I have had my 03 stick shift convertible for a while. In this time I have enjoyed the power, which is new to me, but have trouble gaining confidence with the handling. My old sports cars were very light, and easy to understand the amount of traction and feel of the car as traction degrades.

I am not a street crazy, I just feel better knowing I have a good command of the machine, it's more fun, and you never know what might happen next. Part of the reason I have not explored the traction is that I live in a very dense traffic area.

Does anyone have any tips about exploring the handling of these cars in a safe way? I don't have any handy tracks around , and have little interest in destroying parts prepping for a speed contest I don't see happing in my future.

I always run the traction control on, but I would like to have enough confidence to feel I could drive the car safely, at my normal rate, with the traction control off. I would like to have command of the machine at all settings, but it seems possibly unsafe with me on the street in this machine with the traction control off, because I can't tell when the traction will go away. Plus there is that responsibility thing.

As it seems to me now, the car is heavy and sticks to the road until it doesn't.
I need to expand on the doesn't stick part. Right now my driving skills call for more caution than my preferred method of relying on the understanding of what might happen next.

Does anyone have any tips on driving the car.

Is it the nature of the car to just let go suddenly or is it just me.

I have been to a couple of little driving schools, but most of my sports driving has been in old cars that slid around and had smaller power. I have heard that heavy cars can be loaded into the turns by applying brakes but have heard of no performance driving tips for corvettes.

Should I wait for a wet night and hit a deserted parking lot, or is there a better way. The parking lot only sounds a little less crazy than calling up my insurance company and asking them, so I am asking you.
Thanks.

Since read this far, I will throw in a story about traction and skills. In high school, i guy I knew worked part time after school as a lot boy for the local chevy dealer. After three years on the job, they tossed him the keys to a new 427 stingray fastback and told him to pick go up some parts.
He took the car out a wrapped it around a light pole.

 

I guess a few things come to mind reading this...

1. What prior sports cars have you owned with which you've felt very confident?
2. With an uneasy feeling about this car, why do you have such a desire to drive around with the traction control off? The car allows a good deal of flexibility with the system on, even on a race track. Many people, even at HPDE's don't push their cars hard enough to activate it.
3. Finding a parking lot and doing some large circles and slowly increasing speed is a good way to feel how the car breaks traction.
4. The way the car departs traction, has a lot to do with the tire you're equipped with. Tires behave in different ways. Age, type and manufacturer of the tire all are contributing factors. The only way to know how your car loses traction, is to go lose it.

 

Find a local track where you can take some laps......

 

If you don't want to wrap your car around a pole, you should take a good driving class. Try Spring Mountain or Bondurant-they are well worth it for teaching you skills and boosting your confidence. Until then, don't floor the throttle unless the front wheels are pointed straight. that way the back end of the car won't pass the front end.

 

Good advice. If you don't have a local track handy to practice on, you could try the parking lot routine to get a feel for the car.

 

Looks like you might have some autocross activity in your area. That is a great way to get to know how to throw your car around without fear of crashing or breaking it. Often, they have loaner helmets and it's cheap thrills.

Car clubs have them often and any car is invited or look up your local SCCA website.

A track day might be more the ultimate experience but there are some risk issues with that sometimes.

Good luck. Have fun.

 

The great thing about a c5 is if it gets loose if you get out of it, it will come back to you if you catch it soon enough. Once its gone it's gone. 6 speed cars are more friendly in my opinion. You can run out of talent real quick in an auto because when it hits second you know your going to have to chase it around but you dont know how violent it going to be. All of you that have a auto with a built trans are agreeing with me. The six speed your controling the car with the throttle you can feel it . You need to get somewhere you can hammer it and get it loose so you can feel it out. Rolling start 1st gear get on it and feel it break loose grap second easy or it will get loose. Practice till you feel comfortable. Just do it somewhere safe so if you spin out you won't hit anything.

 

not sure if you have no track? parking lot is a good option.


what were the previous cars that you liked and owned?

 

Also check http://www.speedventures.com/events/ ...looks like there's an autox in Fontana early November.

 

Dude, you live in SoCal. Look into doing some Auto-X's, nothing to hit, you'll never leave second gear, and you have a blast! Hang in the SoCal forum for details on when they happen. Also, in there are some very cool and very safe track day events run at CA Speedway in Fontana, Willow Springs in Lancaster and Button Willow north of Magic Mtn. Have fun, pay attention (you can have instructors and all events drive your car for you while you in the passenger seat, so you can learn what it is capable of..its quite eye opening at first!)

 

I'll tell ya if it wasn't for traction control on a rolling start and slamming 2nd I would of seen my rear-end in front of me several times so be careful and make sure you have good tires.

