Sanctioning groups restrict tires to 26.5x7.00-15 Hoosier TDs. These are the closest viable tires available to what was used back in the day. "Others are allowed, but this seems to be the most popular choice," Park says. "We run 6.0x15-inch Halibrand aluminum wheels. These are the closest that we can find to the Halibrand alloy wheels that were actually available as a limited factory option for racing '58 Corvettes."
As any C1 owner already knows, the brakes are the weakest point of the solid-axle Corvettes. "We run basically the same `heavy-duty racing' drum brakes that were available from 1957 to 1962," Park notes. "Our sanctioning bodies require that the brakes be `as available during the year of manufacture.' These brakes have slightly wider drums and factory cooling air scoops."
As was done in the '50s, the fiberglass inside the blocked side "grilles" is cut away, and air is ducted to the front brakes from there. During track time, Park's crew removes the drums and checks the brakes every day. It often changes some or all of the brake linings on Saturday night, before Sunday's race session. Even so, it's possible to run the car completely out of brakes in a 10-lap race if some discretion is not used.
Fittingly, No. 3892 is no trailer queen, having run at more than 100 vintage-racing events with surprising success (see sidebar).It has always been a very strong, front-running, car."I have often joked--well, half-joked--that the car is better than the driver," Park laughs. But all told, it's a classic story of a classic car, driven by one classy owner. And that's no mistake.
Staying On Track (As Told By Noel Park)Our first race was at Palm Springs in the fall of 1986. We fought teething problems with the fuel-injection unit and the engine all weekend, and didn't get too many laps in, but we learned a lot. The next outing was at the Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA) driving school and testing weekend at Laguna Seca in March of 1987. This time the car ran strong all weekend. We were thrilled and felt well on our way to having a competitive car.
The car has made 13 appearances at the famous MHAR. There, it has recorded four wins, eight other top-five finishes, and one DNF due to being caught up in someone else's accident. It has made an equal number of appearances at the famed Wine Country Classic (WCC) at Sears Point/Infineon Raceway, with similar results. It also has three race wins to its credit at the Coronado Festival of Speed, and one at the Portland Historic Races.
Some highlight memories include our first race win at Sears Point in 1988. Other highlights include finishing Second overall out of 39 cars at the Riverside Vintage Enduro in 1987. This field included a Ford GT, a 427 Cobra, several Shelby GT350s, Corvette Stingrays, Sunbeam Tigers, and other cars, all of which should be much faster on paper. This achievement was the result of disciplined driving to a predetermined lap time, under the eagle eye of the famous LeMans driver Christopher Lawrence. We just kept our equipment together and waited for the competition to falter. A two-hour race is a long time for these old cars, and a lot of them went by the wayside.
Another thrill was the '89 la carrera classic, run on the public roads from ensenada to san felipe, baja california. The car averaged 101 mph for the 114 miles, which included some fairly twisty mountain driving, and we saw 165 mph on the flat-out straight sections. We finished 11th overall out of 51 entries, and fifth in the vintage class. As the other four entrants were a '69 camaro with an aluminum 427 engine, a ferrari daytona, a ginetta g-12, and a porsche 911s, we were pretty happy with the result. Finishing behind us were six 911s, an aston martin db6, a maserati bora, three ferraris, a '63 corvette, and a mercedes 450 slc amg, just to name a few.