In 1960, Camoradi was able to acquire two “competition optioned Corvettes plus spare parts, technical advice as needed and a financial testing contract” with a little help from Corvette engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov.

Delivered with 283-cubic-inch/290-hp fuel-injected engines, heavy-duty brakes and suspension, and larger fuel tanks.

The Corvettes started their racing career off right, with one cruising to an overall win at the Gran Premio de la Habana, then following up three days later with a GT class win at the Gran Premio de la Cuba finale.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/market-trends/hagerty-insider/auctions-hagerty-insider/it-doesnt-get-much-more-legit-than-the-1960-camoradi-corvette/

Zora Arkus-Duntov never owned a Corvette himself until he retired in 1975 (and he had his '74 painted this way)

https://www.hotcars.com/zora-arkus-duntovs-only-personal-corvette-restored-by-ncm/
https://www.corvsport.com/the-only-one-the-ncm-is-restoring-the-only-corvette-zora-personally-owned/

I just learned the origin of the Z06 is “Zora’s Option 6.”

Corvette’s patron saint (and after 1967, chief engineer) Zora Arkus-Duntov following the arrival of the (Ford) Shelby Cobras in 1962, understood that Corvette owners needed competition parts to safeguard their Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) A-Production turf.

Avoided alerting GM’s upper management but still drew potential competitors, with a new-for-1963 racing package codenamed “Zora’s Option 6” listed as a regular-production-option.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/six-decade-corvette-z06-odyssey/

In October 1962, 3 Z06s faced off against one of the first Shelby Cobras at the Los Angeles Times three-hour invitational road race staged in Riverside, 

The Cobra driven by Bill Krause was competitively quick but DNFed after 90 minutes with a failed rear hub carrier. 

The Corvette fielded by Mickey Thompson and driven by Doug Hooper—beat a Porsche 356 to seize an overall victory.

So shortly after, Chevrolet Engineering purchased one of the early Shelby Cobras, a white car acquired for Arkus-Duntov’s evaluation. 

The Cobra’s 900-pound weight advantage inspired his 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, a hoped-for 100-car run of ultra-light sports cars which GM nipped in the bud after only five were built.

Wrap your mind around the fact that a Cobra was owned by Chevy Engineering.... led to the Vette GS. I'd love to know what happened to the Cobra after Chevy parted with it

https://www.facebook.com/Petersen.Photo.Archive/photos/1962-la-times-grand-prix-riverside-3-hour-endurance-race-the-first-major-event-f/860543280643619/

the Duntov 1954 test mule with 1956 bodywork (center), with John Fitch and Betty Skelton. 1956 Corvette Team at Daytona Speed Week.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-1397#post-14181316

There's a couple reasons to ignore that Hot Rod even exists anymore, like it's boring, but did they have to ignore their duty to edit and read it before publishing?

in this example, some moron doesn't know how to spell Duntov.

And ironically ends the next sentence with "Oh, the injustice" 

Hot Rod has really quit giving a shit, and given up on being entertaining and bringing hot rods too. But if you give a rats ass about Chevy transmissions that can stand 1000 horsepower, like that's who's buying Hot Rod magazine?  Then you're in luck and they'll cure your insomnia at the same time.

Years ago when it was a great magazine, and ran features like "Hot Rod Anything" I paid for many years of subscription renewals. Now I can see that was a waste of money.

When Hot Rod magazine can't fucking spell check (with or without Microsoft Word) Zora (father of the Corvette and salvation of Chevrolet) Duntov's name, then it's time for them to throw in the fucking towel and die.

No god damn self respecting car enthusiast magazine should ever be caught with the inability to spell the names, with respect, of the legends that got us here

Zora and the CERV1 on Pikes Peak

 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-602#post-13639639

The Cannonball Compact Car Division of Nascar, 1960... so slow and boring, it only happened 3 times, from 1960 to 61. The Corvairs were so stock, they still had dealership window stickers

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-5357#post-12674192

With the release of the compact 1960 Plymouth Valiant, NASCAR sanctioned a special race for the new six-cylinder compact car class, which would involve all three major automakers.

Chrysler racing engineers working in Dyno Cell 13 went to work on the 170 cu in slant six. This special group would be responsible for taking an ordinary 170 cubic inch six and making it put out extraordinary horsepower, that would earn these Chrysler racing engineers the title of most powerful and feared in-line six cylinder ever built in America.

(All they did was get 8 more horsepower, so, whoever wrote this was drunk. Notice, 140 hp stock, 148 hp after all their work)

The 170 slant six performance would be put to the test in front of millions of TV viewers.

