David Abbot Jenkins ~ Son of the Salt

[WB9MCW]

http://www.barracudamagazine.com/ab-jenkins.htm

[WB9MCW]

Here is the follow up story ~~~





THE ACTUAL 5000 MILE ENDURANCE ZR-1 (FANCY RACING PAINT JOB BUT A STOCK ZR-1 AND LT-5 JUST LIKE A FACTORY STOCKER (MINOR MOD'S IE: 3.07 GEAR VS 3.45 STOCK REAR AXLE RATIO,EXHAUST-OPEN HEADERS(NO CATS), ROLL BAR AND 5 POINT HARNESS AND A LARGER 48GAL. GAS TANK)



DO YOU THINK YOUR CAR COULD GO 5,000 MILES AT 173 MPH AVERAGE (INCLUDING GAS STOPS) AND TWO 190 MPH VICTORY LAPS AT THE END.



THIS IS LIKE DOING 10 DAYTONA 500'S IN A ROW NON STOP. THIS RECORD MAY STAND FOREVER BEING THAT MANY HAVE TRIED (LIKE PORSCHE AND OTHERS) AND NONE HAVE MADE IT. REMEMBER IT HAS TO BE A STOCK PRODUCTION CAR, JUST OFF THE PRODUCTION ASSEMBLY LINE WITH ONY MINOR SIMPLE MOD'S...AND ONLY MOD'S APPROVED BY THE FIA INTERNATIONAL.


HERE IS A LINK TO THE 5,000 MILE ENDURANCE RECORD...
1990 Corvette ZR-1 World Speed & International Endurance Record >>>
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...endurance.html

UPDATE ****** FEB 2002 ******
(from VW Press Release) Nardo / Wolfsburg Volkswagen took a prototype of its W12 sports car to the Nardo high-speed circuit near Lecce in Southern Italy on February 23 and 24, and again beat the existing world 24-hour speed record. This exceptional sports car design, with a top speed of 350 km/h(217.53 MPH), covered a distance of 7,749.4 kilometres at an average speed of 322.89 km/h(200.7 MPH).

The world record set up only shortly before, on October 14, 2001 with the same car, was beaten by 27.7 km/h, with the car covering 663 kilometres more. This improvement is due to the remarkable reliability of the 440 kW (600 bhp) twelve-cylinder engine, to further development work on the car itself and to its highly motivated crew.



NOTE==== THE VW NEVER WENT INTO PRODUCTION

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ZR-1 CORVETTE - MARATHON CHAMPION OF THE CENTURY
by Robin Jenkins
Last Update: 10/24/2004

Marathon running is a brutal sport. The Greek messenger whose 26-mile-jog is commemorated by the race died of exhaustion 2500 years ago -- but only after completing his mission. Today we more often celebrate Olympic sprinters instead, forgetting that endurance is a surer mark of health and determination. Perhaps because it takes less than ten seconds to watch a sprint, those who run for hours don't as readily capture our attention. The same can be said for automobile racing -- 24-hour races are rare; 5000-mile races even more so. But, lest a true hero be forgotten in annual disputes over which new car quarter-miles the quickest, consider the undisputed marathon champion of automobile racing -- the gutsiest distance-racer ever built for the public.

Beginning in 1990 and ending with the 1995 model year, General Motors sold 6,939 Corvettes designated "ZR-1". Not to be confused with its more primitive namesake offered 20 years earlier, this ZR-1 was both luxuriously appointed and the fastest car built in America at the time -- not only in acceleration but on the highway, too. There were two features exclusive to the new ZR-1: each car came with a purpose-built, 32-valve, 4-cam, aluminum, LT-5 engine; and each was three inches wider in the rear than its sister Corvettes, in order to accommodate wider rear wheels and tires. Neither feature was obvious to the casual observer, but one of them made all the difference.

"The Heart of the Beast", as the ZR-1's LT-5 engine came to be called, was a huge departure from GM's traditional manufacturing style. It was designed in collaboration with Lotus Racing of Great Britain, and perhaps because it was hand-crafted by the women at Mercruiser Division of the Mercury Marine plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, it was destined to become the strongest thump in "The Heartbeat of America". The last of those amazing engines was pre-built in 1993 for installation in the 1994 and '95 model year ZR-1s. Yet, despite their age, LT-5 equipped Corvettes are thus far the fastest, mass-produced, distance-racers ever to appear on the planet.

The reason for the ZR-1's uncontested dominance at marathoning is that even the least potent of the LT-5 engines (375 hp) were designed to safely propel a Corvette to 180 mph, with absolutely no modifications, and still meet all EPA emissions and fuel-economy standards. On its first attempt, a 1990 model ZR-1 broke the world's record for covering the most ground in 24-hours. It ran all day and and all night, averaging almost 176 mph, including gas stops!

With the new 24-hour World Speed Record now in the bag, the VERY SAME CAR kept lapping the same eight-mile test track in Texas, until it had set a new World Speed Record for the longest specified distance -- 5000 miles, averaging almost 174 mph! Before this same ZR-1 finally pulled off that track, it ran two victory laps at over 190 mph, and Corvette owned TEN new International and World Records.

So, beginning with the 1991 model, the ZR-1 sported a tiny decal on the driver's side of the hatch glass, attesting to Corvette's new ownership of those national and international records; and by 1993, engineers had teased another 30 horsepower out of the engine. A few ZR-1s, whose owners tweaked the LT-5 engine beyond the factory's final 405 hp rating, have documented speeds in excess of 200 mph, yet remain fully tractable for general transportation. Few cars in the world, at any price, can reach such speeds in the first place, and fewer, still, are suitable for street use.

