Independence Day special with four American sports racers ...

This weekend was Independence Day in the United States and that inspired us to take a closer look at four American sports racers. The earliest of the quartet is this very rare Ford GT Roadster. One of four built, it was the only open GT(40) raced at Le Mans. It was later owned for many years by custom car designer Dean Jeffries. In more recent years, GT/109 has been carefully restored and was shown at a Pebble Beach in 2006.
The least known car featured today is most definitely the Corvette ZR1 that was raced at Le Mans in 1995. Very much a privateer effort, it was developed by Doug Ripple Motorsports. Built to compete in the GT1 class, it was no match for the McLaren F1 GTRs and eventually retired with a broken engine. The unique Corvette ZR1 racer is today in Swiss hands.
Altogether more successful at Le Mans were the Dodge Vipers. The chassis highlighted here made one appearance at Le Mans but spent most of its career in the FIA GT, Belcar and FFSA GT championships. Pressed back into service by its current owner, Viper GTS-R C39 wears the same colours as it did at Le Mans back in 2002.
That same year, the British GT Championship was won by Tommy Erdos and Ian McKellar, piloting this Saleen S7-R. The pairing took a vey impressive eight victories in the Graham Nash Motorsport fielded machine. Later in its career, 015R also competed in the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans Series.

Enjoy the links:

[URL="https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/7667/Chevrolet-Corvette-ZR1-Le-Mans.html"]1995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Le Mans[/URL]

[URL="https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/chassis/3615/Dodge-Viper-GTS-R-C39.html"]2001 Dodge Viper GTS-R (C39)[/URL]

[URL="https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/chassis/3893/Ford-GT-Roadster-GT-109.html"]1965 Ford GT Roadster (GT/109)[/URL]

[URL="https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/chassis/3203/Saleen-S7-R-015R.html"]2001 Saleen S7-R (015R)[/URL]