Around the world you can find tuners modifying it, designers re-bodying it and race drivers piloting it, and now even the manufacturer is getting in on the Corvette C6-tuning action. Today GM Europe announced it will introduce a limited-edition Corvette Competition model, designed to bring the Corvette's success in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class to the street.

Featuring a standard 6.2L LS3 V8 engine and six-speed manual gearbox shared with the C6 Coupe it's based on, the Competition will receive a number of appearance upgrades. Starting from the ground up, the new 'Vette gets unique dark grey alloy wheels, dual twin exhaust pipes, honeycomb grille, and the rear spoiler from the Z06.

You can get the Corvette competition in any color you like, as long as it's black. Other options are also limited to keep weight down. The end result is to give the car some of the look of the C6R that has dominated the ALMS GT1 class for years.

While the new Competition model isn't the supercharged, highly strung 650hp supercar the recently announced 2009 Corvette ZR1 is, it should be quite a bit more economical to operate and easier to live with on a daily basis. Delivery of the new model is scheduled for April, and dealers are taking orders now.

Corvette unleashes the mighty ZR1