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Details
The ex-Henri Greder/Umberto Maglioli Le Mans and Tour de France
1968 SCUDERIA FILIPINETTI GROUP 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE L88 COUPE
Chassis No. 194378-S-410300
Red with white nose and racing stripe, sponsors' decals and black interior
Engine: V8, pushrod operated overhead valves, four barrel carburetor, 6,998cc (427ci.), 500bhp; Gearbox: M22 close ratio four-speed; Suspension: front, independent by A-arms and coil springs; rear, independent 5-link with transverse leaf spring; Brakes: four wheel power assisted ventilated discs with 4-piston calipers. Left hand drive.
Although Chevrolet's 2000 Le Mans Corvette promotion overlooked it in order to hype Corvette's connection with the great Briggs Cunningham, there is an extensive and distinguished Corvette history at Le Mans. Much of it revolves around this very 7-liter 1968 L88 Coupe and a long French fascination with big American cars, particularly Corvettes.
The central figures in this story are Henri Greder and Umberto Maglioli. Greder nearly won the 1963 Tour de France in a factory entered Ford Galaxie. This earned Greder a Ford of France ride in a 4.7 liter GT40 at Le Mans in 1966. The performance of FoMoCo's 7-liter Mark IVs demonstrated the possibilities of a powerful, but lazy, 7-liter V8 at Le Mans and in preparation for the 1968 24 Heures du Mans, GM's European promotions director (an up-and-coming Bob Lutz) and Greder approached Swiss racing patron Georges Filipinetti with the idea of building and racing a two-car Corvette team at Le Mans. Filipinetti accepted and two of the fabled L88 Corvette coupes shortly arrived from Detroit, fully race prepared for the 24 Hours under Sora Arkus-Duntov's supervision: one (S/N 401300) for Greder and World gold-medallist skier Jean-Claude Killy and another for Sylvain Garant and Jean-Michel Giorgi. At the last minute GM vetoed Killy and Umberto Maglioli stepped into the breach. Maglioli had a great reputation that included a long relationship with Ferrari in both Grands Prix and sports cars and an exceptional Mille Miglia record with Lancia, Ferrari and Porsche (for whom Zora Arkus-Duntov had also driven at Le Mans in the early Fifties). He had just won the Targa Florio with Vic Elford in a Porsche 917, and had also won the Carrera Pan Americana in 1954.
The Corvette's L88 engine was factory built in the U.S. and supplied to Greder through Zora Arkus-Duntov. Greder, seeking to preserve the engine, fitted very tall 2.56 rear end gears, giving a top speed down the Mulsanne straight of 191mph, but turned in a sub-4 minute lap in testing, proving to be the fastest qualifier in its class. The Corvettes were fast, but suffered from what the French called the ennuis de freins, its brakes not measuring up to the inertia of 1 ½ tons accelerated to nearly 200 mph by the puissance of the Big Block L88. Greder recalls having to brake for the Mulsanne turn at the 500 meter mark.
In the 1968 race Greder and Maglioli dominated the Porsche competition until the 6th hour when a carburetion problem melted a piston while they were leading the GT category. Garant crashed the other Corvette in the Dunlop curves in the 14th hour. Returning in 1969, now with Reine Wisell as co-driver (Ronnie Peterson had been slated to share the drive), Greder's M22 'rock-crusher' gearbox endured 16 hours of downshifting, to use engine braking to relieve the brakes' ennuis, before giving up, again while leading the GT category. Following Le Mans Greder placed 6th overall at Magny Cours then in September reprised the Tour de France, a 5,000km marathon over nine days including 11 events at 9 different tracks. The Corvette was prepared in Greder's shops in d'Issy-les-Moulineaux using boxes of high performance parts sent to France by Zora Arkus-Duntov.
Despite encountering a constant engine misfire which replacing the carburetor, plugs, wires and even the gas tank didn't cure, Greder and his co-driver Vigneron captured seven of the eleven events (Nürburgring, Rouen, Le Mans, Cap Fréhel, Charade, Albi and le Tourmalet). At Clermont they finally swapped the distributor for one from a Camaro and the L88's power returned. Starting the race at Clermont Ferrand (then known as Charade) from the back of the field, Greder ('I was very tired and so happy to have the power back', he recalls) passed every car on the straight after the start, went straight across the next two corners, spun and backed into a utility pole. Restarting, again at the back of the field, the rejuvenated Corvette (its driver's enthusiasm unconstrained by the tachometer, which didn't work after the distributor swap) charged through the field, catching Gerard Larrousse's leading Porsche 911R at the start-finish line. 'Larrousse said he thought I was out for good and was so startled when he saw me in his mirrors he almost went off,' Greder remembers. But it was too late to catch Larrousse in the overall standings. Greder and the Corvette finished second and won the GT category. Greder went on to prepare and race Big Block Corvettes at Le Mans six more times including two class wins in 1973-74, both co-driven by Marie-Claude Beaumont.