The 1960 Plymouth Valiant was only available in a 4 door model; this was given a standard block with a set of special domed pistons for a higher compression ratio, a Racer Brown ST-21 cam, a 21" long ram intake manifold, a four-barrel Carter AFB, exhaust manifolds that dumped into a 2-1/2" o.d. outlet pipe into a bigger muffler from an Imperial.

Seven slant six Valiants entered the new NASCAR race; and won the first seven places

CBS aired the compact sedan races as well as the qualifying for the Daytona 500 race in a live TV special for their "sports spectacular;" it was estimated that 17 million people were watching. 

Junior Johnson even qualified a Simca!

Leading the CBS broadcast was Walter Cronkite. Although he wasn't a racing analyst, he was a sports car racer himself, he competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring the previous year and having him on the broadcast would give a sense of legitimacy.  https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/03/walter-cronkite-from-race-car-driver-to.html

He went on to anchor CBS's coverage of the Winter Olympics a few weeks later, and took over as anchor of CBS's Evening News in 1962.

The compact sedan race quickly turned into a dull affair (80 mph on Daytona is slow as hell to watch) as lap after lap Lee Petty managed to turn away all challenges. It was made even duller by the fact that besides his Valiant, the next 7 positions were also hyper-pak Valiants.

(Notice the writer contradicts his earlier statement that the 1st seven places were all Valiants, now, it's the 1st place with Lee Petty, and seven more Valiants.) and the disclaimer on Allpar is: (We make no guarantees regarding validity or accuracy of information, predictions, or advice -) 

Notice that Zora Duntov was cited as the Chevy engineer to be tasked with upgrading the Corvairs... and said he didn't have time to make them competitive with a 4 barrel carb set up, in this caption

The Chevrolet Corvair Fireball Roberts raced at Daytona in 1960 was completely stock and still had the window sticker from Don Allen Chevrolet in Miami.

Richard Petty came in #23 in the following 20 lap race, where only the 1st three finishers were Valiants, where Panch, Schechter, and Frank were 1, 2, and 3. 

https://www.allpar.com/threads/the-slant-six-hyper-pak.229962/

https://www.allpar.com/threads/the-compact-war-valiant-racing.229214/

https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=2349

http://www.persh.org/Corvairs/NASCAR.htm

https://www.nascarhall.com/blog/bill-france-compact-idea

Corvettes have an easter egg, huh! Why haven't we heard about this until now?

Ryan Jaycox recently serviced his mid-engine sports car, and up on the lift, he spotted Zora “stamped on the bottom”  towards the center of the underside of his Corvette

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/c8-corvette-owner-finds-zora-easter-egg-stamped-on-underbody-panel-153172.html#

The 1968 Chevrolet Corvette L88 “Scuderia Filipinetti” Le Mans Race Car

With a coil spring front suspension and an L88 engine prepped by Zora Arkus-Duntov smuggled out the back door to circumvent GM’s ban on racing, the L88 was driven at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans by Henri Greder and Umberto Maglioli. The car dominated the Porsches and led the GT class until the 6th hour when a carburetion problem melted a piston.

https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2009/08/11/Auction-Preview-1968-Corvette-L88-Scuderia-Filipinetti-Le-Mans-Racer/

Zora Duntov sold his experimental 55 Vette to his neighbor in 62, that guy put an ad in Hot Rod magazine and sold it in '65

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1955-duntov-corvette/

Zora (with helmet) going for a ride in a test mule made by joining the front half of the upcoming second-generation Corvette with the back half and roofline of a first-gen Vette.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/backstage-1962-shelby-breedlove-roth-stanley-mouse-mickey-thompson-jet-cars-dobie-gillis-first-ford-mustang/

I just learned that Zora Duntov set a Pikes Peak record for sedans in 1956, breaking the old record by 2 minutes, as a method of getting sales back on track and saving the Corvette by perfecting a new fuel injection

Duntov used his persuasive powers to convince Chevrolet boss Ed Cole and GM R and D director Maurice Olley that a production Corvette would be a “turning point” for GM and that his contributions could be instrumental in advancing any high-performance automobile’s cause.

Olley was less convinced that racing relationships with other carmakers were a wise idea. For punishment, he dispatched the Russian to the proving grounds to work on trucks.

Cole had other ideas. After reading Arkus-Duntov’s memo pointing out how the hot-rod movement might help Chevrolet reach younger buyers, he gave his rabble rouser a challenging project: developing the fuel injection scheduled for introduction on the 1957 model year Chevrolet V-8 because Corvette sales were faltering and GM was pondering the early retirement of its sports car.

