Essential Spares: C5 Corvette

You can reminisce all you want about the glory days of motorsports in the 1960s, but the winningest period in the history of Corvette racing began in earnest in 1999 with the C5.

The Corvette C5-R debuted in the United States 1999 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and internationally in 2001 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it took the first of three consecutive class wins. In fact, from 1999 to 2004, the C5-R took 31 victories in the American Le Mans Series and the overall win at the Daytona 24 in 2001.

The C5 has long been a fixture in NASA racing and HPDE, but now that prices have come down to what we like to call “donor range,” the car is becoming even more of a fixture within NASA. Check the grids for any Super Touring race in any region. Odds are good you’ll find lots of C5 Corvettes, which can slot into any class from ST1 to ST4.

The chassis is robust and the powertrains are based on the excellent GM LS architecture. In fact, the C5 Corvette was the first GM car to use the LS engine, which has become ubiquitous, being swapped into everything from Miatas to M3s.

But donor range pricing results from age and mileage, and with age and mileage come fatigue and parts at the ends of their service lives. Like any production car used for racing after a long period of street use — and perhaps abuse — things can break, and that’s where this story comes in.

We reached out to C5 owners and racers across the country to find out where things can go a little cattywampus and what spares are most essential to successful weekends of racing. The drivers were as generous with their answers as they are to loan parts out at the track when a competitor is in a bind. If you’re interested in racing a C5 Corvette, or you already race one, this story will be essential to helping amateur racers write the next chapter of Corvette racing history.

Name: Ken Mantovani
Region: NASA Florida
Car: 2003 C5 Corvette
Years Racing: 14

Spares List
Axle
Differential seals
Coil packs
Plug wires
Spark plugs
Water pump
Expansion tank and cap
Hubs
Miscellaneous sensors (temp, oil, O2, etc.)
Miscellaneous hoses
Brake rotors and pads

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: GM parts for the Corvette are pretty robust. They take a lot of abuse, but time and heat take their toll. I am a big believer in preventive maintenance. Even if it’s not broken, I fix it. One thing that can ruin a weekend is working on the car trackside. I’d rather work on a car in my garage than at the track. But that’s not to say it doesn’t happen often. I base my parts list on what has failed in the past and what’s common to the C5.

Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?

A: Water pump.

Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?

A: Coils.

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: Buying parts cars over the years.

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: I haven’t had to supply parts that many times mainly because I didn’t have them in my trailer. Other competitors have broken transmissions or rear ends that I don’t usually bring with me, mainly because I have no intention of doing a swap like that trackside. I have given away spark plug wires and hubs before. The most common failures tend to be aftermarket parts. I have been asked for a shifter box several times, but I use a factory C6Z one that is very reliable.

Name: Cecil Stevens
Region: NASA Florida
Car: 2001 Corvette Z06
Years Racing: 2

Spares List
Power steering rack
Transmission
Differential
Torque tube parts
Plug wires
Valve Springs
Wheel hubs
Axles
Brake rotors
Crank sensor
Front and rear tie rod ends
Rear brake calipers
Pilot bearing
Various nuts, bolts, etc.

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: All the parts listed have either failed on me or I’ve seen failures from my fellow C5 racers, or heard that they are prone to fail.

Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?

A: I had to chase down a front tie rod end at Corvette Museum Motorsports Park. Now I have spares.

Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?

A: Torque tube guibos and valve springs.

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: Once we replace a part with new, I will rebuild the old part if possible and keep on hand. If it’s not rebuildable, then I buy two new.

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: There have been several times.

Boris Pevsner destroyed a two-piece front rotor. I loaned him my spare to not only finish his HPDE sessions, but also to be able to drive back home from Homestead to Miami.

Alexis and Ben Hocevar needed a hub at NCM. Ben won the race that year.

Joe Moholland thought he needed a crank sensor. I had one, but the problem turned out to be a ground wire.

