C6R vs. DBR9

[jhansen]

Well, the Le Mans 2005 is done and dusted and Corvette Racing won the epic GT1 battle. Both teams are well funded with good team work and top notch preparation. I'm wondering which do you think is the better race car?

Corvette had the edge on pace at Sebring and could have won if not for a spectacular break failure. However, Prodrive obviously made many improvements since Sebring and also won at Silverstone. The Aston Martins clearly had the edge in terms of lap time at Le Mans and top speed in the straights.

Found this quote from Oliver Gavin on lmsr.net:

"It was a great race though, wasn't it? I really didn't think it would be that close for that long – after 22 hours there was a pair from each of our teams on the same lap. I followed both of the Aston Martin cars at various times during the race and, although we could close up under braking, and we were better in the Porsche Curves, we just couldn’t touch them on the straights."

The two cars clearly have different strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully Prodrive will return to the ALMS for Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca so we can see a few more epic battles.

[marcush.]

It was rather obvious that the Astons were plain awful in the aproach to the porsche Curves.when the drivers hit the brakes the front end crashed heavily to the ground ,and you could hear the scraping of the front splitter .
But then ,they were incredibly low ,even compared to the LMP900/675 cars with ride heights under 1 inch when fully loaded in the porsche curves ...whereas the Corvettes
had more at more like two inches of ground clearance.
This all hints to completely different approaches with suspension setup.
And boy those V12 s had grunt......they sniffed up the lmp2 cars and went breast to breast at least with the lmp1s bare the pescas...
But then the C6Rs were there all day and night and wore them out .....my fav is the C6R .

[Dani Filth]

both superb cars . i prefer the DBR9 . and would've loved a three way battle with the MC12 too

[jhansen]

Thanks marcush, I was wondering what someone that was there and witnessed them both in person might say. I think the setup philosphy went beyond just the suspension. I'm guessing the Corvette ran with more downforce as well.

[marcush.]

I ´m not sure about this really ..I spotted a front damper of the aston in the pits and it was equipped with a ridiculous stiff spring ....
I think really both cars do actually carry massive downforce(for a GT) and drag.Of course Prodrive reduced downforce compared to earlier configs but still these are massive splitter ,wings and diffussers .
the Corvette surely was easier to drive ,from what i could see ,and carried more speed into the corners,wheras the aston had that oomph and power down advantage.
And of course the Corvette had no problems ,as you cannot count those punctures really ,these seem to be normal these days.(the gravel is quite unique inLM with sharp stones...)
looking at the suspension bits of the C6r this is very well thought Heavy Duty stuff ...this car takes all the punishment with a smile ......
But I have to admit ,the Aston is just as sexy...

[jhansen]

Well both certainly look the part. And each has it's own unique and bold sound.

I'm certainly hoping to get a side by side comparison at Laguna Seca this year. That would be tremendous.

[marcush.]

you bet.most impressive pieces of kit and in very very proffesional hands (in the pits and on track that is!)

[sportscarsRULE]

The vettes are my favorite, but I think the Aston is the best-looking GT car on the planet! Prodrive's car is the embodiment of why most people watch sportscar racing: beautiful, sleek and sexy machines. I find the shade of green used on the Astons impressive as well; it's close enough to British Racing Greeen, but it has a shine to it that just makes these cars glimmer in the sun. Absolutely stunning cars, even moreso than the 550 IMO.

[djb]

funny wot, the Brit sportscar (well, you know what I mean) pulling the Yank muscle car on the straights and lurching around the corners...not what i was taught as a kid.