The 1968-69 Greder car was sold to Jean-Claude Aubriet and entered by Aubriet's 'Ecurie Leopard' a further four times at Le Mans from 1970-73, finishing as high as 18th overall and 2nd in class, as well as having an active schedule of other races including the Tour de France in 1970 and 1971. In the 1971 Le Mans 3 Hour race in April it finished 5th overall, 2nd and fastest in class, against the 917S and 512Ms. In the April 4 Hour race it came 8th overall. (The shorter Le Mans races used to be run a couple of months prior to the June event as a warm-up for drivers and cars).
Six years at Le Mans, much less consecutive as in this case, is a record unequalled by any single chassis in Le Mans history. Furthermore, the record of the Greder/Aubriet Corvette overwhelms the performance of more notorious Corvettes at Le Mans and opened the door for the enthusiastic reception later teams from the States like Greenwood, Callaway, Viper and GM have received from the A.C.O. and French race fans.
The Greder Corvette was sold by Mrs. Aubriet in 1989 to a noted American collector. The engine fitted is believed to be the correct unit that was in the car in 1973. The present owner purchased the car in 1997. It has been fully prepared for Historic racing, producing 500+ horsepower on the dyno, with a lightened flywheel, carbon fiber clutch, M22 'Rock Crusher' close ratio gearbox and J56 heavy duty brakes. Running high octane fuel and with a straight through exhaust, it is positively ground shaking. It has been professionally prepared and rebuilt by a British Touring Car Championship team at Silverstone and just two months ago, it ran at the internationally acclaimed Goodwood Festival of Speed where it came Second in Class, beaten by Attwood in a Porsche 917 by just 1 second. The Corvette has French number plates and a Carte Grise. In addition, it has both current FiA and Historic Vehicle Identity papers. Further documentation includes copies of the A.C.O. homologation papers from each and every Le Mans it ran, 1968-1973 inclusive. More recently it completed the Tour Auto (1999) and was driven on the road all the way back home to England from the South of France. The Corvette 410300 holds a unique place in Le Mans history and must be one of the most successful, and well-traveled, Corvette race cars in the world. The dust of thousands of racing miles and some of Europe's most famous circuits is captured in its nooks and crannies. The current owner is a true gentleman motor sport enthusiast who has gone to great lengths to track the history and paperwork for this great car, and to have it professionally restored and prepared for current racing. Its participation record at the 24 Heures du Mans (even a set of ½4 scale models were made of the car for each of the 6 years it ran), one of racing's top three events, surely will never be equaled, let alone surpassed. It is a champion whose history is unmatched.
1968 SCUDERIA FILIPINETTI GROUP 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE L88 COUPE
Chassis No. 194378-S-410300
Red with white nose and racing stripe, sponsors' decals and black interior
Engine: V8, pushrod operated overhead valves, four barrel carburetor, 6,998cc (427ci.), 500bhp; Gearbox: M22 close ratio four-speed; Suspension: front, independent by A-arms and coil springs; rear, independent 5-link with transverse leaf spring; Brakes: four wheel power assisted ventilated discs with 4-piston calipers. Left hand drive.
Although Chevrolet's 2000 Le Mans Corvette promotion overlooked it in order to hype Corvette's connection with the great Briggs Cunningham, there is an extensive and distinguished Corvette history at Le Mans. Much of it revolves around this very 7-liter 1968 L88 Coupe and a long French fascination with big American cars, particularly Corvettes.
The central figures in this story are Henri Greder and Umberto Maglioli. Greder nearly won the 1963 Tour de France in a factory entered Ford Galaxie. This earned Greder a Ford of France ride in a 4.7 liter GT40 at Le Mans in 1966. The performance of FoMoCo's 7-liter Mark IVs demonstrated the possibilities of a powerful, but lazy, 7-liter V8 at Le Mans and in preparation for the 1968 24 Heures du Mans, GM's European promotions director (an up-and-coming Bob Lutz) and Greder approached Swiss racing patron Georges Filipinetti with the idea of building and racing a two-car Corvette team at Le Mans. Filipinetti accepted and two of the fabled L88 Corvette coupes shortly arrived from Detroit, fully race prepared for the 24 Hours under Sora Arkus-Duntov's supervision: one (S/N 401300) for Greder and World gold-medallist skier Jean-Claude Killy and another for Sylvain Garant and Jean-Michel Giorgi. At the last minute GM vetoed Killy and Umberto Maglioli stepped into the breach. Maglioli had a great reputation that included a long relationship with Ferrari in both Grands Prix and sports cars and an exceptional Mille Miglia record with Lancia, Ferrari and Porsche (for whom Zora Arkus-Duntov had also driven at Le Mans in the early Fifties). He had just won the Targa Florio with Vic Elford in a Porsche 917, and had also won the Carrera Pan Americana in 1954.
