Here's a vote for keeping the AH active. Last night on my final pass at Speedworld in Phoenix I nearly lost it. Someone just before me blew or otherwise dumped oil, ATF, coolant, or whatever at the 1200 foot area. Up to that point I was having a personal best of everything through the 1000' mark. When I hit the slick spot, I suddenly found myself in places I'd never been before, like next to the wall and alternating that with the center line. I immediately lifted and slid through the traps at 12.43 and 108.86, all the while thinking about how glad I was that the 2LT has side airbags and hoping the shattering fiberglass doesn't puncture them in a rollover.
I consider myself a better than average driver and have plenty of ice and snow experience, but I fully believe this would have been real trouble without the AH engaged. As soon as the tires cleaned themselves of the crap the car straightened out and life was good again. I'm not sure how much of the correction was me or the AH, but I really don't care either.

 

Glad you and the car are OK!!!

BTW...think you are in my neck of the woods!! We have the same 'NEW' zip code .

 

Wow!!! Thanks for the report. Glad everything got straightened out in the end.

I've been reading in the Z06 section about ayousef's very similar experience, but with a much worse end result. I asked, but never got an answer, as to whether he had turned the AH off. If you haven't seen his thread, take a look at this:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1954973

I ran an HPDE at Daytona in December. We had four 30 minute sessions per day, and it was a 3 day event, so I got a pretty good amount of track time on the course (we were running the Rolex 24 course - turns in the infield, then up onto the NASCAR high banked oval).

I was running in Comp mode to start with to see how my tires (OE Z06 GY's) did on the track. I was expecting that in real aggressive turn-ins in the tight infield turns, and also if the azz end kicked out during acceleration out of those turns, that maybe the AH in Comp mode might help me until I figured out how the car was reacting. Then I planned to turn off AH completely.

I never got any AH intervention in the infield, but bouncing around up on the high-banked part of the track at about 150-155 and about 10 feet from the wall, I could see something blinking in the DIC. My vision was pretty well focused on the track, but when I glanced down I could see the "Active Handling" message in the DIC. It did that quite a bit every time I was up high on the bank passing somebody (it's pretty bumpy up there). It didn't seem to do it down on the lower and smoother area.

I decided I'd leave it in Comp mode and not completely turn off the AH. I couldn't feel any sideways movement of the car, but I guess the yaw sensors and accelerometers were detecting something, and I was glad to accept their help in keeping me off the wall!!!

Like you experienced, even on a track that is prepped and maintained, you can hit something that will throw the car off. On the street you're even more likey to hit water/oil/gravel/uneven surface that can give you big handling problems. I know there are lots of owners that turn AH off every time they get in their car. I'm not that good, so I leave AH full on for street driving.

Glad you made it off the strip in one piece!!!

Bob

 

Glad you made out alright. Those helpers sure can save your bacon.

I had a AH experience recently myself. I was making a left hand turn the other day at what I though was a reasonable speed (15-20 mph) which I do every day on the way to work. There is a concrete/soil/sand place down the road and that day there must have been extra grit on the road. I turned left and my car kept going straight so I had to brake a bit to slow down and continue through the turn. None of the helpers kicked in. Thank goodness I was going slow enough for me to keep safe.

 

It's been said before, but worth repeating. AH never gets in the way during drag racing. Leave it on because if the car even THINKS it needs it, you're heading for disaster and it's already ahead of your reflexes.

Drag Racers:
TC-off (better 60' times, TC isn't fast acting enough to aid acceleration)
AH-on (if the car isn't pointed straight anymore, your race is over anyway)
Comp mode- road racing for experienced drivers (diminished AH to power around the turns on the edge)

Glad you made it to the other side safely.