O.K. so probably not the most intellegent thing my twin brother and I have ever come up with but....

Last year we decided (being from Maine) that since we have never actually seen a tornado in person, that we would take a week... drive the C5 to tornado alley and see if we could just be in the right place at the right time. Now we arent THAT stupid... we do have all the technology ( laptops with realtime radar, and thunderstorm/tornado warnings) with us to stay far enough away from any hail or anything.

We drove approx 5,000 miles in 5 days. Yes...thats averaging 1,000 miles a day. My 98 TR A4 with 92,000 miles performed flawlessly. It truley is a perfect cruising sportscar. We went thru just about every state in the mid-west, but we (my mother thanked god) picked the wrong week weather wise and it ended up being gorgeous. not a cloud in the sky the whole week.

My thoughts about taking the C5 on such a journey has a few justifications in my mind... Its the most fuel efficient vehicle I own, Its the most comfortable vehicle i own, and when we do finally SEE a tornado, take the pictures, and need to get the **** out of dodge...? what better car to put your foot thru the firewall and get away as soon as possible.

Its fast approaching May 1st when my twin brother and I are planning this years escapade. (since we struck out last year) Are we both for such an idea? In such a beautiful car? And am i pushing my luck by traveling such a large amount of miles in such a short amount of time?

 

man it's just a car! drive it and enjoy it, you guys will be the only one's that can say you outran a tornado in your vette......if you make it.....LOL

 

That's great that you drive the car that much...as for tornado hunting - that's only for those that have never seen the destruction. I wouldn't look too hard for one.

 

At least you saw some different countryside.

 

Go for it. You only live once.

 

HELL yea.....you might even get to fly in it!!!

 

Pics REQUIRED!!!

 

As long as you are prepared for what could happen, go for it. Life is short and if tornado hunting is your dream, then . Just be careful and good luck finding that twister.

 

At the very least?....my twin brother and i get to enjoy a week together in the best car in the world. Something we dont get a chance to do very often at age 35...married...kids....life...

 

Yes, this will confirm that you and your brother are nuts!! But hey, if you're trying to get away from a twister, a very fast C5 is a great idea.

The closest I ever want to be to a tornado is Crossram's Avatar!

Rickman

 

I think it's a really cool idea myself. I'd love to see one in person. The mid west is so flat that you can see one from a very safe distance and as long as you don't drive through the storm you shouldn't have to worry about hail.

 

Most storms move southsest to northeast. (generally) so we figured the best attack would be to get behind the storm and follow it. Trouble is? most of the rain is behind the storm so if there was a tornado it would be rain wrapped and unvisible. So we "think" we actually have to get AHEAD of the storm and be in its "damage path" to actually see the tornado. Thus taking the C5 and being able to get outta there in a hurry.....

 

1000 miles a day for 5 days straight?! That is a lot of driving!

 

What can i say?.... I absolutely LOVE driving this car. I never want to stop. My twin and I take turns...3-5 hours, then we switch. It never gets old. especially since i have to put it away each winter. I drive it everywhere. If my wife says we need sugar?..I volunteer to go get it, and drive to a store 30 min away! Ive logged almost 70,000 miles in 5 summers!

 

If you leave right now and head towards my house you may be here just in time. We are supposed to have our first round of heavy weather between 6pm and midnight tomorrow night. I live in Topeka Kansas. You should be driving right into it.

 

They are only exciting when they aren't headed right at your house with your kids or grand kids in it. I have been lucky. There have been at least a half dozen Tornados hit within 5 miles of where I have been living here in Topeka over the last 50 years. One within 200 yards. All I have ever lost is trees and shingles. I honestly couldn't even tell you how many times they have hit within 25 miles of my house. I have worked in the same factory for the last 34 years. It is 1.3 miles from my current house and has been hit twice.

 

Don't expect to see one from a safe distance. They don't all look like the Wizzard of Oz. Sometimes it is raining and blowing so hard you don't know what is happening. I was on the Turnpike comming home from the bike drags in Kansas City one time on my Motorcycle. The clouds were getting really dark late in the evening before the sun went down. All of a sudden I could see stuff flying across the highway way down the road ahead of us. We stopped and got in the ditch when we realized the stuff we saw flying were trees and sheet metal from a barn. We didn't actually see the funnel until it was about a half mile away going across a field and was picking up enough dirt to make it stand out.

 

I live in Liberal, Kansas, and there are tornadoes all around us every year from late Spring to early Fall. I have seen quite a few. We had baseball size hail about 6 years ago from a tornado. It gets quite s#itty really fast and then it clears just as fast.

 

Going on a Corvette trip with your brother is pretty great, isn't it. My Bro and I got to spend a week together in mine. I hesitate to try to talk you out of something you've always wanted to do, but the quality time spent together might have to the goal. The odds of seeing a tornado during a specific 7 day period are pretty slim. I've lived in OK 55 years and I've only seen one. Admittedly, I've never chased one, but we're talking about an area of 5 or 6 states. The local weathermen are pretty good at forecasting a system likely to produce severe weather and tornados a couple days in advance. They send out a bunch of storm chaser teams, whom they direct to areas indicated by radar to be most likely, but only some of them get close. Most of the actual tornado film you see on TV is taken from helicopters, and with a reeeeeally long lens. Also, consider that alot of the roads you would have to go screamin' down are rural, a 4WD truck would be required.
And, a system likely to produce a tornado is very likely to produce great big hail. I hope I'm not coming off too preachy. Just trying to help.

 

I was wrong it is supposed to start at 5:00pm tomorrow night not 6:00pm. Quarter size hail and winds up to 60 miles per hour.