IMSA Corvette GTP: 1987 Atlanta Pole and lap record
Jan 22, 2017 16:10:12 GMT -8
Chris K. Hale likes this
Post by tatocorvette on Jan 22, 2017 16:10:12 GMT -8
Hello,
A brief history:
Back in the early 80's, Lola designed a revolutionary chassis to compete in IMSA against the strangle hold of Porsche 935s of the day. This chassis, named T-600, debuted with a Chevy V8 powerplant. Lola had all their hopes into this sole car. It won it's debut race in 1981 and eventually captured the 1981 IMSA championship, despite having entered at the 5th race of the season. The success of this car generated interest in Chevrolet, which had not "officially" competed as a manufacturer since the late 50's. Chevrolet, at the time, was interested in developing their V6 turbo into the small block successor. From this, a relationship between Lola and Chevrolet was established and the Corvette GTP program was born, debuting in 1985. The car got it's first win in Road Atlanta in 1986, in only it's fourth race.
The model:
Corvette GTP by Quick Skins (resin)
This model was finished in 2008. Below the pictures is a summary of what I posted back then:
Around 2004, Quick Skins announced it was going to release a resin kit of the Corvette GTP. I immediately salivated an ordered one as quickly as possible. It was eventually released in late 2004 or early 2005. However, in an interesting spin, it took me a over 2 years to really tackle this project head on.
There were 2 reasons why this project got stalled at the beginning:
1. The paint scheme: I had to build up the courage (and experience) to paint it. This car is silver and black on the sides, white and black on top but there are thin silver and red stripes separating them. While it looks fairly simple, the thin stripes require the highest precision in the color separation lines. I always wanted to paint the silver part, not using the silver decal. I don't like the idea of a massive decal covering the side of the car. Add the fact that at the time I was a huge decal hater, and it was intimidating to say the least. I'm not exactly a decal lover now, but I consider decals now like my asthma. I accept that it will always be there so I better deal with it.
2. The second reason I blame on my "overcomplicaditis" syndrome. I'm a sucker for accuracy on my models. I can be as anal retentive as the worst IPMS military modeler.
Race cars are always changing and evolving. That's why a specific time frame must be set to represent a specific car. The model has no louvers on top of the fenders. That makes it an early version of the car. Yet, the back of the bodywork behind the cockpit makes it a later version. So I FOOLISHLY decided to add the louvers. The louvers themselves were constantly changing on the car. So I decided to do the car as it raced in Road Atlanta in 1987 where it was on the pole and set a new track record. I didn't do the 1986 Road Atlanta winner because of the modifications required.
In this link you can see the progress from start to finish.
Work In Progress thread from MCM
I hope you like it!
Thanks,
Ismael
A brief history:
Back in the early 80's, Lola designed a revolutionary chassis to compete in IMSA against the strangle hold of Porsche 935s of the day. This chassis, named T-600, debuted with a Chevy V8 powerplant. Lola had all their hopes into this sole car. It won it's debut race in 1981 and eventually captured the 1981 IMSA championship, despite having entered at the 5th race of the season. The success of this car generated interest in Chevrolet, which had not "officially" competed as a manufacturer since the late 50's. Chevrolet, at the time, was interested in developing their V6 turbo into the small block successor. From this, a relationship between Lola and Chevrolet was established and the Corvette GTP program was born, debuting in 1985. The car got it's first win in Road Atlanta in 1986, in only it's fourth race.
The model:
Corvette GTP by Quick Skins (resin)
This model was finished in 2008. Below the pictures is a summary of what I posted back then:
Around 2004, Quick Skins announced it was going to release a resin kit of the Corvette GTP. I immediately salivated an ordered one as quickly as possible. It was eventually released in late 2004 or early 2005. However, in an interesting spin, it took me a over 2 years to really tackle this project head on.
There were 2 reasons why this project got stalled at the beginning:
1. The paint scheme: I had to build up the courage (and experience) to paint it. This car is silver and black on the sides, white and black on top but there are thin silver and red stripes separating them. While it looks fairly simple, the thin stripes require the highest precision in the color separation lines. I always wanted to paint the silver part, not using the silver decal. I don't like the idea of a massive decal covering the side of the car. Add the fact that at the time I was a huge decal hater, and it was intimidating to say the least. I'm not exactly a decal lover now, but I consider decals now like my asthma. I accept that it will always be there so I better deal with it.
2. The second reason I blame on my "overcomplicaditis" syndrome. I'm a sucker for accuracy on my models. I can be as anal retentive as the worst IPMS military modeler.
Race cars are always changing and evolving. That's why a specific time frame must be set to represent a specific car. The model has no louvers on top of the fenders. That makes it an early version of the car. Yet, the back of the bodywork behind the cockpit makes it a later version. So I FOOLISHLY decided to add the louvers. The louvers themselves were constantly changing on the car. So I decided to do the car as it raced in Road Atlanta in 1987 where it was on the pole and set a new track record. I didn't do the 1986 Road Atlanta winner because of the modifications required.
In this link you can see the progress from start to finish.
Work In Progress thread from MCM
I hope you like it!
Thanks,
Ismael
