Rally Racing Grand Sport C2

Not Your Dad's Corvette

Rally racing is a sport that absolutely thrashes a car that takes part in it. The sport has a long history of taking vehicles that never had any intentions of being on a dirt road (outside of perhaps a dirt driveway) and completely reworking the suspension, drive train, wheels, and tires, to go as fast as humanly possible down a pothole-ridden, puddled, slippy-slidey gravel road. Outside of a select few vehicles, Subarus for example (and even that is questionable today), most rally cars are based on a chassis that has no right to be going 130 mph in the first place, must less down an unproven dirt road. The Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Seat Leon and the like are commonplace in the WRC, but no one has ever done a rally car like this. Purist Corvette collectors, eat your heart out. 

The Mechanical Bits

The car in question is a beautiful 1963 Corvette C2 Grand Sport, built on a steel tubular spaceframe, powered by a Chevrolet 327 ci. cast iron V8 putting out 330 hp at an impressively low 1400 RPM. The power is routed through the original GM Muncie M22 4 speed, ending at a GM HD limited slip 3.55 rear diff. Tachyon also blessed the car with 6 piston Wilwoods up front and 4 pistons in the rear, giving this car the stopping power it will need with the added weight of a cage and upgraded suspension components. 

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Tachyon Motorsport

With a quick search, the Tachyon Motorsport website reveals the geniuses behind the project. They are a specialized race and rally shop that builds, maintains and supports both race and rally cars. They are based in Soest, Netherlands and have built over 45 race and rally projects, so they know a thing or two about setting up a chassis. They have built some pretty badass cars, having a glance through their projects page will not disappoint.

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A little dirt never hurt anyone

Their Corvette was designed to compete in the East African Safari Rally, with several other events planned for the future. In the video, you can see the car ripping through the test roads at Mombassa sur Meuse traveling in excess of 110 kph, or about 68 mph. That may not sound like a lot, but why don't you take your C2 Corvette down a farm road at 60 mph and let me know how that ends up for you. Keep in mind, this was just for testing. Speeds during the rally will range much higher than the legal speed limit out on the I-75. 

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Rough Terrain

The video is part of a shakedown set to test the dampeners and spring rates. Lucky for us, they brought their cameras along with them so we can check out the action. In the video, the 'Vette is seen barreling down, what looks to be, the side roads on the edge of a farm. It is hitting some pretty rough terrain, similar to what one would expect it would be experiencing in the East African Safari Rally. Handling the bumps with ease, the Corvette continues to slide around turns and holds its body roll impressively well. In the bumps, the steel tube chassis holds its own and make what appears to a quite rough terrain controllable.  

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Spitting Fire

The car is set up with rally tires and a lifted one-off custom suspension. The car still boasts the iconic Grand Sports pain scheme as well as the flared wheel arches and rear cooling vents. A few scoops have been added for better engine and driver cooling and it sports a full skid plate and undertray, but other than that the car still looks very similar as it did over 50 years ago. The real elephant in the room being, of course, the massive amount of ground travel the wheels have before even coming close to making contact with the fenders.

With a full side exhaust, and only a sad excuse for a straight-through muffler restricting the sound, the aluminum 6.2-liter V8 screams. When the throttle is let off, there are pops and crackles, and it even spits fire. Is there anyone that doesn't love it when an exhaust spits fire? Perhaps only the NHTSA.

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Inside the Home of a Genius

Taking a car that was never meant to see more dirt than what lies on the outside line of the Dunlop Curve at Le Mans, and making it into a safari rally monster, is no simple task. Countless hours of design, drawings, CAD, and test fits have to go in to fit the amount of ground clearance needed for such an abusive course.

Tachyon Motorsport has been kind enough to bless us with several other videos documenting the build and testing of the C2. One particular video shows the Corvette going through some very loose sand, even getting stuck and being pulled out by what appears to be a Netherlands military truck. I would also highly suggest taking the Google tour around their shop. They have several other Corvettes, an e30 M3, a very cool chassis and tub with an I6, and many other impressive sights to be seen.

>>Join the conversation about this rally racing C2 right here in Corvette Forum.

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