Form And Function

No compromise needed

- Taylor Kempkes

If you show up to almost any corner-carving competition these days, like an autocross event or Optima Ultimate Street Car event, the most competitive cars are typically late-model C5 and C6 Corvettes. Why? They are relatively cheap, light and come equipped with easy-to-modify LS engines straight from the factory. Their performance-per-dollar ratio is pretty much unbeatable. On the other end of the spectrum there are the guys that bring out their cool restomod classics. They’ve got the style but rarely put up a fight compared to the late-models. It’s when someone tries to combine the best of both that we here at Vette start really paying attention.

Enter Bob Gawlik and our friends over at Detroit Speed Engineering. Gawlik is a Corvette enthusiast and all-around gearhead who loves to spend his weekends out competing in said corner-carving competitions. He’s owned C1 and C2 Corvettes and tracked a C6 Z06, but for his next project he wanted something a little different.

“This Corvette came available in South Carolina and it was a nice car so I decided I would buy it,” Gawlik told us. Continuing on, he said, “I spoke with Kyle Tucker, the owner of Detroit Speed, and it was good time because they were looking for a project car for them to work on and do tech.” If you’ve seen any of the builds Detroit Speed have done recently, you know they go all-out, so Gawlik was in for something special.