When the factory-sponsored C5-R Corvette race cars debuted in
the '99 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, optimism was so thick you
could cut it with a knife. But, long before the end of that
grueling 24-hour endurance race, any hope for success had long
since vanished. Transmission problems, differential failure and,
ultimately, an engine failure dashed all hopes of earning a
coveted class win.  With hindsight it's easy to identify where,
when, and why things went wrong. But at that time the optimism
seemed entirely reasonable. After all, in two years of
development and testing preceding the Daytona contest, the C5-R
racing "mule" proved to be extremely fast. In fact, at certain
tracks it exceeded the existing GTS class record during testing,
even at Road Atlanta in the rain! "Don't get too excited about
that," those in the know told the rest of us. For one thing, a
rules revision would allow competitors to use a wider rear tire
beginning in 1999, and the existing track records were set by
Vipers running on the narro