One Saturday night, we replaced Frank Reinhart’s transmission at Barber with one we brought. Frank was able to run the Sunday race, but more importantly, his half-car owner at the time, Cliff Borter, was able to run all the HPDE sessions on Sunday.

Brian Costleigh needed not a part, so much, but we had to rewire his cutoff switch. I had the wire in the trailer to do so.

At the NASA Championships at Daytona, I provided a differential to Ben Grambau from the bed of my truck — then after that one went bad, I let him drive to my garage in Tampa to get another. So, two diffs in one weekend to the same guy.

I had some -10 stainless braided hose that I was able to give Marino Reyes last year at Sebring. It was Marino’s competition evaluation weekend, and it was the first racing he was doing in his new-to-him C5 Spec Corvette, and his oil cooler line blew on the second race of the weekend. After he got it fixed, he beat me in the last race!

We run these C5 Corvettes with stock horsepower. That’s 405 crank or about 380 at the rear wheels, max. Doing so allows these cars to live a lot longer. When guys start building motors with 500/600 horsepower, the rest of the drivetrain has a hard time keeping up. Take Ben Grambau for example. His car makes a lot of horsepower and torque that the stock C5 diff just couldn’t keep up with, but there were six C5 cars with stock power in ST3 that held together all weekend. The C5 is a great platform when not overpowered. If you do overpower it, then you also need to consider beefing up the drive train.

Name: Oli Thordarson
Region: NASA SoCal
Car: Spec Corvette, sometimes raced in ST2/TT2
Years Racing: 13, two prior for track days

Spares List
Front brake pads, set
Rear brake pads, set
Front rotors
Rear rotors
Brake fluid
Power steering fluid
Engine oil
Engine oil filter
Spark plugs
Spark plug leads
Serpentine belt
Air filter
Nankang tire
Set of four wheels and tires
Hubs
Fuel pump
Brake master cylinder
Clutch master cylinder
Clutch slave cylinder
Clutch, flywheel and release bearing
Front shock
Rear shock
Steering rack
Steering pump
Rear tie rod end
Tie rod end links
Sway bar end links
Front upper A-arm with bearings
Rear upper A-arm with bearings
C6 spindles, left and right
Spherical bearing kit
Rear axle half shaft
ECU
Alternator
Starter
Battery
Fire system recharge kit
Fuse kit

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: Over the years I have learned what breaks on my car, or watched what breaks on the cars of my friends, and what needs regular replacement when in the shop. I carry it all with me.

Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?

A: Hmmm? Not much has left me wanting at the track in recent years. One year I had a drive-by-wire throttle body act up on me, but that fortunately was just a test day. Other times, I totaled a car, 2017 and 2020, so that was beyond the realm of a trackside repair: bent chassis.

Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?

A: Brake master cylinder, gas tank, fuel pump, and a number of other items on my stocked spares list. But I eventually use those parts as they age out and get a preemptive replacement in the shop.

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: At first I broke stuff and then added spares, or I had friends come ask me for that part, so I thought, “I better add that to my stock.”

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: I do it multiple times per year. At Sonoma recently it was front brake pads. A couple of months before that it was a serpentine belt at Chuckwalla. Earlier this year I even loaned an internal fuel tank pump to a racer, although it was not needed after all. The traditional protocol is for the borrower to order a new part shipped to me as replacement, although on a few occasions they throw me an appropriate amount of money.

Name: Ben Grambau
Region: NASA Mid-Atlantic
Car: No. 22 C5 Corvette
Years Racing: 1 in ST2, 4 in TT2

