents in 1909. In his late teens, he bought his first motorized vehicle, a motorcycle. He rode it in the streets and on the race tracks. When his worried parents insisted that he traded in his motorcycle for a car, he bought a race car. It was proving difficult to get racing out of his mind.
When World War II began, he and his brother joined the French Air Force. When France surrendered they managed to flee the country to Portugal where they boarded a ship for New York.
Ardun
In New York, Zora Arkus-Duntov and his brother founded an engineering company called Ardun. The company supplied parts to the military and also manufactured aluminum overhead valve heads for the Flathead Ford V8. The overhead valve cured the notorious overheating of the Ford V8. The company grew to 300 employees but eventually went out of business due to financial problems.
Allard
Zora Arkus-Duntov went to Europe to work for Sydney Allard in England at his sports car company. Zora, for instance, helped Allard develop the J2 race car that eventually won the 1952 Le Mans race. He also raced for Allard at Le Mans in 1953 and 1954 (then already working for GM) but he didn't finish either year due to mechanical problems.
Porsche
Zora Arkus-Duntov returned to race at Le Mans in 1954 and 1955 in a 1100cc Porsche 550 Spyder. He won his class both years. The Porsche 550 Spyder is a very famous sports car, not the least since that was the car that James Dean drove when he crashed to death in 1955.
When Zora was driving the Porsche 550 Spyder in 1954 he noticed that the car handled a lot better with a full tank compared to when the tank was nearly empty. This had to do with the fact that the weight distribution between the front and the rear wheels changed from 49/51 with a full tank to 45/55 with an empty tank. Zora got the idea that a front stabilizer bar could cure the oversteering problem on the 550 Spyder. This idea later proved to be correct and helped to improve the chassis of the Porsche 356 road car and in 1955 all Porsche models had a front stabilizer.
General Motors (GM)
Zora Arkus-Duntov joined GM in 1953 after seeing the new Chevrolet Corvette at the GM Motorama in New York City. He was impressed by the looks of the car but quite disappointed by what was under the body, that is the engine and the chassis. Zora wrote a letter to the chief engineer at GM suggesting improvements to the Corvette. The managers at GM got impressed and hired Zora. Zora helped to introduce the small block V8 to the Corvette to make the car substantially more powerful. To showcase the Corvette, Zora used his racing experience and raced Pike's peak in 1956, in a preproduction Corvette, setting a stock car record. He wasn't satisfied however and went to Daytona Beach the same year and set a new record, driving 150 mph (240 Km/h) over the flying mile.
Other improvements to the Corvette
Other improvements to the Corvette credited to Zora is fuel injection and four-wheel disc brakes for the first time on a mass-produced American car. In 1962, Zora introduced the Grand Sport program with the aim to create a light-weight, high powered Corvette for racing. It was however short-lived since GM had a policy of not participating in racing.
Later years and death
Zora retired in 1975. He was however still involved whenever something Corvette related happened. Zora died in 1996 and his ashes were entombed at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling green Kentucky. Zora had devoted his entire life to cars and racing and his burial was a final statement emphasizing that.
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