Arkus-Duntov stepped in at the last moment to save the Corvette and to recast it as Chevrolet’s halo vehicle. His views won broad internal respect and the job of evolving the Corvette from a fashionable, gutless two-seater into a world-class sports car. His new authority only encouraged Arkus-Duntov’s speed exploits.

Entering a 1956 Chevrolet in the annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb was near the top of the list of possibilities. Their goal was to set a sedan class record. One of the PR managers realized that Duntov would be an ideal person to drive in the event. He had international racing credentials and he was a genuine Chevrolet engineer.

Since the Pikes Peak event would take place prior to the introduction of the 1956 Chevrolets, a elaborate disguise scheme was developed to prevent the premature exposure of the new design.

He broke a couple of Pikes Peak records in disguised Chevy sedans, a 2 dr and a 4 dr in early 1955, when Chevrolet public relations began developing ideas aimed at publicizing the performance of their new small-block V-8 engine.

They were both equipped with the 265 cubic inch small-block V-8, 3 speed manual transmissions and 4.55 rear ends. The suspensions were beefed-up, but there were no roll-cages installed.

GM had been using Pikes Peak for high altitude testing so there was an established GM Engineering Test Facility ready for Duntov’s team to use in nearby in Manitou Springs.

And GM had the juice to get Bill France and his crew to time the private event that was held without the Pike's Peak Hill Climb Associations sanctioning, and so they didn't change the official record books.

http://www.racingpastdevilsplayground.com/2018/03/01/chevrolet-testing-programs-at-pikes-peak-over-the-years/
http://picssr.com/photos/49667732@N07/interesting
https://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/Zora_Duntov_Sets_Pikes_Peak_Record

1956 SCCA races at Nassau Bahamas, mostly the factory Corvette team

There are shots unloading the cars from the transport, driving though town to get to the track, and a lot of close-ups of drivers, cars, and pit action. There are a lot of Corvette shots, including the SR-2. At about 8:30 Duntov, Mitchell (in his white coveralls), and Harley Earl make an appearance.

Found on http://www.deansgarage.com/2014/remarkable-1957-nassau-video/

Duntov's test mule

This one-off white-on-red 1954 Corvette is referred to as the ‘Mule Car’ due to the fact that Zora Duntov himself used it to develop the performance capacities of future Corvettes. Smokey Yunick, built the engine.

http://www.highline-autos.com/great_garage/53/The-Lingenfelter-Collection--Well-Engineered

the SR-2 was at the Greystone Concours

the memo from Duntov to Chevy management...

the 1967 Corvette.. behind the scenes

Duntov was so furious that the 67 Vette was on an unimproved chassis, he fired off a memo to the top GM brass. They canned his ass from engineering. Then they disbanded engineering, made Duntov do PR. Other engineers were sent to passenger car work.

 Design was the favorite department, they made the Corvette look good, sell well, and GM was all about the profit, not about the racing. Makes sense from a corporate perspective, less liability in sports cars than race cars.

But the 67 was so bad, Car and Driver editor told the readers, it was unfit for a road test. The aerodynamics were so far off, it floated, and it's quality was horrible.

It looked great, but remember that at the time the unions were causing production problems, and GM couldn't handle that.

Pete Estes quickly got things back in order, restoring Engineering and named Duntov chief engineer. 12 months later, the 68 Vette was named "Best all around car in the world" by Car and Driver. That is astonishing improvement

info from Corvette Sixty Years page 98

Duntov Turbo Corvettes, Chevy didn't make them

Chevy never could get Turbos to work well before Duntov retired, and after he did, he worked with some company to market the Duntov 1980 Convertible Turbo Corvette. It wasn't smog legal in California

these need to get posted... I have been waiting for the right time.

 I came across this in my neighborhood

 Dodge made a 600ES? Huh,  looks like a late 80's Aries K car

 RARE 1981 corvette, a Duntov Turbo edition. Corvettes were just not going to get turbos according to the GM managers

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5156036-Vintage-photos-Awesome!/page264

 Off.. a jag that got a nose job, and looks worse, from http://parkoffka.ru/ who has a lot of great content, but NEVER add a credit to their posts to tell you where they got the stuff they post. I don't like that

 I think the above Ford truck was from one of my favorite Brazilian websites, it's a South American Ford crew cab and maybe not even a pick up bed.

The pancake shaped flying wing V173