Howdy-- my dad has a C6 automatic with paddle shifters, and wants to take it to a drift event. I personally haven't driven the car before, but is he wasting his time? (IE, will it hold onto gears and have a fairly good rpm to wheelspeed "lock"?)

Any advice much appreciated.

 

I'm not sure with A6, maybe he can put it in manual mode and just hold a gear there ?

Also, don't forget to completely turn off the TC and AH. Don't be surprised when DIC says something about servicing AH at the end of the run. C5/C6 don't like drifting, the yaw sensor, steering angle sensor, and wheel speed sensors outputs contradict each other and whatever the control module thinks that there is a broken sensor somewhere.

For example: yaw sensor indicate the car turning left but the steering wheel angle sensor says it's turning right. Outputs from wheel speed sensors don't match the table(s) it has.

 

You can do it. There's enough power back there to keep em going even if the car shifts with the AH and the TC off.

 

Sounds like someone wants to have fun with daddy Vette

 

Drifting with a Corvette... sounds like a $1,000 a day hobby.

 

Let us know how it goes, we have a few C5 guys who do it and love it. I dont think I would be to into it, but I would like to try it someday for fun.

 

Has youre dad checked the price of Vette tires recently?

 

It could be a rental and he's just swapping on a different set of wheels and tires for the rear...

 

You shouldn't have much trouble. Just tell your dad to turn off TC and AH. You should be able to hold the gears enough in paddle mode to drift. You may have issues depending on how much traction you have. If it's really hot out and your traction is great you could end up bouncing off the rev limiter in paddle mode. I believe if you do that long enough the transmission will still shift automatically to protect itself.

 

Forgot several things.

Get a pair of cheap wheels (can be OEM) and mount used tires on them. The used tires only need to have OD that's in the ballpark of the stock one. The width doesn't matter, the narrower the better, the higher treadwear rating the better. These will save the nice pair that the car has now.

If you are driving the car to the event, have a back up vehicle preferably a pick-up truck to carry all the extra stuff. Once the rears are depleted, swap them out and you can drive your car home. The back up vehicle can carry extra (the nice pair) of tires and tire-swap equipment (floor/jack, lug wrench and torque wrench). Bring disposable gloves or hand cleaner (plus a couple rags to wipe hands).

If you are towing the vehicle, it's even better. You can run that used pair until they go flat (if need be, I wouldn't though, I stop at the sight of cords) which takes about 10 minutes worth of run time. This way you can just load up the car and tow it home.

I learned this the hard time with my '03 for my first practice event. Mounted a take-off pair of 275/40/18 GY SuperRunCraps on wagon wheels. After about 10 minutes run time (about 4-5 runs), they had lost chunks of rubber and cords were showing here and there. I stopped since I had to drive the car home 1.5 hrs. It was the most miserable car ride I have ever experienced. The rears were very very loud and they vibrated.

Also, give the tires a breather, don't run them for too long of a time. IMO, 2 minutes are absolute limit. You will get a better tire life if you run them at shorter periods. Besides, no tire is ever designed to take this level of use.

Be prepared to have an upper-body workout too. It's very exhausting when your body has to keep steady in the seat. Jam left foot on the dead pedal and put the seat belt on automatic lock. During a drift, TURN YOUR HEAD to the travel direction; don't just move your eyes.