Eric Fleming’s Super Lap Battle Winning Time Attack Built C6 Corvette Race Car

Photo: James Nolder

Global Time Attack has been on the rise, and it has become an excellent platform for drivers and prep shops to use their creativity to build some incredibly capable race cars. Although it's not wheel-to-wheel competition, the quality of driver and preparation levels on the cars equals that of competitive semi-pro racing. For Eric Fleming and his C6 Z06 Corvette, Global Time Attack has become the perfect proving ground for his car and driver development. He was initially drawn to the competition that GTA had to offer. "Most of the GTA events bring out some of the fastest drivers around the country," Eric says. 'While we have some fast drivers and cars in local series, most are not at the same level as what I've seen at the GTA events. Events like Super Lap Battle are high profile in a sense with live-streaming, and they draw an actual crowd, etc. This helps bring attention to the great sponsors who have helped me build such a fantastic time-attack weapon."

Photo: Caleb Bates

Eric, like many, has been into motorsports and Chevy's for a long time. "The lack of funds, or generally extreme expense of racing, kept me out of the seat (at least on a race track) until around 2015 when I began turning laps in an LS3 swapped 1971 Corvette." Most these days start in a current momentum-based sports car set up for the track with modern aids. "In hindsight, the entire thing was sort of silly, but I put thousands of laps on track in that car which had no ABS, no traction control, or driver aids of any sort. I think I did 15 HPDE weekends in 2015 or 2016 with that car at places all over the Southeast." We'd call him a smart man in the sense that he learned how to drive an analog car that probably didn't handle the best and required a lot of precision as far as implements go. A modern track car lets you get away with things that a 1971 Corvette surely would not. We believe that's why Eric has developed into such a fast driver, making the transition to something newer much easier to go fast.

His current C6 time attack weapon started life as a car that needed work when he acquired it in 2019. "I picked it up after I backed my C7 Z06 into a tire wall at Road Atlanta. At the time, I was competing in the Optima series, which rewarded modifications to things that did not necessarily improve lap times," Eric said. The freedom to create and develop In Global Time Attack has been a selling point for many to start building cars without too many limitations.

Photo: Eric Fleming

"With a clean slate, I picked up a rough C6 race car that seemingly had a good foundation. What I didn't consider, and knowing myself, I should have expected, was that we would completely gut that car over the next few years ending in what we have today. Which is quite an extensive build. Here are some highlights:

-Engine

GSpeed spec'd and built this engine.
Aluminum LS1 block, sleeved and stroked to 468 cu.in.
14:1 compression with forged rotating assembly (Callies crank, Dyers rods, Wiseco Pistons)
Trick Flow Speciality heads with GSpeed port work package
Mechanical Solid Roller cam & valve train
Nick Williams 112mm throttle body
Brian Tooley Racing Trinity Intake modified & ported for 112 throttle body
Motec ECM & PDM controlling the entire car.
Injector Dynamics 1050s
VP Racing Q16 fuel
Dailey Engineering 6-stage dry sump

-Suspension

Spherical bearings
Vansteel sway bars
Penske 8300 double adjustable shocks with GSpeed valving
AP Racing Radi-Cal brakes by Essex Parts with Cobalt XR1 Pads
Bosch M5 Competition ABS

-Body

Minor aero enhancements
Faircloth carbon splitter
AJ Hartman 14" chord wing (72" width, I believe)
Ducted hood with radiator laid forward (GSpeed kit)
Fender vents

-Other

Gutted and caged.
Carbon dash to fit class rules
Motec M127 display & keypad for controls
Tilton pedal box
Chillout box
2750 pounds, no fuel or driver

Photo: James Nolder

When Eric showed up at Super Lap Battle, he aimed to reclaim his lap record in the Limited class. "We missed 2022 due to part shortages while the engine was being rebuilt, which also saw my 2021 Record get beat by quite a margin after the repave at COTA." Eric made it happen on Day 2, running a 2:12.271 on street tires! That time was enough to shatter the previous Limited class lap record by 1.6 seconds. Wow! Eric also beat the next closest competitor in the Limited class by nearly 4 seconds.

For lap time reference, Ryan Blaney took the NASCAR Cup Series pole last year with a 2:12.343 around COTA. Eric was undoubtedly hauling the mail! He's the first to admit he missed his mark in turn 11, which cost him a bit of time, but it was still a stellar lap to be proud of. Watch it here!

Eric was proud of his car's reliability allowing him to focus on what's essential; driving. "When I look at the top 4 (including pro/comp), every single one had the car torn apart for various reasons, and a full engineer on teams working around the clock to improve the car. We turned compression down 1 round and numbed the go-pedal through the Motec. We changed the tires once. That was it. The reliability of this car is truly impressive; add fuel and go! I said it on the live stream, and it is worth repeating, GSpeed builds one helluva car!" Sometimes, builds and cars get so complex they become headaches to maintain, distracting from a driver's ability to relax and focus on doing the right things behind the wheel. Even if you have a crew wrenching on the car, every driver will tell you the nerves of getting the car fixed or trying to sort out a problem can become a bit exhausting. Eric's C6 proves the platform can be one of the best, especially when it's built and prepared by a professional shop.

Photo: James Nolder

"We left feeling a sense of accomplishment," Eric says. "Again, the competition pushes everyone to go faster. I would have liked to run the car on slicks to see what sort of laps times we could have set, but excluding the Pro-Comp cars, we ended up 3rd overall (9th overall including Pro-Comp – with most everyone on Michelin slicks). Ultimately, I had a goal of a sub 2:10 lap and fully believed that was achievable on slicks, possibly on the Kumho ACR tire we were running, but things didn't pan out quite like I had wanted. If we could have reset the weekend and started the event with the car we left with, we would have been much closer to that goal. Regardless, resetting the records by nearly 2.5 seconds and only minor tuning tweaks on the car was very rewarding. The car was rock-solid and reliable all weekend, and the only tool we brought out was the laptop, which is not the story for many at COTA."

Congratulations Eric on your Limited Class win and new Lap Record, which means more than the 1st place trophy does for most of us! :)