Check Out The New Callaway Corvette C7 GT3R Up Close

Some of the racing details offset the other tame hardware in the engine bay.

Pirelli World Challenge hosted the St. Pete Grand Prix earlier this March and while the racing action was awesome, some of the rides deserved a close up look. One of those rides is the Callaway Corvette C7 GT3R, which is having its debut race season here in the ‘States.

Joe Raiti from Raiti’s Rides was able to get quite close to the new Corvette racer, and what he found was quite interesting. Even though the GT3R is one of the most racy Corvettes to hit the track, the street car, at least in Z06 and ZR1 form would actually be more powerful. Due to rules in Pirelli World Challenge dictating a power to weight limit, this C7 uses a naturally-aspirated V8, which looks relatively tame compared to the other exotic machinery you’d find in a racing paddock. Raiti also notes how it sits “quite far back and quite low in the engine bay,” in order to have ideal weight balance.

While the engine is also set as low and as far back in the engine bay as possible, other dimensions outside of the bay have changed on the C7. A wide body is fitted with flared wheel arches to fit sticky racing rubber, and the usual quad tip exhaust is replaced with a side exit. Raiti finds that the most appealing part of the car, saying “when it goes down the track, you can hear it booming and thundering right in your chest.”

As well, one of the more unique exterior features actually comes from the back of the car. A rear wing with some unique shapes can be found, with Raiti describing the angles leading to the end plates. “It has some different shape to it, and they have obviously done months and months of wind tunnel testing.” Of course testing is one thing, and the race track is a whole different game.

How did the Callaway GT3R fare? It picked up a solid 2nd place finish during round 2 of St Pete’s Grand Prix weekend March 9-11.