While the Corvette has been a racing machine for many years and has symbolized the icon of power, engineering, aerodynamics and precision for generations, the name that will adorn the C8 model will not honor a driver but rather the man who was responsible for much of the development of the Corvette for most of its first few generations. This name will be the ZoRa1 which will be in honor of Zora Arkus-Duntov and his contributions to this amazing racing machine over the years.
Born a Russian, Zora had the childhood and life experiences when he was younger that can either create greatness or cause a person to crumble. While his parents were originally a wealthy Russian family he saw his family crumble to the point of very little food or money in his early years. Being born in 1909 meant Zora lived through World War I and the Russian Revolution in Russia and had to even arm himself with a gun which he used to help protect the family food supply and had to use as a means of persuasion for a doctor to come and care for his mother.
Strange as it may sound to us now, with little food or money at the time, when his parents were divorced his father stayed in the home even after his mother remarried because of the severity of the economic conditions of the time. After gaining respect for his stepfather Zora took his name as well and in 1941 went from being Zora Arkus to Zora Arkus-Duntov.
After moving to Germany and then to France it became evident in the 1930s he and his wife should come to America, which is where they both found great success, she as a professional dancer and he as a manufacturer of war munitions.
Even though he had a great deal of success in the world of manufacturing Zora had always been fascinated by cars, even leaving school on many occasions just to study them. He gained success on the world endurance racing stage which later caught the eye of GM to be brought on as a development engineer. This is where he first saw the Corvette, which was the Harley Earl prototype which was on display at the 1953 New York Motorama and he immediately began campaigning GM to allow him to work on the car.
At first he had a hard time convincing the leaders of GM he could help but when given the project of developing the fuel injection system for the 1957 Chevrolet C8 he used a means of measuring the mass of the incoming airflow instead of the currently in use speed density approach. Even though this method was used on the SS racer that eventually failed after only 23 laps at the 12 Hours of Sebring it was apparent Zora was on to something, including the information that it would be best to move the engine to behind the driver to avoid burning the driver should the engine fail.
After this project he was made the Director of High Performance for Chevrolet and began developing mid-engine cars to offer a variety of designs. Zora tried everything from larger displacements to rotary engines and even used independent suspension and AWD designs. he eventually earned a patent for the 4WD arrangement that was almost used to move the engine of the production Corvette to the rear in 1960.
Over the course of time Zora had some major wins in the engineering of the Corvette by adding stiffer frames, independent rear suspensions and disc brakes. Using fuel injection and multiple carburetors, bigger engines and transmissions that could keep up the second generation of the Corvette became a huge hit and made money for GM.
The amazing part of this success wasn’t so much of who it came from but his team. Zora had a small team and very little resources to work with at GM because of a lack of confidence in the Corvette program. Obviously he relied on his rough upbringing and background to allow him to inspire his team to have a passion for the car which eventually earned him the title of the Corvette Chief Engineer in 1967.
When the third generation of the car came out it was in such a style and form that it survived and supported the name for fifteen years. This model offered the mako shark bodywork and the engineering that Zora had developed but still did not have mid-engine build that he wanted. The reason given was that putting a new transaxle on the Corvette alone would be too expensive.
As Zora Arkus-Duntov reached mandatory retirement age the Corvette felt a lull and lackluster time from 1975 until it finally reached the fourth generation in 1984. As a tribute to the man who made the Corvette the legendary machine that it is, the C8 model will have a mid-engine build and carry the name that is fitting of a man who saw and overcame more tribulations in his life than most of us ever will face; ZoRa1.
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