Can anyone tell me what exactly happens when you're in competitive mode in a '03 C5? I was tooling around today and put it in competitive mode and really didn't notice anything different. Maybe the stock exhaust was a little louder, then again I could have been imagining that. I wasn't going very fast because of traffic.

 

All it does is turn of traction control but leave active handling on. Basically allows spinning of the tires and mild slides but prevents you from getting really sideways or spinning out.

 

The competitive mode makes your hearing super sensitive... car will sound louder and faster. It will also make your nut sack swell a bit and send testosterone coursing through your veins... you will likely have some dizziness and possibly have delusional tendency to think your a race car driver...you also may find feelings of aggression, wanting to speed away at stoplights because some little old lady in her 80's station wagon looked at you. You also could suffer from a moderate form of Psychosis, sitting in your garage making vrrrooommm sounds while jerking the steering wheel back and forth pretending to be at Darlington Speedway doing battle with NASCAR greats from the past...
Other than that it doesn't really do much...

 

Almost correct, but for me instead of speeding away from the intersection when the old lady looks at me, I fight that old lady.

 

Thanks for the intelligible reponse!

 

I liked the second one, could have googled first one, boring

 

As I said in another thread:

The C5 corvette has three electronic systems that aid stability. The first is ABS that can't be defeated, then traction control, and stability control (which is referred to as active handling). Both traction control and stability control can be defeated.

The traction control limits the "spin up" of the tire by either retarding spark, use of the rear brakes, or throttle, depending on how aggressively the system needs to act and the speed of the car.

The stability control system (active handling) limits excessive over or understeer by applying individual wheel brakes. How it knows whether you're understeering or oversteering is a bit complicated, but put simply the system knows how fast the car is going. It also knows how hard the car is turning (g), how quickly the car is rotating, and how hard the drivers wants the car to turn (steering wheel position). It uses all of those inputs (and more) to predict the car's path, and when the car's actual path diverges from the intended path the system gets to work.

Pressing the active handling button once disables traction control and the stability control system. Holding the button down until you see "Competition mode" on the DIC disables only traction control, but you still have the safety net of the stability control system. The advantage of disabling traction control when driving in a spirited fashion or on track is that "some" wheel spin is helpful to create oversteer. The stability control system is designed well enough to let the driver experience some under/oversteer without intervening.

 

And that is a good thing.

 

I've been able to get pretty sideway's in competitive driving mode....more so than I thought it would let me. Do you need to really be headed into a spin before stability control kicks in in comp mode?

I guess I could go hit a parking lot one of these day's and find out.

 

Now that you better understand what things do and how to turn them on and off, PLEASE take the advise of many of those that experiemented and LOST:

Leave the "babysitter" on and let her do her job under most circumstances.

Be safe !

 

I use competition mode when I autocross.

 

It lets you get surprisingly sideways. granted traction control on you can light up first and it doesn't kick in until second.

I'm reality you can hold some legit angles even with all nannies on, it's one of the reasons I like active handling, it's nowhere near as intrusive as the nissan VDC was

 

For as far as I understand it, the system (especially in the second generation, which is cars made after 2001) is able to sense how well the driver is responding to an oversteer/understeer condition. Or in short, if the driver is correcting the slip angle error (for lack of a better term) it knows that it doesn't need to intervene as aggressively verses a driver making no reaction at all. Also the amount of slip allowed is greater at lower speeds. Honestly, its operation is pretty invisible to me...other than that one time I hit the gas too hard in the rain while in a turn

 

I think you need to take some time to read your Owners Manual.

 

I always kind of wondered why they have a short tap of the button to disable both traction control, and stability control but you must long hold to get Comp mode. Seems it should be the other way around? Quick tap to drop TC, and long hold to disable both. I think I would prefer it that way more.

 

I only use it when I race.

 

Me too, and I race every time I drive.

 

Have you found you're faster with it on?

 

I did read it dadaroo, if you read it you would see how vague it is. I acquired a lot more info here. Isn't what this forum is all about?

 

Excellent post very informative.