Spares List
Serpentine belt
Dry-sump oil pump belt
Wheel spacers
Brake pads
Brake rotors
Front brake lines
Spark plug wires
Spark plugs
Otiker clamp for half shaft CV boots
Stainless safety wire
Race Tape
Electrical Tape
Motive Power brake bleeder
Brake bleeder bottle
Motor oil
Power steering fluid
Used water pump and thermostat
Spare wheel bearing/hub
Extra lug nuts
Distilled water to top off coolant level
Radiator stop leak
Differential fluid
RainX and RainX anti-fog
Spray wax detailer
Spare AIM GPS sensor
Spare AIM temperature sensor
Spare AIM pressure sensor
Various AA, AAA, 357, 1632, 2032 batteries
Extra AJ Hartman Aero splitter biscuits
Blue shop towels
Towels
Microfiber cloths
Window cleaner
Nitrile gloves
Brake cleaner
Coolant/water mixture for Chillout Driver Cooler System
Radiator vacuum bleeder
Zip ties
Exhaust flange gaskets
Stainless worm gear clamps
Rivets / rivet gun
Teflon tape
GM shop manuals
Aluminum sheet metal
Blue threadlocker
Nitrogen tank for filling shocks and tires
Shock pressure gauge
Tire pressure gauge
Steel and lead ballast weights
Grade 8 bolts and hardware for ballast
100 cc medical syringes for removing brake fluid and oil
Miscellaneous hardware
1/4-20 nuts/bolts/washers
M6-1.0 nuts/bolts/washers
Various GM specific nuts and hardware
Various Size NPT plugs
AN3 & AN6 plugs/caps
Extra front splitter and wing hardware
Electrical spares
Tefzel wire (multiple colors)
Raychem mini-splice butt splices
Raychem DR-25 head shrink tubing
Spare WeatherPack connector kits
Spare Metri-Pak 150 connectors, pins, seals
Spare GM LS ECU pins
Marine grade ring/spade terminals
Kapton tape
Extra battery cable

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: Over time I have built up parts, supplies, materials and tools for working on my car. In my shop I store these items in Rubbermaid containers that I load into the trailer whenever head to the track. It doesn’t do you any good to have 30 different spare piece parts scattered around your shop at home, when they could be neatly organized and with you at the track.

Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?

A: I recently needed a piece of stainless strip/sheet metal to repair a hole in an exhaust header, but I got what I needed from fellow competitor No. 330, Eric Magnussen.

Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?

A: I’ve never needed power steering fluid before.

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: I’ve been going to the track for 15 years now. If I can pack it or store it in my trailer, I bring it with me. I do all my own work on my car, so almost every project, modification or upgrade results in a spare part that could be useful later. I never throw anything away!

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: Seems like almost every weekend! I’ve used my radiator vacuum bleeder three times in the last 12 months to help people out, plus I’ve made a several electrical repairs for people at the track. At the 2021 NASA Championships, I was the beneficiary from a fellow competitor who loaned me a spare C5 differential he had in the back of his truck!

Name: Tyler Chantrenne
Region: NASA Great Lakes
Car: 2001 Chevrolet Corvette
Years Racing: 1.5, 3.5 years of HPDE prior to racing.

Spares List
Brake Parts
1 set of front rotors
1 set of rear rotors
1 set of front pads
1 set of rear pads
1 spare front caliper bracket and associated fasteners

Suspension/Steering
Rear inner tie rods
Rear outer tie rods
If you’re running any wheel hub other than the SKF Race hubs, you should probably keep at least two spares on hand especially if you’re running a sticky tire.

Miscellaneous
Electrical wires and butt splices (20-year-old vehicle harness, you never know when you could see an electrical issue)
Exhaust tips for multiple configurations depending on sound restrictions at the track
Engine oil temp sensor
Braided -10 and -6 AN line
3-foot length of fuel line
Serpentine belt

Fluids
4-6 quarts of oil (LS motors tend to burn some oil, although I almost never add more than half a quart throughout the weekend)
1 liter of Castrol SRF brake fluid
Grease gun full of Redline CV2
2 quarts of transmission fluid
2 quarts of differential fluid
1 quart of power steering fluid
1 gallon of distilled water

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: I listen to the guys that have been racing the cars at a high level the longest. They’ve got the most experience with what parts fail and need replaced the most often. Talk with them and see what they keep in their spare kits, check forums, or Facebook groups as well. I also typically keep spare components for the aftermarket parts I’ve installed on the car. And when I find something that needs to be replaced, I buy two of that part, one to replace and one as a spare.

