Corvettes, not for Dummies

[MATPOC]

This video been going around for a while, but I didn't want to share it till tonight


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Tonight on my way home from Home Despot I came up on this, as I was the first one on the scene the elderly driver was practicing his story on me, about some mystery car that cut him off and how he had to put it in the pole to avoid it, on the inside of the sweeping turn, on a 2 lane road... yeah... I can see it playing out as he rounds the turn and steps on it back end kicks out and the rest is captured below!

proves once again that Corvette is not for public consumption and average Joe can not handle the power of the beast

[Sisyphus]

Should we start cruising the RI Craiglist for Corvette parts?

[MATPOC]

Vette had Mass plates, pretty sure it's getting totaled cause both bags went off and it's pretty old ('99 or so)

[happycommuter]

I always say a deer jumped in front of me. Snarky types point out that that car with the likely automatic transmission caused the crash.
a few more Vette crashing vids, with this save being my favorite
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[Sonic Rob]

How close are we to some sort of YouTube singularity where literally every stupid thing anyone on Earth does through out their day is videotaped and uploaded to the internet for entertainment purposes?

[Bigshankhank]

The thing is, I would rather see a Corvette being railed into a tree in an attempt to go fast in one, than to see one rolling from tollbooth to tollbooth on the way to work every day. Because lets face it, it is a fast car, designed to go fast, and if you don't drive it fast then what the fuck is the point of having it?
Every time I see images of high-end sports cars in crashes, I think the same thing; "Well, at least the driver was trying to get more out of it than the law would allow." Take the Ferrari crash in Japan a couple days ago. Sadly, I'd be more willing to bet the driver of an Italian exotic could easily afford the loss/replacement of their hyper car after a wreck, wereas what I assume to be a typical Corvette driver would be stuck having to sell the ski-boat to cover the insurance deductible.

[MATPOC]

I think any high power vehicle, weather it is a Vette or Busa, should require mandatory training. Skid-pad, high speed avoidance, extreme braking and cornering... shit, every vehicle requires training, way more than they provide there. Look at all the trouble Der-G had to go through for his MC license!?

Today I was on the Rt1 when I clicked down couple gears while braking and setting up for a u-turn as my tire hit oil or antifreeze, all I know back end kicked out, I did my best foot-down-backing-it-in and didn't crash because I rehearsed it before under "controlled conditions" and didn't panic. Same for the cars, I used to go every winter in to an empty parking lot and practice drifting in the first snow of the season, it definitely saved my ass more than once!!

[xtian]

I had my old Opel kicking a gear on wet roads a couple of times and to go sideway a couple of inches from other cars, I can't see what I could have done to avoid it except maybe for recent tyres with air in them. I blame technology.
Entering a higwhay at 30° angle is always great fun and a good act against tailgaters.

[MATPOC]

Most people here just panic when it goes a little sideways, mash the pedals, death grip on the wheel and then it all goes sideways!

[Bigshankhank]

Most people here just panic when it goes a little sideways, mash the pedals, death grip on the wheel and then it all goes sideways!

That reminds me of a funny thing that happened to me about 15 years ago. I was in San Francisco for my sister's wedding, and my dad and I were driving on a highway or interstate to the church for the event. Cruising along at 70+ in the center of three lanes when we see a sedan come barreling down an on-ramp and immediately proceed to lose control and spin 180 degrees ending up doing about 50mph backwards into the lane next to us. My dad never so much as flinched despite the fact that this car was clearly out of control in the lane next to us, just muttered something about "dumbasses" and kept right on going. And as such, I remember being totally calm about it too.
The funny part is I can still to this day close my eyes see the look of absolute terror on the faces of both the driver and passenger as they screamed hopelessly into their impending doom. I know I know, don't throw stones or whatever, but that was fucking funny and still is to me.