The Corvette's L88 engine was factory built in the U.S. and supplied to Greder through Zora Arkus-Duntov. Greder, seeking to preserve the engine, fitted very tall 2.56 rear end gears, giving a top speed down the Mulsanne straight of 191mph, but turned in a sub-4 minute lap in testing, proving to be the fastest qualifier in its class. The Corvettes were fast, but suffered from what the French called the ennuis de freins, its brakes not measuring up to the inertia of 1 ½ tons accelerated to nearly 200 mph by the puissance of the Big Block L88. Greder recalls having to brake for the Mulsanne turn at the 500 meter mark.
In the 1968 race Greder and Maglioli dominated the Porsche competition until the 6th hour when a carburetion problem melted a piston while they were leading the GT category. Garant crashed the other Corvette in the Dunlop curves in the 14th hour. Returning in 1969, now with Reine Wisell as co-driver (Ronnie Peterson had been slated to share the drive), Greder's M22 'rock-crusher' gearbox endured 16 hours of downshifting, to use engine braking to relieve the brakes' ennuis, before giving up, again while leading the GT category. Following Le Mans Greder placed 6th overall at Magny Cours then in September reprised the Tour de France, a 5,000km marathon over nine days including 11 events at 9 different tracks. The Corvette was prepared in Greder's shops in d'Issy-les-Moulineaux using boxes of high performance parts sent to France by Zora Arkus-Duntov.
Despite encountering a constant engine misfire which replacing the carburetor, plugs, wires and even the gas tank didn't cure, Greder and his co-driver Vigneron captured seven of the eleven events (Nürburgring, Rouen, Le Mans, Cap Fréhel, Charade, Albi and le Tourmalet). At Clermont they finally swapped the distributor for one from a Camaro and the L88's power returned. Starting the race at Clermont Ferrand (then known as Charade) from the back of the field, Greder ('I was very tired and so happy to have the power back', he recalls) passed every car on the straight after the start, went straight across the next two corners, spun and backed into a utility pole. Restarting, again at the back of the field, the rejuvenated Corvette (its driver's enthusiasm unconstrained by the tachometer, which didn't work after the distributor swap) charged through the field, catching Gerard Larrousse's leading Porsche 911R at the start-finish line. 'Larrousse said he thought I was out for good and was so startled when he saw me in his mirrors he almost went off,' Greder remembers. But it was too late to catch Larrousse in the overall standings. Greder and the Corvette finished second and won the GT category. Greder went on to prepare and race Big Block Corvettes at Le Mans six more times including two class wins in 1973-74, both co-driven by Marie-Claude Beaumont.
The 1968-69 Greder car was sold to Jean-Claude Aubriet and entered by Aubriet's 'Ecurie Leopard' a further four times at Le Mans from 1970-73, finishing as high as 18th overall and 2nd in class, as well as having an active schedule of other races including the Tour de France in 1970 and 1971. In the 1971 Le Mans 3 Hour race in April it finished 5th overall, 2nd and fastest in class, against the 917S and 512Ms. In the April 4 Hour race it came 8th overall. (The shorter Le Mans races used to be run a couple of months prior to the June event as a warm-up for drivers and cars).
Six years at Le Mans, much less consecutive as in this case, is a record unequalled by any single chassis in Le Mans history. Furthermore, the record of the Greder/Aubriet Corvette overwhelms the performance of more notorious Corvettes at Le Mans and opened the door for the enthusiastic reception later teams from the States like Greenwood, Callaway, Viper and GM have received from the A.C.O. and French race fans.
The Greder Corvette was sold by Mrs. Aubriet in 1989 to a noted American collector. The engine fitted is believed to be the correct unit that was in the car in 1973. The present owner purchased the car in 1997. It has been fully prepared for Historic racing, producing 500+ horsepower on the dyno, with a lightened flywheel, carbon fiber clutch, M22 'Rock Crusher' close ratio gearbox and J56 heavy duty brakes. Running high octane fuel and with a straight through exhaust, it is positively ground shaking. It has been professionally prepared and rebuilt by a British Touring Car Championship team at Silverstone and just two months ago, it ran at the internationally acclaimed Goodwood Festival of Speed where it came Second in Class, beaten by Attwood in a Porsche 917 by just 1 second. The Corvette has French number plates and a Carte Grise. In addition, it has both current FiA and Historic Vehicle Identity papers. Further documentation includes copies of the A.C.O. homologation papers from each and every Le Mans it ran, 1968-1973 inclusive. More recently it completed the Tour Auto (1999) and was driven on the road all the way back home to England from the South of France. The Corvette 410300 holds a unique place in Le Mans history and must be one of the most successful, and well-traveled, Corvette race cars in the world. The dust of thousands of racing miles and some of Europe's most famous circuits is captured in its nooks and crannies. The current owner is a true gentleman motor sport enthusiast who has gone to great lengths to track the history and paperwork for this great car, and to have it professionally restored and prepared for current racing. Its participation record at the 24 Heures du Mans (even a set of ½4 scale models were made of the car for each of the 6 years it ran), one of racing's top three events, surely will never be equaled, let alone surpassed. It is a champion whose history is unmatched.