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Here's the story...
After four years of chasing Cobras, Duntov and his crew knew that they had to do something to put the Corvette back in the winner's circle. Endurance racing was the pinnacle of sports car racing. So the sights of Chevrolet were set on the 1967 24 Hours at Le Mans in France. Thus, the L88 legend was born.
The L88 was so close to being an all-out race car that Duntov deliberately had the engine rated at 430 horsepower at a low 5,200 rpm. The true rating was 460 horsepower at 6,400 rpm. With open headers, 103 octane gas and a few other tricks, the power was over 500. This kept unknowing performance hounds from checking off the option with the highest figure. All creature comforts were missing. There was no heater, defroster, radio, power steering, windows or radiator shroud. A/C was not available either. The J56 brake option was required with competition-only brake pads. Also mandatory was the F41 special suspension, and the M22 "rock crusher" four-speed transmission. From 1967 to 1969 only 216 L88 optioned Corvettes were built.
Details of the L88 were exotic stuff for 1967. Using the same four-bolt main cast iron block as the street Corvette, all sorts of special parts were added. The forged steel crank was cross-drilled and tuftrided.
Rods were shot-peened and magnafluxed. The forged aluminum pistons had 12.5:1-compression.
The L88 used a radical camshaft and solid lifters. Up top was an aluminum high-rise intake manifold with a huge 830-cfm Holley four-barrel. The entire valvetrain was heavy duty and a K66 ignition was used. Also there was an aluminum radiator and a special cold-air hood scoop. The sexiest parts were the aluminum heads.
Dick Guldstrand, Bob Bondurant and Don Yenko drove a specially built L88 at Le Mans, hitting 171.5 mph on the Mulsanne straight! While leading the GT class, one of the stock wrist pins broke at the 11-1/2 hour mark , putting the L88 out of the race. Guldstrand commented, "Nobody was getting in your way... we showed them the short way around the track."
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