With a roll cage, a racing seat, open exhaust, and a 48 gallon gas tank, the record-breaking Corvette was by no means a street car, but it was unquestionably a production car, using its officially specified production engine. The prospect of succeeding with that innocent combination had been so laughable at the time that the press wasn't even officially invited to watch. Nobody in over 50 years had beaten the 24-hour speed record -- even when using imaginative combinations of exotic racing engines and purpose-built chassis. How could a mere production-class Corvette succeed where unlimited had failed?

Consider that the 175-180 mph speed range easily achieved by even the early, 375 hp, ZR-1 is comparable to current race averages in today's NASCAR events, where much lighter cars use the same size engine as the Corvette (5.7 liters or 350 cubic inches). Recall how many of those highly modified, NASCAR engines fail after less than 500 miles, and then ponder how the Corvette's LT-5 engine ran at the very same speeds for the equivalent of TEN Daytona 500s -- BACK-TO-BACK! That's a level of durability unprecedented in the automotive industry, a feat which has yet to be equaled by any production car, anywhere.

So it's not only that the ZR-1 is one of the few stock cars in the world that can comfortably run 180 mph; it's the fact that this car can do so, not just for hundreds, but for THOUSANDS of miles at a time! THAT'S what's impressive. Yet in calmer moments it could deliver an amazing 28 mpg at 65 mph, while displaying world-class cornering, braking and acceleration to complement its awesome highway speed. That was enough "all-around" superiority in performance for the media to qualify the ZR-1 as "King of the Hill", world-wide, when it was introduced -- a reputation it successfully defended through the end of its production.

Certainly there were a few exotic street machines which could outrun a ZR-1, even during its hey-day -- but they could only do so for short distances. And, given the growing popularity of turbos and superchargers (the LT-5 required neither), there will likely be a much more impressive crop of sprinters wowing enthusiasts in this new century. But, the Dodge Viper excepted, from 1990 until the end of the last century, no such exotics were produced in quantities greater than a few hundred, and most of them numbered less than a handful. Even the few competitors which moved from prototype to limited-production, cost from twice to TWENTY-TIMES as much as the ZR-1's already hefty 66-thousand-dollar sticker, and still they couldn't keep up with the Corvette over long distances. The Porsche team admitted their 962 just wasn't up to it.

The sole, mass-produced, ZR-1 challenger in the 20th century was the Viper -- and despite having a much larger engine, and no concessions to refinement, it still failed to equal the Corvette's highway speed until a year after the ZR-1 was out of production. Today's 21st century Vipers, with a 150-cubic-inch-larger engine than the LT-5 "small block", will certainly exceed an aging ZR-1's 180 mph top speed. But none of those 525 hp monsters have dared attempt the Corvette's 1990 marathon run, and neither have Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, or Lamborghini. Between 1966 and 1988, Ford, Mercedes and Audi at least tried -- but they all failed.

It's only in the 21st Century that the ZR-1 has seen its decade-old world records begin to fall -- but NOT to production cars. Except for the ZR-1, no automobile available to the public has EVER performed that well. In fact, the car that the ZR-1 beat in order to set those records was a one-off, hand-built racer, powered by an aircraft engine! Its driver, whose long-standing marathon record the Corvette thumped by a whopping 15 mph, was Ab Jenkins. I know the name because it's shared by my great-great-grandfather. And, as one would logically expect, the 21st century cars that have since broken the Corvette's marathon records are also one-off prototypes, with neither their engines nor their chassis yet to see a show-room, let alone mass-production.

So it's very unlikely that the world will ever again see a production package accomplish such a feat. And even if another licensable car does someday go that fast, for that long, the odds are against its ever being mass-marketed for thousands of happy enthusiasts. The Corvette ZR-1's achievement is thus a singular and enduring benchmark -- the high point in the first century of automotive history -- certifiably the only mass-produced car that, even with gas stops, could average over 175 mph all day and all night.

The heavy, elegant, ZR-1 could not only travel coast-to-coast distances faster than most private planes can fly them, it could do so with more amenities -- six-way adjustable leather seats, Bose stereo, air-conditioning, electrically adjustable suspension, F-16-style gold-reflective windshield, and monster brakes. Besides, the Corvette offered owners sleeker lines than anything propeller-powered -- except maybe the Mercruiser race boats sharing its engine's production facility. Odd, when you ponder it, that the engines of the fastest Corvettes ever sold to the public were designed in England and built by an American boat company! That eccentricity alone gives the 1990-1995 Corvette ZR-1 a unique bloodline -- a pedigree befitting the fastest production car of its time.

After fifteen years, the world has yet to mass-produce a marathoner which has proved itself the ZR-1's equal, but we can hope. The two-generation-newer C-6 Corvette, due soon at Chevrolet dealerships, is reputed to be even faster than the ZR-1; but GM hasn't yet shown the C6 can average 175 mph for the first 5000 miles of its warranty. And even if it can, the marathon records firmly held by the Corvette ZR-1 through the turn of the last century may now, by experimental prototypes, have been pushed out of reach for any production car -- let alone a mass-marketed Chevy.

But, for one brief, shining moment, the certified "King of the Hill" could be driven out of an American showroom and onto a public highway, confidently assuring its pilot that nothing sold elsewhere at any price could match its pace and still go the distance. Were there an Olympics for cars, the indomitable ZR-1 would still be wearing gold. She done us proud.

Robin Jenkins
Olympic August, 2004

[ZR-1 Franz]

The VW was a purpose built car, that never went into production.
The FIA (Ferrari's Interest Agency) tolerates these kinds of events!
And, it is much easier to do a driver's job in Nardo than in Fort Stockton!
Long live the KING!!!!

[Z Factor]

I always enjoy reading these stories.