Can somebody please explain to me exactly what this is. I assume it turns off the traction control but what else does it do?

 

From what I understand, it turns off Traction Control but leaves on Active Handling. Do you have an Owner's Manual? It's all explained in there.

 

I read the owners manual and I saw that but I was curious if there are any hidden wonderful things it does to the car.

 

Turns off Traction Control, but leaves on Active Handling.

That's it. Allows smoky burnouts yet will still save your bacon if you run out of talent

 

From a driver's perspective, comp mode allows a little more oversteer ( tail coming out) while cornering before active handling engages.

 

Are you claiming that the Active Handling acts differently in Comp Mode? I never heard that before. As previously stated Comp Mode just turns off Traction Control. Could you provide a source for your claim please?

 

I love this explaination

 

Read the paragraph "Competive Driving Mode"

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...ehandling.html

plus I've had 3 years track experience driving my C5 in all modes

 

Maybe we are splitting hairs here, to me the explanation only describes what AH does while in Comp Mode due to the fact Traction Control is disabled...I think the change is due to the TC being off, not that AH acts differently. Damn I almost confused myself...

 

I was trying to describe what the driver feels in comp mode vs. having both active handling + TCS turned on. In comp mode, the net result of AH ON and TCS OFF means that you can get some throttle-on oversteer at the corner apex (tail comming out a bit) that you would not experience if you had both AH and TCS turned on. I didn't mean to imply that AH acts differently, only that with TCS turned off the overall handling characteristics of the car do change a bit.

 

That is a perfect explanation...thanks for the clarification.

 

Here's a quote from the original Chevrolet Press Release that describes it quite well:

Corvette's Active Handling system features a unique blend of sensors that are capable of reading steering inputs, vehicle yaw rate and lateral g force, then activating the vehicle's brakes on a selective basis to help stabilize the car in emergency maneuvers. When added to Corvette's well-developed ABS braking and traction control systems, Active Handling greatly enhances the accident avoidance capabilities of the already nimble Corvette. No other sports car has a system like this, and similar but less-sophisticated systems are currently offered on only a handful of high-end luxury cars.

Active Handling works to reduce excessive understeer or oversteer. Understeer is the tendency for a vehicle to "push" or run wide in a corner, and oversteer is the tendency for the back end of the car to swing out in a corner.

As mentioned earlier, the Corvette Active Handling system senses these usually negative conditions and helps the driver overcome them by selectively applying individual wheel braking to pull the car back into line during an emergency maneuver.

The concept is similar to steering a canoe. If the front of a canoe starts turning to the right, it can be brought back on course by dipping a paddle into the water on the left to act as a rudder and brake. Of course, the Corvette Active Handling system is much more sophisticated, so the individual wheel braking happens in less time than it takes for the blink of an eye. Like ABS brakes or traction control systems, Active Handling goes into action only when the car's limits have been exceeded in some way so it will be relatively transparent to the driver, even in emergency conditions.

The Corvette Active Handling system goes a step further than other similar systems by giving the driver more latitude before engaging, thereby retaining the more aggressive feel of a true sports car. For the racetrack, there's even a competition mode which deactivates the traction control part of the system to allow for wheel-spin and acceleration -- conditions that highly- skilled drivers sometimes find useful on the racetrack. This is a feature not offered on any similar chassis control systems.

 

EG got it right, as usual!