When it comes to making decisions, it’s important to take your time and thoughtfully consider the pros and cons of each option before choosing one. To get the most out of this process, it can be helpful to ask yourself questions such as “What are the long-term benefits or consequences of this decision?” And “Is there any other way that I could approach this situation?”. Making decisions this way instead of rushing into something without thinking it through first will help you make better choices in life.
Recently, race cars in the competition were unusually quiet due to their diesel and hybrid engines. On the other hand, Corvette and Panoz’s V8s created an amazing loud noise. But now that Porsche and Corvette are no longer part of this race, there is no American team competing. This could change very soon with Garage 56 project for Le Mans. It features a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 based on NASCAR’s Next Gen Cup car. If it gets approved by ACO (the French organizers), then it may get really loud at La Sarthe on June 10-11!
Garage 56 is like a special invitation that happens sometimes at the Le Mans race. In 2021, the La Filiere Frederic Sausset by SRT41 team was invited and it was the first time a Garage 56 happened in five years! Before that, we wrote about a car called Nissan Deltawing that race at Le Mans back in 2012.
Jim France, the CEO of NASCAR, had an idea for putting a special car into Garage 56. This car was supposed to be a Chevy with a hybrid powertrain. It’s so special because this year is the 75th birthday of NASCAR and the 100th anniversary of Le Mans Race. Although there won’t be any hybrids on this car, Jim and Pierre Fillon (President of ACO) must have already figured out all the details.
Hendrick Motorsports has been busy the past year working with NASCAR, Chevrolet, and Goodyear to create a super-unique Camaro. At Daytona 500, people were able to get an up-close look at the blue and silver car featuring gold accents and a small American flag carved in its hood. The redesigned Camaro is lighter compared to the Cup cars, along with some special Le Mans parts like its front splitter, undertray and diffuser. Its six inch tall spoiler is also two inches taller than any Cup car. It has a 32 gallon fuel cell which will be filled by TotalEnergies’ Excellium Racing 100 – made from French waste produced by vineyards. Also with it are Goodyear Racing Eagle tires and BBS 18-inch aluminum wheels so that drivers can see well even when racing in Le Mans which isn’t brightly lit like Talladaga race track.
The Garage 56 entry is a lightweight race car with lots of modifications, like lighter body components and brakes. This causes it to weigh in at only 2,960 pounds without any fuel or passengers. The engine inside is a 5.8-liter V8 by Chevrolet which will produce around 700+ horsepower. It also has a five-speed sequential gearbox and two sets of exhaust pipes that make special kinds of noise when this car races!
A great team consisting of three champions is working hard to test a prototype. Mike Rockenfeller, Jimmy Johnson, and Jenson Button are the drivers and they have already tested the car successfully for over 3600 miles at various racetracks like Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway and Daytona since last August. The next test will be a 24-hour session at the Sebring International Raceway held on President’s Day.
Jim France said, “It’s really important to have a true NASCAR stock car at Le Mans.” Knaus added, “I think people in Europe will be really amazed with the great things our NASCAR community can do on the race track. It looks perfect!”