[John Turner]

Both fabulous cars, both look and sound great, yet the sounds are so different. Being an Aston fan for over 50 years, I prefer the DBR9 and like sportscarRULE, think it is just about the most stunning looking GT car ever. Their performance edge on the straight was good enough to allow it to consistently lap quicker than the Corvettes, so I'm not sure how bad they were in other areas, although it is all relative, of course. From the beginning of the year the Corvettes were the favourites to win at Le Mans but Astons two wins straight out of the box made many swing behind them. However, this did tend to overlook both the length of the race and that the C6R was a great evolution of the already great C5R (that privateer car at Silverstone was pretty much on pace). Experience is all at Le Mans, and I don't think Prodrive had, earlier in the year, expected to be so competitive for so long, but the car has proved to be so good and strong. I know they are pros, but it must have been pretty galling to slog it out with the yellow cars for nearly 23 hours only for both cars to hit problems at the same time. Ninth place was a poor reward, but it was a great rock solid performance by the Corvettes.

I just love this class of cars; to me they are the direct descendants of the great front engine GT cars of the early sixties, which then disappeared under the onslaught of mid engined cars, only to reappear when Chrysler brought out the Dodge Viper. In the ensuing years this configuration hasn't looked back and the C6R and DBR9 are the latest and the best. Truly wonderful!

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by djb

funny wot, the Brit sportscar (well, you know what I mean) pulling the Yank muscle car on the straights and lurching around the corners...not what i was taught as a kid.

Yeah, same for me and really ironic. Mind you, that truism (if that's what it was) started back in the 50's (or even earlier) and I believe US manufactures (please correct me, if I'm wrong) didn't really address this aspect of handling until probably the 80's because they didn't have to. Their highways were longer, wider, with less tight radius bends. O.K, that is probably, a simplification. Since, this is taking us slighly off thread, I'll finish by saying that clearly the C6R has not suffered from it's alleged heritage, and I understand that the road going Corvette handles pretty well, too!

[garcon]

I know it's not very patriotic of me, but I've always loved the Corvettes at Le Mans, and I won more than a couple of beers with my fellow Le Mansers (new word there! ) in bets that the C6R could come out on top...

But what a race! And how stunning do those Astons look?!?!

From Dunlop through the Esses and Tertre Rouge, it was pretty clear the Astons were quicker overall, though the C6R's seemed to have more flexible grunt to take them out of the Esses into Tertre Rouge. It probably had a lot to do with the V8 versus V12 configuration, and possibly the very stiff setup of the DBR9s, but the Astons always seemed on or near the limit, whilst the C6Rs really looked and sounded like they had a little spare and could sit at 3:55 a lap for ever. And they had aircon... (actually, I think that made a difference late on!)

[ss_collins]

It was rather obvious that the Astons were plain awful in the aproach to the porsche Curves.when the drivers hit the brakes the front end crashed heavily to the ground ,and you could hear the scraping of the front splitter

They were actually very good through the curves - I watched from the edge of Virage Du Pont in the third qualie session - and that is a location where you can really see where cars are losing or making time - the astons handle like Protos.

The Astons were visibly quicker through the double left.

[archibold]

Have to disagree regarding the esses...with Oliver Gavin driving the C6R looked the best of all the Aston/C6R's through there, in terms of usage of road on the exit, throttle application point, consistency and general speed out of the corner.

[djb]

John,garçon, ss and arch, all interesting comments and yes, this class was great fun to watch and the link to the past is definately neat. Absolutley the vettes seemed to have reliability going back to the previous version, but that's what made the race easy to stay awake for, the "what if the astons can keep the lead, can they then catch up etc etc" A true lemans experience.

Interesting to hear the different views of you guys actually at the corners and watching how they respectively went through.

[ss_collins]

Very few people get the chance to watch at Virage Du Pont but if you do get the chance take it up its truly mind blowing. You are close enough that you can feel the cars wake...

[spanner]

In terms of driving the car the corvette seems to win out. The corvettes sounded easier to drive, for the drivers on the limit in the hot conditions with a kind of air conditioning system fitted. But the AM drivers seemed really struggling in the heat and not able to keep the quick pace up when needed, with them sitting in cold baths between stints. As a proper endurance racer i'd have to give it to corvette.