As we kick off Builds Month, I thought I'd quickly share a build that I've been following online for a weeks now. Blu808, the team responsible for Conrad Grunewald's drift Camaro is hard at work on a second Formula Drift car for 2011 – a C6 Corvette that will be piloted by Luke Lonberger.
There's a pretty extensive build thread happening right now over at Drifting.com that's being updated regularly. Here's a shot of the base vehicle. Because of the Formula Drift rulebook, the aluminum chassis Z06 had to ruled out in favor of a standard model '05 C6.
Here's a look at the suspension coming together. Blu808 is teaming up with Corvette specialists LG Motorsports for this build, and seeing LG's experience in World Challenge and ALMS, this should be a very capable vehicle.
The steering angle looks nuts!
Here's a look inside showing the progress on the cage.
And later, the chassis after spending time in the paint booth.
Here's the engine bay being prepped. For now you can see the carbon air box, but they haven't posted details on the engine setup yet. I'm sure it will be pretty wild.
Exterior-wise, the car is using lots of LG's competition-spec body parts. The idea of C6 drift car styled like an ALMS or World Challenge machine sounds pretty cool doesn't it?
A peek at the black Forgeline wheels.
I'm pretty excited to see what the finished car looks like at Long Beach in April. From the looks of it, this will be one of the biggest new FD cars of 2011.
For more, check out the detailed build thread at Drifting.com, or Blu808.com.
-Mike Garrett
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
"The idea of C6 drift car styled like an ALMS or World Challenge machine sounds pretty cool doesn't it?"
Sounds cool to an extent, as long as they dont take that idea TOO far.
Blu808 have also been documenting the build with video: http://vimeo.com/17516140
I didn't realise they had a standard forum build thread, so will def be checking that out
I was just looking at this this morning over on http://www.build-threads.com I am with you, Can't wait to see what this comes out like, I have always thought a drift spec C6 would be awesome, (I blame ZR1 drifting in Forza 3) I expect big things from the stance this will end up on.
wow I might actually have a reason to check out FD this year. Car's looking great!
Holy shit. That is all.
The last pic reminds me of a FC RX7. looks like this is gona turn out pretty tight
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!! ABOUT TIME!!
More redneck shit. Save the dumpmestic crap for NASCAR and walmart parking lots.
The best in the business. Period
I heard from luke that it's going to be a 410ci, 13.8:1compression ratio, 750 hp LS3
and the gap between privateers and big sponsor backed drivers grows.
It does look like a sick build though, especially that steering lock.
Allot of money spent on a car that's way off the mark to begin with!
@Redneck you sound more like a JDM fanboy with those comments lol.
Luke who?
I wouldn't say that this is a big sponsor backed car. Blu808 has 1 Pro car and 2 ProAM cars, other than this car getting built, and these cars are not company owned, these are owned by the drivers. This is Luke's rookie season in FD, he's spent years trying to get the Pro license. I remember when he first started competing. He definitely has a lot of sponsors, but his own shop and LG motorsports are the main sponsors. What this is, is nearly a decade of privateering and hard work paying off.
And for the domestic comment, you might as well stop watching american drifting since it's all about V8 power in Formula D.
Happy to see this come up on Speedhunters, this is definitely one of the more awesome builds I've been a part of. I run Jordan Innovations, providing Mil-spec wiring and electronics to quite a few Formula D/Redline/etc professional comp cars, and get as involved as I have time for with my customer's builds.
I've been good friends with Luke (Lonberger) for years, and after helping Luke and Conrad put the Camaro together last year (and doing all the electronics/wiring) I realized these guys are world-class builders. Luke is the best fabricator I've ever seen, and the C6 Corvette is an especially potent starting point. The powerplant will be Luke's LS3 built by Turn Key Engine Supply, reworked since it came out of his S14. It will still be naturally aspirated.
For the record, this is a privateer build, on a small budget. LG, Ksport, Forgeline, Sparco myself, and Blu808's other sponsors have helped as much as we can with parts (special thanks to Lou for his personal interest in the project!), but no one has signed on as a large cash sponsor. The fact that Luke is able to pull out a 10/10th's build without the HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars the "big guys" throw into their FD cars is a testament to his resourcefulness.
Check out the build videos, and stay tuned this season! See you at the track.
Last month, Mike Garrett gave us a sneak peak at the build of Luke Lonberger's FormulaD C6 Covette