On Thursday May 11 my son and I jumped into my 2001 mag red Z51 manual coupe and headed to Bowling Green KY. I had booked a HPDI at the National Corvette Museum track on the 13th. We then planned to tour the museum on Sunday, the factory on Monday and on the way home I had tickets for practice for the Indy 500 in Indianapolis. The trip to Bowling Green took two days and was mostly uneventful. we averaged 30.4 mpg according to the dic. The day at the track was amazing, it was the first time that I was able to really push my car without fear of arrest without endangering me or anyone else. They let my son sit in for the classroom time and when we got out on the track, they let him ride with the instructor. On the last of 4 sessions on the track they really let us loose. I was able to go at a pace that was at the edge of my ability. I have never had as much fun in a car with my clothes on. When we got done the instructors gave us a few hot laps to show us how it should be done, they really hung it out. The fact that I was able to share it with my son made it one of the best days of my life. The next day we toured the museum. There is certainly a lot to look at in there. They had a cut away or the C5 on display that was very interesting to see how the car is actually put together. We spent about 3 hours looking at all the history and the historic cars on display. Monday was the factory tour. It is really cool to see the long lines of corvettes comming together. The day we were there the goal was 750 cars for the day, they were 7 cars ahead of schedule at the lunch break. After the tour we headed to Indy for the practice the next day. I had been to Indy once before when I was working in the area about ten years ago but didn't get to watch them run. What a huge place Indy is. The cars were up to 224 mph on Tuesday, the sights, smells and sounds are like nowhere else. The next two days we headed home,stopping near Minneapolis to visit an old friend from childhood days ( many many years ago). The dic showed a 28.4 mpg which included an hour and a half on the track. About 100 miles in,

the right signal light started to hyper flash and we stopped and sure enough the right front signal bulb was out. I had to stop at a hardware store and pick up a quarter inch socket set to replace it. That was the only problem we had. The car performed flawlessly the whole way. The coupe really does a great job as a traveling rig, there is more room for stuff than most other cars. My son and I had kind of been drifting apart and this trip really brought us together again which really enhanced the experience.

 

Awesome story, and I hope to be able to do it some day, too. For me, the quoted part above is the BEST part of your story.

 

Sounds like one very fun and rewarding trip.

 

 

 

There was a professional photographer at the track taking pictures, but I haven't figured out how to post them. I will have my daughter help me.

 

Sounds like you had a great trip!!

 

Sounds like an awesome trip!

Based on the picture, I would have thought you and your son were close as could be, you have the exact same mannerisms hahaha.

Glad you had a great time, and yes these cars are awesome road trip cars that can still lay it down on the track.

 

Really nice story. Thanks for sharing.