Yahoo Autos Garage 56 Chevy Camaro ZL1 will bring NASCAR to Le Mans
Awhile back, Le Mans prototype racers leading the field were newly, suspiciously quiet because of their diesel and hybrid engines. At the other aural end, the naturally aspirated V8s in the Corvette and Panoz race cars were wonderfully, monumentally loud. Panoz is gone from the World Endurance Championship and Corvette's gone flat-plane crank, leaving no factory team to fill Le Mans with the sound of ... America. That could change in a few months thanks to this, the Garage 56 project for Le Mans, a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 based on NASCAR's current Next Gen Cup car. Assuming all gets approved by the chieftains at French organizer ACO, the South is about to holler at La Sarthe on June 10-11.
Garage 56 is the Le Mans name for innovative, experimental entries invited to run the race and occupy pit #56, which only happens occasionally. The La Filiere Frederic Sausset by SRT41 team invited in 2021 was the first Garage 56 outfit in five years. The last one we wrote about regularly was the Nissan Deltawing that campaigned at Le Mans in 2012.
The idea for parking a revised Cup car in Garage 56 apparently came from NASCAR CEO Jim France, who suggested a Chevy with a hybrid powertrain to ACO President Pierre Fillon. It would make quite the collaboration for two series celebrating big birthdays this year, Le Mans turning 100 years old, NASCAR turning 75. There's no hybrid to be found on the car, though, so we don't know how that might affect entry. Being this close to Le Mans with the introduction, we'd imaging France and Fillon have sorted out the details.