 

I've been to 3 AutoX and 2 HPDE's since 8/23/12. The diiference in my knowledge of my car's ability is so dramatic it's hard to describe. Do either or both, but you won't ruin your your car. I'm so hooked I've joined "The Darkside" and love how each of these events have improved
my driving.

 

This post has to be a joke.

 

This math just doesn't compute.

 

I phrased this poorly.

I should have just asked about any unusual things to look out for when exploring the car without traction control. As it is I will just take care to make sure I am aware which way the car is pointing before applying the throttle.

I was curious if others had any experience to help prevent me from learning the hard way that you can't do that.

My tires are going away, so I thought I might abuse them a bit to explore the cars handling and gain some preparation for what ever might happen in the future.

Some of the replies here have got me thinking about another driving school or perhaps looking into autocross. You really do learn a lot in a concentrated environment.

 

Knowing which way the car is pointing won't help you when it starts sliding in a direction the nose isn't pointed at. The only way to learn how to handle those situations is to practice. I've seen cars break traction and slide sideways, and if you don't know how to react when that happens you'll end up hurting yourself, someone else, or at the very least your car and your pride. Professional lessons can teach you a lot, but you can also learn quite a bit by finding an empty parking lot and having some fun in it. A controlled environment off of the streets is the only place to learn this type of driving.

 

I think you phrased it fine, and why someone can't post an innocent question w/o needing a flame suit mystifies me. My PS2's had 15k on them when I did my second HPDE at VIR. I have been wanting to replace them because the P/O put on undersized tires. The VIR experience definitely finished them. That will not stop me from doing more driving events, 'cause for my purposes, if I need to replace tires 'earlier than I expected' then so be it. I cannot encourage you enough to try an AutoX and/or HPDE. Of course with instructors in your car. Believe me, you will get better every time out, and love your car that much more!

OOPS! Thanks Jim993 for mentioning the rollbar for HPDE.

 

Because your car is a convertible, you may need a roll bar in order to enter with your car in one of the High Performance Driving Schools that are offered. If you find that is the case, some of the schools that may have late model Corvettes to be driven are Skip Barber and Bondurant, check on the roll bar issue and car availability.

Some, perhaps most Autocross events do not require a roll bar for convertibles, some do not require a helmet. An autocross event would be a good place to start, although much can be learned in an open (no light poles) parking lot. Those are getting scarce.

Another resource is "Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving" by the Skip Barber Racing School, available from Amazon. I at least skim my copy before every track day.

Many of the proffessional drivers at Skip Barber indicate that it is not necessary or even desireable to spin or "lose it" on track in order to learn to drive fast. In the book and almost universally at drivers meetings, I hear the admonition to start slowly, learn the line, ease into higher speeds, warm yourself up and warm up your tires. Set braking points using physical markers on the track, shorten braking zones a little at a time. Practice.

As far as being concerned about spinning or losing it on the track, there is little risk of that as long as you increase your straight and corner entry speeds incrementally, gradually gaining experience. It is my experience that high slip angles, drifting and tail way out in the turns is not usually the fastest way around the turn. You will likely be faster at slip angles that do not scare you.

My car is an A4, which I personally love on the track, and I always leave the active handling system engaged. In three years of several track days a year, I have yet to spin or go off track, yet my right foot is usually planted at or shortly after the apex of a turn. My observation is that spinning or off track excursions occur when a driver does not warm up himself or herself and does not approach higher speeds incrementally.

Insurance is available for HPDEs, I get mine through Lockton Affinity. About $130 for a two day HPDE, considering that I place a value of $16,000 on my car. That insurance has a deductible of 10% of car value (last I checked) or in my case, $1600. The cost and deductible is higher for higher valued cars.

 

The autox advice is the best advice you can get.
It is a SAFE way to learn the limits of your car, at speeds below 60mph. It will teach you the car control that you are looking for. It will give you the confidence to know what to do when you lose traction on the street. It will make you a much, much better driver.

Try to find an autox school if you can, this will give you more seat time, and you will have an instructor to work with you.
A regular autox is the next best thing, you just don't get that many runs, and you get to figure it out by yourself (which is fun too).

Track driving could be a great next step too, but make that decision AFTER you've done an autox or autox school.
Its always best to have at least a couple autoxes under your belt before you do a track day/HPDE, just so you don't have a code brown the first time the rear end steps out at 80mph.

Thats because you have probably never autoxed before.

Just because the speeds are not high, doesn't mean the skills learned and the fun it generates is not immense.

One minute of autox can be more intense than one minute of track driving. True story.

 

wide open area are your friend,,,,, don't get a lot of forward speed while learning where the car can get away from you.
We don't want a thread from you saying,,,, " so I wadded up my C5 "

The biggest thing to watch is wheel speed,,,, if you get the tires spinning to fast, as the car comes back fro a slide,,,, it will tend to go in the other direction and that's when things go bad in a hurry.