napacruzerc5

A recent aquiantance who also happens to be a 30+ year owner of Corvettes including a C5Z06, a '69 big block undergoing restoration and his recent purchase a 2010 ZR1, took a ride with me at our local Corvette autocross practice event. I have an almost stock 2001 C5 coupe but with Nitto NT-01s. After a couple of runs as a passenger with me he let me drive his ZR1 with him riding along. After the run in his ZR1 he told me to park it. I did so a little concerned that I may have pushed his car a little too hard (my one and only run in his ZR1 was within 3-seconds of my best (of 5) run in the C5 I've been autocrossing for over 10 years). No he said "I wanted to ride with you to find out what autocrossing was like and I decided that it wasn't for me. I like driving back roads but I was amazed at how hard you drive your car. I almost passed out through that corner (a fast left-hand sweeper) and then I was more amazed on how hard you hit the brakes."

And even better was what he told me over the phone the next day. He said "I saw how hard everyone was driving their vettes but I did not see a single one being worked on for repairs aside for tire changes. And I know that you sometimes drive your vette to work so it isn't just a weekend racer". I gather from talking to him that he probably never has driven his vettes over "7/10ths" and he saw how 10/10ths felt and then I just packed up and drove home none the worse from the experience.

I respected the fact that he knew that he did not want to drive his car as hard as I drove mine and that autocrossing was not going to be his "thing". Kinda hard for me to realize that although I've been running between the cones since the mid '70s not everyone is a conehead like me. While he came to appreciate my sport and to appreciate that Corvettes are not fragile vehicles he just wasn't about to go "racing".

Sorry for the long winded story but I thought I'd share my brush was a non-racer.

Jason

The braking is always what surprises people the most. We go fast, but honestly most people have gone as fast (or faster) on the interstate. It's how late and how hard we brake that gets peoples attention.

"Right about the time I would have hit the brakes, you up-shifted into 3rd."

shakedown067

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

John B

Kinda sad isn't it. Most vettes don't get enough exercise.

Ruby6spd

Great Point.. In my e36 m3 race car people will always ask -- How fast on the straights?

I always say the straights are for relaxing - it's the late braking and sheer force of braking that will make people not accustom to it sh*t their pants. Throw some slicks and properly set up suspension to the mix and you never look at performance driving the same!

Solofast

They have done accident studies and found that most people, even when they should or could, don't brake very hard until it is obvious that they are going to hit something.

When I was first taking my daughter, and later my son out to teach them to drive, an autocross was part of the educational experience. Before the autocross we went out on some back roads and I told them to pick out a roadside object, like a phone pole or a mailbox. Then brake hard using a steady pedal, the object being to learn to brake hard, to the limits of the car, and be able to figure out where to initiate braking to stop at a consistent point.

It always amazed me how, for the first few times, they would hit the brakes hard and stop about 100 feet before they were supposed to.