A Quick History of the Corvette Grand Sport

GM introduced the Corvette Grand Sport in 1963 as the ultimate American road racer. Today, it blends Z06 goodies with Stingray power.

The Corvette Grand Sport name was introduced back in 1963 when then-lead engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov transformed the new C2 into what he considered to be the ultimate American road racer. While it had the same basic exterior design as the Stingray production road cars, the original Grand Sport models had a long list of variations.

The body panels were thinner and there were loads of aluminum bits under the skin, including an aluminum space frame. The Grand Sport race cars were also dimensionally smaller than the road car. When coupled with the lightweight materials, these Corvette race cars weighed roughly 1,980 pounds while packing around 550-horsepower from a specially built 377-cubic inch small block V8.

The plan was for General Motors to produce 125 examples of the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport, but the program was scrapped by penny-pinching executives before it ever got off of the ground. The company did build five examples, all of which were sold to privateer racing programs, including drivers Roger Penske, A.J. Foyt, and Dick Thompson. They proved to be successful race cars, but never with GM factory backing, and the program never advanced. The classic images here are courtesy of General Motors.

C4 Grand Sport

The Grand Sport name would not be used again – or used officially on a production model – until 1996. The C4 Corvette Grand Sport Special Edition was a limited run of 1,000 cars, all painted Admiral Blue with an Arctic White stripe and red hash marks on the driver’s side front fender. This package includes the black wheels from the C4 ZR-1, which were too wide for the standard Corvette body, so the 1996 Grand Sport package featured unusual flares over the rear tires. When combined with the 330-horsepower LT4 engine, the first production version of a Grand Sport Corvette was a success and since then, these cars have become hot collector’s items. The blue Grand Sport shown here was sold at the 2019 Barrett Jackson Palm Beach auction for $35,750.

C6 Grand Sport

The next Corvette Grand Sport was introduced for the 2010 model year. It was essentially a C6 Corvette with the Z51 handling package and some unique bodywork. Features of the C6 Grand Sport included unique springs and dampers, a Z06 rear spoiler, a transmission cooler, front and rear brake cooling ducts, lightweight wheels wrapped in high-performance rubber, Z06 brakes, wider front, and rear fenders and the LS3 V8 with a dry-sump oiling system.

Finally, the most recent Corvette Grand Sport was introduced for the 2017 model year. Once again, the C7 Grand Sport is sort of like a high-performance base car, incorporating high-end aero and suspension bits with the standard engine. In the case of the C7 Grand Sport, it is powered by the same LT1 V8 as the Stingray, but a dry-sump oiling system and active exhaust are standard. The package also includes package-specific wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sport summer tires, a Brembo braking system with 14-inch rotors and six-piston calipers up front and 13.4-inch rotors and four-piston calipers out back, magnetic ride control with unique springs and an electronic limited-slip differential.

Editor’s note: this content was originally published in a longer singular post about four Corvette trim level histories. We’ve divided them up to help people find them easier. 

Glossary

A Quick History of the Corvette Stingray
A Quick History of the Corvette Grand Sport
A Quick History of the Corvette Z06
A Quick History of the Corvette ZR1

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