2001 Corvette C5 Auto-X Comp Car - Rich King

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2001 Chevrolet Corvette C5

Rich King

Instagram: @Rich_LSKing

Photographer: Michael Autrey

Instagram: @NightAdderPhotography

Going back to the beginning of 2018, I was in college and had a dealership job that earned me enough money to get into a nice sports car in the $10-20k range. Since childhood, I was always interested in the Le Mans Corvettes. Back in the day, they were the loudest, most crazily coloured and fastest cars in class on the track. It was a career goal at the time to work for that team as an engineer. So I knew a C5 was the one for me. I found this car in a Mitsubishi dealership about 7 hours away in Lubbock Texas. It was basically a bone stock Millenium Yellow car minus an exhaust, had 60k miles on it, and loaded with two tops. 

After some shrewd negotiation for only $14k, it was mine. At the time I just wanted this to be a fun street machine to cruise around with no serious modification plans. Though at least going to an autocross was on my agenda for the car - it was not a major goal of mine. Fast forward to February 2020, I decided to come to my first autocross with the Texas Spokes Club based out of Austin. Since I bought the C5, I'd only installed a set of C6 base wheels and some firehawk indy 500 tires. So I was showing up with very much a typical “boomer” C5 at the time. The first event was a blast and I was absolutely hooked. The first thing I did was get a better set of tires, as vs stock that was the most impactful mod legal in the “street” class the car was in even from a value perspective. 

Suddenly COVID hit and I found myself with no racing, extracurricular engineering activities, or a real automotive/creative outlet. During that time I thought about a business where you could 3D print custom car parts tailored to a specific customer. As most custom work is incredibly expensive and 3D printing materials could be light-duty aluminium replacements and still be affordable for what it is. I bought the printer and started working with my first customers in the summer of 2020.

The goal was to use the Corvette as a test platform for parts. If it could be proven on my car to win, it could do the same for my customers. So then I started designs on hood vents, brackets, fixtures, mounts for a spoiler and so on. At the time I was still in school so C5 Z06 wheels and a combination of C5Z and C6Z suspension parts were all I could afford, but it made a great difference. It was locally competitive and nationally a mid-pack build at the time. 

Come Spring of 2022 I have graduated school and wanted to get serious about the build. So out comes a lot of weight, it goes more aero, bigger wheels and tires and parts from an incredible partnership with Viking Performance, and their Crusader Triple Adjustable Coilovers all made a huge difference and got the car higher up in the pack. Alongside this were partnerships with Texas Drivetrain Performance with their stage 3 diamond clutch and Joe Gaska of Dirts Projects with custom carbon fibre parts.

Even more, upgrades made their way onto the car as my first SCCA solo nationals approached. Nationals are the superbowl of autocross and I was thrilled to be one of the 25+ drivers in my class alone. I managed a 4th place finish, just half a second out of 3rd place. That was overall the biggest win for myself, the car and the 3D print business. Things got to the point where I could continue to build the car into the low 2900 lb range with even bigger wheels and tires, more aggressive aero and a fully built suspension system. Overall this led to 2 more national event trophies and now the Holley LS Fest Texas Autocross Championship. 

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Specifications

Powertrain/Drivetrain

• Hinson 1-7/8 headers with full exhaust 
• Custom Super Trap disk mufflers 
• AFE intake and bridge 
• Granatelli MAF
• Custom Tune via HP Tuners 
• Texas Drivetrain Performance Diamond Stage 3 clutch and lightweight flywheel 

Suspension/Brakes:

• Viking Performance Triple Adjustable Coilovers with Custom Spring Package 
• Borg Motorsport 100AF Delrin Bushings 
• Strano parts rear sway bar
• C6ZR1 front sway bar
• AMT Motorsport camber kit 
• EBC blue brake pads 
• Custom toe links 

Chassis/Body:

• Custom chassis tunnel plate 
• Aluminium radiator mount 
• Fixed light bars 
• Custom cut and flat bottom rear bumper 
• Slotted from bumper 
• Custom plate cover from DirtsProjects 
• Custom Lexan Hatch 
• Custom Pin on the hood 
• Carbon Creationz rear carbon widebody fenders
• Custom reinforced fibreglass targa top
• Custom Rear Mini tub
• Custom pop-up headlight delete

Aero:

• Nine Lives Builders Dual element Wang
• After Dark speed chassis mounts 
• Custom 3D-printed Canards 
• Custom 3D printed Hood vents 
• Custom 6-inch adjustable splitter 
• Nine Lives splitter mounts 

Interior/Ergo 

• Sparco 350mm 1.5-inch offset wheel
• B&M shifter 
• Custom 3D printed Shift knob 
• Sparco sprint seat 
• AMT Ultra Low seat mount 
• Sparco harness bar 
• Racequip 6-point harness 
• Custom tablet mount 
• Custom forged carbon centre bezel by DirtsProjects 

The following are custom designed 3D printed parts 

• Splitter ramps 
• Canards
• Hood vents 
• Fender vents 
• Air dams 
• Splitter end plates 
• Horn bracket 
• Headlight cover mounts 
• Shift knob 
• Spoiler brackets
• Spoiler end plates 
• Wing mounts 
• Interior centre console blank
• Hood pin load relief plates

In my three short years of building this car, I've learned so much and have come to appreciate the sport and even more so the community in racing. The people at the Texas Spokes Club helped push and mentor me as a driver and get a national event trophy after just over two years in the sport. Whatever “family” Dom Torretto coined in Fast and Furious has definitely come to fruition in the autocross community. 

This build is the manifestation of the Corvette Racing engineering dreams I had as a kid. The funniest part about it is along the way, I didn't even realize that was exactly what was happening until now when I can look back with a bit of hindsight. I am very optimistic about the future of the build, and I appreciate everyone's support. You can follow me on Instagram @Rich_LSKing to see all of the future adventures this racing thing takes me on.

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