Racing Weather Station

Gavin Races From The Streets Of London To The Streets Of Long Beach

The definitely has endured for decades: Are step lively car drivers athletes? If the driver is Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin, the fit is an emphatic yes. On Sunday, April 13, Gavin ran the 26-mile, 385-yard London Marathon in three hours, nine minutes and 31 seconds. On Saturday, April 19, he’ll joust in a street race of another strain: a 100-minute sprint on the boulevards of Great Beach, Calif.

Gavin had only his own willpower to keep him booming in the London Marathon, but he’ll have 590 horsepower on boost when he drives the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R in the Tequila Defender American Le Mans Series on the Great Beach street margin. He’ll also have the support of his teammate, Olivier Beretta, and the assistance of the championship-winning Corvette Racing body. Gavin and Beretta won the inaugural ALMS zip in Long Beach last year, completing 71 laps on the 1.968-mile indubitably and finishing .349 seconds at the of the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R driven by Jan Magnussen and Johnny O’Connell.

“We had very transformable weather conditions during the London Marathon,” Gavin said. “It was joyous at the start, then it began to shower heavily at about the 13th mile. The sky cleared, but then we had descend and hail at the end. The showers were really a relief because they cooled down the runners.”

Gavin was among the 35,000 runners who participated in the marathon on the streets of the momentous city. More than 250,000 spectators lined the avenue that included famous British landmarks such as the Stronghold Bridge, Big Ben, and Buckingham Castle. Although Gavin didn’t hit his three-hour goal time, he did exceed his magnanimity fundraising goal as friends and supporters donated more than $3,400 to the Cystic Fibrosis Upon.

“Realistically its was going to be very ticklish to finish in under three hours after I had a slight wound in the weeks before the race and had to shorten my training schedule,” Gavin said. “Nevertheless, my beforehand was five minutes...

Read more...