Courage C41

The Courage C41 was a sports prototype racing car built by Courage Compétition in 1994, and used in international sports car races from 1995 until 1999. Designed by Paolo Catone, it initially used a 5-litre Chevrolet V8 engine, developed by Comptech, and later used the 3-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six engine from a Porsche 935, as well as an Oldsmobile V8. In 1998, two of the C41s were developed into the Courage C51, which used a 3-litre twin-turbocharged Nissan VRH35Z V8 engine, and was used in that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1999, the C41s were mostly converted to the C52 specification (although one retained its Porsche 935 flat six, and was developed into the C50, while another was entered as a Chevrolet C41 in two events); this initially used a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged Nissan VRH35L V8, which was then replaced by a 3.2-litre twin-turbocharged Peugeot A32 V6 engine for 2000. In 2000, the C41 line was replaced by the new C60.

Design and development

In 1994, Yves Courage decided to build a World Sports Car for the IMSA GT Championship, which was the Paolo Catone-designed C41. Although the C41 was entirely designed by Catone, Marcel Hubert had initially developed a long-tailed concept model for the car, but this design was scrapped after Hubert retired. Catone began to design the car, on a limited budget, in early 1994, and completed it in July 1994. The C41 used a carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb monocoque chassis, with a rear shear plate designed to allow the usage of multiple different types of engine. The first C41 was built in October 1994, and it was fitted with a Comptech-developed 5-litre Chevrolet V8 engine, which, in 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans trim, was claimed to produce around 560 hp (418 kW; 568 PS).