I know that my spares kit may seem relatively small in comparison to others, but I keep the kit small by performing a whole vehicle inspection between every race weekend and replace anything that is overly worn or broken at home rather than doing it at the track. Proper maintenance at home is the key to having a reliable racecar at the track so you can focus on driving rather than trying to fix your car at the track.

Q: What is one spare that you have needed, but didn’t have with you?

A: A coolant expansion/reservoir tank. I had one develop a hairline crack that was just weeping coolant, but since it was Sunday afternoon, I just packed up and called it a weekend rather than trying to continue to run the car.

Q: What have you always had on hand but never a need for?

A: My spare oil temp sensor. It would be almost impossible to change the temp sensor at the track without making a mess due to the location of the sensor. But regardless, it’s a part of my kit.

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: When something fails or needs to be replaced for the first time. I buy two of that part, one to fix the car and one to go in my spares kit. When I started, I went through the vehicle and replaced what I thought needed to be replaced and bought spares for those wear items so I’d have them just in case I needed them.

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: I have yet to provide a spare to a competitor because all of the requests from a competitor have been for parts that fall outside of my typical spares kit. I have been able to help people find spare parts that they may need. I tend to network and chat with all the people that drive Corvettes in my region and even nationally. Building relationships with people that drive similar cars can create a huge extended network across the country, and if you’re outside of your normal region and in dire need of a part you don’t have, that network can really save your race weekend.

Name: Josh Carroll
Region: NASA NorCal
Car: 2001 Corvette Z06, built to Spec Corvette rules
Years Racing: 15. I’m getting old. Mazda GT, ST2, ST3, GT2, GT3, NASPORT, E Production, Spec Corvette I’ve been racing the C5 in Spec Corvette since the fall of 2018.

Spares List
(Same as Oli Thordarson’s list)

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: The above list has been passed around the group of Spec Corvette drivers, but credit goes to Oli Thordarson for starting the list and sharing it. Since starting with his base, I’ve kept an eye out for things that break on fellow racers’ cars as well as my own. Fortunately, this car has been very reliable and my spares help fellow racers more than my own car, but I’m happy to carry them and share the love. If I carry it, it won’t break, right?

Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?

A: My clutch master cylinder failed the first season of racing this car and I didn’t have a spare on hand.

Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?

A: I carry a set of rear rotor rings that are still new in their boxes. The stock C5 rotors crack like it’s their job, but, since moving to a two-piece rotor in the stock size, they seem to be bulletproof.

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: In the beginning, I proactively replaced parts and held onto the old ones. About a year into racing the C5, I found a complete car with a bent frame for a price I couldn’t say no to. Now I have a spare everything, but most of it stays home.

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: More times than I can count. This season alone competitors have used spark plugs, plug wires, alternator, water pump, wheels, MAF sensor, serpentine belt, steering rack, sway bars, among little odds and ends like vacuum caps, hose, zip ties, and lots of tape.

Name: Christopher Heinzen
Region: NASA Great Lakes
Car: 2001 Chevrolet Corvette
Years Racing: 2

Spares List
Rotors, front and rear
Pads, front and rear
Outer tie rods, front and rear
Rear inner tie rod
Engine oil
Distilled water
Differential fluid
Transmission fluid
Power steering fluid
Brake fluid
Water Wetter

Q: How do you determine what spares you need to bring with you?

A: I bring things that have failed on me in the past and/or are small and easy to replace at the track

Q: What is one spare part you have needed at the track, but didn’t have with you?

Rear rotors and rear inner tie rod.

Q: What have you always had on hand, but never had a need for?

A: Spare brake pads

Q: How have you built up your supply of spare parts?

A: As things fail, I buy two replacement parts, one to fix the car and one as a spare.

Q: How many times have you provided a part to competitors so they can get their car back on track? Please explain.

A: None yet, but I don’t bring big spares like diffs, transmissions, engines, etc. I have been asked for these big parts before.