[MATPOC]

I had couple of those moments... once I lost it in a pouring rain, hit some deep water on a slight turn, back end of my Prelude stepped out to about 90 degrees and I just brushed the barrier with front bumper, that rotated the car another 90 and I gathered it up still doing 60mph but backwards. My passenger nearly jumped in to my lap as the wall was now on his side, the rest of the traffic was going 45-50 so I was still passing them going backwards (having a manual transmission helped, was holding the clutch almost entire time ) the look on their faces was priceless! Once far enough away form the wall I whipped it 180, most cars have scattered by now leaving me room for this stunt, popped in 2nd gear and kept going, probably never slowed below 30mph during the whole ordeal.

Another time some dumbass was trying to pass me on I-95 in NY, he miscalculated the closing speed, I was doing 80 in the left lane, catching some SUV in the middle lane, this guy in his "hooked up" Civic was doing at least 100 He tried to cut in between me and SUV but miscalculated closing speeds as I closed the door, so he turned hard right to pass the SUV on the right, than hard left to "correct" it. His "tuned" suspension could not handle this maneuver and he started to slide but still managed to get around the SUV on the right, continuing his 4 wheel drift like a pro he was no in front of the SUV, going completely backwards, continued to slide and slammed the left side wall right in front of me as I was also passing the SUV but in the left lane. He kept bouncing off the concrete barrier, spinning and shedding all the "tuning" pieces off of his car, I could see his face only few feet in front of me while hard on the brakes trying not to run in to him. He had long hair in the ponytail, thin face and was white as a ghost! finally he was just grinding the barrier and I had enough room to sneak by so I just kept going...

[Vitiare]

...what I assume to be a typical Corvette driver would be stuck having to sell the ski-boat to cover the insurance deductible.

My friends and I call that a "stupid tax"

[guitargeek]

Once upon a time, I had a '71 Chevy truck. The body was just awful, and it leaked a little bit of everything... but my brother and I rebuilt the motor and tranny. If you stomped it when getting on the highway, the ass end would jump over and it'd burn rubber for a block.

It'd pass everything on the road but a gas station!

[Vitiare]

It'd pass everything on the road but a gas station!

[MoraleHazard]

all I know back end kicked out, I did my best foot-down-backing-it-in and didn't crash because I rehearsed it before under "controlled conditions" and didn't panic.

How does one rehearse that, and I mean that seriously?

[piccini9]

all I know back end kicked out, I did my best foot-down-backing-it-in and didn't crash because I rehearsed it before under "controlled conditions" and didn't panic.

How does one rehearse that, and I mean that seriously?

Dirt.

[Bo_9]

all I know back end kicked out, I did my best foot-down-backing-it-in and didn't crash because I rehearsed it before under "controlled conditions" and didn't panic.

How does one rehearse that, and I mean that seriously?

Dirt.

+1

Find thee a rear wheel drive car and a dirt road.

[MoraleHazard]

I meant on a bike. I can do it in a car.* My one m/c crash was the rear wheel breaking loose on a down hill, wet road, too much rear.

I don't know if gunning the throttle would've corrected the problem, or ended up high-siding me.

*Not sure I could do the 50 mph in reverse on the highway thing.

[Bo_9]

I meant on a bike. I can do it in a car.* My one m/c crash was the rear wheel breaking loose on a down hill, wet road, too much rear.

I don't know if gunning the throttle would've corrected the problem, or ended up high-siding me.

*Not sure I could do the 50 mph in reverse on the highway thing.

Find thee a small dirt bike and any large semi-flat dirt area.
Pretend you are these guys -
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[goose]

Indeed, there is a reason that Rich Oliver has his Mystery School set up for the dirt. Colin Edwards does the same thing with his school, that is to say, when you get loose in the dirt - and you always get loose in the dirt- you acclimate to the bike doing squirrely things.

Once you're used to it, you don't panic allowing you to focus on what needs to be done. I assure you that I am NO expert on how it's done. But, after riding the dirt a bit and getting out of sorts, I'm a lot more comfortable on the track with the front drifting and the back sliding. I certainly intend to spend more time in the dirt so I can get better with both.