The 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans? It's more like closer to 40 hours or more, says Corvette Racing's Dan Binks. When you factor in the Saturday warm-up, the lead-up to the world's most famous auto race, the 24 Hours itself, post race and tearing down the cars Sunday, it makes for a long two days.

"The preparation is the big key. Any team can run a 24-hour race," said Binks, crew chief for the No. 63 Corvette C6.R. "But you still have to be ready and our team is. We have gearboxes ripped apart and ready to go in, the same with all of our spares. We've done this enough times where we've gotten pretty good at it."

That's safe to say. The Corvette factory squad is going for its sixth class win in seven seasons at Le Mans including the last three by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen. The opposition is both talented and deep with entries from Aston Martin, Saleen and Ferrari, not mention other Corvettes. That puts experience at a premium and no one has more of it than Corvette Racing.

"We go to Le Mans to compete against the world's best, and this year is going to be our most challenging yet," said Johnny O'Connell, who will share the No. 63 Corvette with Ron Fellows and Jan Magnussen. "We've got to be mistake-free and just keep running, running, running. The other teams might have speed on us but about the 18th hour they're going into uncharted territory. We've been there before, and that's our strength. We've got the heart, the experience, and the right people. Corvette Racing just never gives up."