I'm almost afraid to admit this, but the AH saved my butt last night! I was entering the freeway on a right-handed, sweeping downhill on-ramp when I noticed about 1/4 of the way into the turn that CALTRANS had decided to water the road. There was sprinkler runoff creating a nice skidpad about 10 feet long directly in front of me. I hit the brakes before reaching the water to decrease my speed, and simply drove right thru the water, no problems.

Well, after the water hazard, the azzhole in front of me decides to slow down before entering the freeway. So, while still in the sweeper, but well past the watering hole, I move in the right lane to go inside of him before the ramp narrows down to one lane. Just as I complete the lane change, the Z decides it wants to keep turning right. I was literally pointed about 30 degrees to starboard. No doubt the weinie I was passing had a spectacular view of things.

Rather than get crazy with the wheel, I just kept the wheels pointed in the direction I wanted to go, kept on the throttle slightly and swore a mighty "oh $hit!!". Lo n'behold, the car gradually came around to straight ahead, I hit the gas and all was good.

Phew! Not the first time AH has helped me out, but certainly the most potentially disastrous circumstance had it been switched off. Of course, I never had time to look down at the display to see if it had actually engaged, but I assume it wasn't MY driving that saved the day. In any event, thank you GM!!!

 

Glad that worked out for you. FWIW - I do that almost daily (when traffic permits) intentionally in the I75 South to I85 North ramp (see figure 1) at "some mile per hour" - with active handling off - so assuming the car is set up properly (pitch/balance/ride height) sliding just over the level of adhesion is a very easily controlled circumstance for the Z06 chassis. Smooth inputs and throttle control is the key to success with any race-bred vehicle.


Figure 1 - VERY tight decreasing radius loop.
Average passenger car will drift at 30 MPH. Z06 capable of multiple that.

 

I like having that feature especially for street use where you have no runoff areas. When I first got the Vette, I intentionally took wrong lines, applied throttle at wrong times to see how it worked and was VERY impressed. Definately worth having if the spirit moves you on the entrance and exit ramps

 

Yup, I definitely play with the vette occasionally and get it a little sideways under throttle, and even attempt some interesting drift angles. But as pointed out, when there is zero runoff room and one ISN'T expecting it, AH is a welcome addition!

Nice pic there Twilight, but I don't see your car.

 

I love that turn!!! Though I've seen many unskilled/unaware bikers/drivers not realize/know/care about the decreasing radius and almost pay dearly for it.

 

Great story, and I love to hear of real world moments where AH saves the day. It's definitely one of the features that impressed me about the Z06 from day one.

 

TheDVS1,

Maybe you saw the picture of the Viper on PCH in Newport this weekend. It took me quite a while to figure out that it was a Viper. They said the road might have been wet. The driver will never be able to tell us what happened.

Oh yes, Vipers don't have Active Handling.

 

The active handling system in the car is about as close to right as it's going to get based on experience I've had with other performance cars equipped with similiar devices. I get misread here a lot so I want to be clear that I'm not knocking the system or suggesting not using it - just commenting on the fantastic chassis. I have no doubt it worked perfectly.


Be pretty sick if you could time that...


I was on my way to dinner one night and going into that turn just coasting down from highway speed and I look up and some guy in a sedan that had at least 3 people in it went sailing off half way through at probably 50 MPH. He got it pointed straight and slowed it down before he went over that little drop off there but I'm sure it didn't help the car out any. A lot of people just don't get it. I used to race for a guy - who's name I'll leave out - that really enjoyed going out in practice just fast enough to build the guy behind him's confidence and then all of the sudden taking a hard braking corner as deep as he could so as to send the squid agricultural farming. A rather simple thing for him to do seeing as he had 14 national championships under his belt and factory equipment. And the moral of that story covers that exit ramp well - if you don't know where you're going, don't go flying in there.

Things like that made my brother come up with the phrase that's in my sig line one day at Road Atlanta when he watched a GSXR behind me headshake in the draft at the end of the back straight and nail the bridge.

 

ive gotton the "active handling warming up" on my front display....then about a min. later it said it was warmed up......what excatly is warming up?

 

Twilight has changed his tune.

 

It's calibrating, checking sensor feedback, running self-diagnostics. Shtuff like that.

If you see "warming up" a lot, maybe look into getting your PCM diagnosed and/or AHS sensors looked at. Got any codes in the 'puter?

 

I love it. Than you.
This one save, the system probably saved you 10s of thousands of dollars in repairs, time, and possibly injuries or worse.

I swear by the system. It has saved my but in slippery conditions as well.

Im very happy to see you came out of this OK.
Congrats!!

 

no it hasnt kicked out any codes....i figured it might have been a glitch

 

That's normal. It's cycling the system components to get heat in the fluid and pads and take readings so it can do what it does.

You just can't stop can you. I've said the same thing about AH since day one. Works great. If you're a professional racer and you're driving it on the limit you will not enjoy it. I've talked with several other professional racers at various events (including ALMS this past summer) who state the same thing and describe the same reasons which is why they don't run it even when it's pouring down rain - I don't expect you to get it, you're not one, and you've consistently demonstrated that you lack the basic logic to understand there are people that can do things that you cannot. I know my limitations - you wouldn't see me trying out for an NFL team, not one of my skills. The average person driving this car isn't/wasn't a professional racer, and therefore it's a fantastic system to be placed in the car - and comes with an off switch where applicable. That's pretty much what I've said consistently since the first time I posted in an AH thread. Know your limitations Purvis - you haven't been where I have and I wasn't there by chance. How's that grab you?

EDIT: On a side note, I dug this up:

http://www.corvetteracing.com/cars/c...is_specs.shtml

http://railpax.railfan.net/NAIAS2005/C6R-Switches.jpg

The C6R doesn't even have ABS on it. They actually expect a race driver to be capable of braking to the threshold of impending lockup all by himself! The nerve of those engineers to not give Ron Fellows active handling and abs brakes.

 

good story

 

Heck, Ron Fellows got plenty of nerve all by himself.
He don't need no stinking AH and ABS.

BUT I DO!!!

 

I would guess AH is one reason why my insurance rates are so friggin' reasonable on the Z. I would imagine the Viper has a substantially higher premium.

That must've been quite a wipeout on PCH so as not to hardly even recognize the car. The power these things produce HAS to breed respect for the vehicle, and GM did us right by incorporating a sophisticated system for keeping the shiny parts shiny, and the occupants intact.

I can't believe I didn't lose it the other night...

 

It definitely contributes to the insurance rate - as does the stout hydroformed steel chassis and air bags. Although, the insurance company doesn't care nearly as much about your car as they do your ability to crawl out of it after an incident. You're much more expensive to fix. The car is ultra safe - especially when you consider what it is. It's an outstanding deal all the way around. Glad you still have one.

 

Me too!

 

I didn't see the pics. Please tell me that wasn't vettethret!