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Car has finally been declared a total loss so I'm back out car shopping. Sadly can not get Watkins Glen or Cyber gray in a 2019. Have not been able to find right combination of options at dealers in the Toronto area so may have to place a factory order which means a significant delay in which case I may defer order/delivery until April. No sense getting delivery at the end of October. By then I'm usually putting the car away for the winter.
Edited in paragraph form. A little easier to follow but to the owner, thanks for sharing your story:
Originally Posted by DBWG
Well it is interesting to see all the conjecture around this unfortunate collision that possibly ended the life of 2 C7s.
I am the owner/driver of the Watkins Glen grey 2017 Grand Sport and yes the chrome wheels do indicate advancing years - I am over 65. I have owned a number of Vettes starting with a 73 Coupe and this is my second C7. I have track driven Corvettes as well as other cars and have done Spring Mountain. I have done the Dragon many, many times on both motorcycles and Corvettes.
A group of us spend a week driving/riding out of Maggie Valley almost every year so know the entire area very well. I agree the Dragon is not the best road in the area but it is the only one where you can get some nice photos of your ride for a reasonable cost. I almost always buy a few of the photos from several of the photographers.
The other driver who also had chrome wheels was a little young for chrome wheels but probably late 40s.
My wife and I (grey GS) were proceeding northwesterly between mile marker 4 and 5 at a brisque but fairly leisurely pace with the roof panel off heading for a nice drive and some photo ops along The Little River Road, one of my favorites in the area.
We were climbing a hill on a fairly straight section of the road and approaching a good full vision left turn that transitioned up a bit steeper section of the hill when we saw the red 2016 C7 Stingray coming down the hill at a speed that I estimated to be too fast. I moved over to the right side as far as I could get in the split second that I had to react but the red C7 appeared to be in a serious understeer condition (the car did not appear to be turning sharply enough after the apex of the turn) and shot across the center line and hit me at an angle scraping back along my driver's side and tearing the left rear suspension completely free of the chassis and bursting the tire. The first mark of impact on the GS was the middle of the driver's door - hard to see in the pictures.
The estimated point of impact on the road was roughly 4-5 feet on my side of the center line. The impact on the rear spun my car around so that the right rear was forced into the embankment so the rear quarter panel on the passenger side suffered a bit of damage as did the right rear suspension. Only the driver's side airbag on my car deployed. I think a front airbag may have deployed on the red C7.
The red C7 bounced off my car and went to the opposite shoulder where there was a bit of a pull off area. In some of the pictures taken at the time you can see where his rad started to leak which was very close to the white line marking the shoulder on my side or the road. Our car was full of airbag dust and we were a bit stunned from the impact. The electric doors on our car would not open from the inside but people quickly stopped and opened the doors from the outside before we got a chance to check the operation of the manual levers that open the Corvette doors in case of electrical failure.
The other driver leapt out of his car and apologized profusely and admitted full fault which was pretty obvious. He said that he did not know what happened admitting that he may have frozen and just mashed on the brakes when the car started having difficulty in the turn due to his speed but he truly did not seem to know how it happened. Of course, everyone was in a bit of shock so memories of such an incident are always questionable. Based on my experience with C7s on the Spring Mountain track the red C7 should have made that turn. He may have had to come a foot or two over the line but we could have managed that. Instead his left front fully impacted my car.
To my way of thinking at worst his car would have slid sideways and the cars hit side to side but then again, I am not an expert in accident reconstruction or the physics of understeer. His insurance company has acknowledged full liability but the insurance companies have not made a decision on the fate of my car as they wanted a specialized adjuster to look at the car which is still in a compound in rural Tennessee. The long weekend has also created delays.
Personally, I would very much prefer that my car was declared a total loss after a serious impact such as that. There were major castings and other broken parts and electrical cables from my car scattered across the shoulder of the road, not to mention the diminished value of the car come trade in time with a record of a serious accident on the title. Since the GS is only 22 months old I still have full replacement value coverage on the vehicle. It also took two men all they could do to force the removable top back into position which could have serious chassis implications or it could have just been the angle the car was on with the right rear pushed up the embankment on the passenger side.
A big complicating factor for the insurance is that I am from Ontario and the other car is from Quebec and yet Tennessee law applies since the accident was in Tennessee. Three separate legal jurisdictions, can you see any problems arising from that??
Fortunately, the other driver was a class act and did not ever try to deny liability. Even more fortunately no one was seriously hurt although my wife has some very nasty bruises along the seatbelt impact points. We had stiff necks for 4-5 days but those have now gone. One interesting side to this incident is that section of Rt.129 is well out of cell phone coverage so no Onstar notifications. However, after the cars were towed away (took nearly an hour for police to arrive and 2.5 hours for tow trucks) and returned to cell phone coverage I quickly got 4 emails from OnStar telling me that a variety of issues had arisen with my car and I should take it to the dealer immediately.
One other annoying issue was that the PDR which I use most of the time as a dash car did not produce a proper video file. Instead of the usual MP4 file it added the extension ".raw" after the MP4 extension. Several IT experts have looked at the file and tell me that the file is seriously corrupted likely caused by an inappropriate shutdown likely caused by the total electrical failure at the time of the impact. Tells me that I need an aftermarket dash cam if I want anything that records an accident.
I'll post again when I get news on the fate of the GS. If it is declared a total loss I will get a new GS same color and same options and yes chrome wheels again despite the constant cleaning of brake dust and the M7.
Since this is my second C7 and I have a number of friends with C7s I know what I like and also what I don't want or need.
Well it is interesting to see all the conjecture around this unfortunate collision that possibly ended the life of 2 C7s. I am the owner/driver of the Watkins Glen grey 2017 Grand Sport and yes the chrome wheels do indicate advancing years - I am over 65. I have owned a number of Vettes starting with a 73 Coupe and this is my second C7. I have track driven Corvettes as well as other cars and have done Spring Mountain. I have done the Dragon many, many times on both motorcycles and Corvettes. A group of us spend a week driving/riding out of Maggie Valley almost every year so know the entire area very well. I agree the Dragon is not the best road in the area but it is the only one where you can get some nice photos of your ride for a reasonable cost. I almost always buy a few of the photos from several of the photographers. The other driver who also had chrome wheels was a little young for chrome wheels but probably late 40s. My wife and I (grey GS) were proceeding northwesterly between mile marker 4 and 5 at a brisque but fairly leisurely pace with the roof panel off heading for a nice drive and some photo ops along The Little River Road, one of my favourites in the area. We were climbing a hill on a fairly straight section of the road and approaching a good full vision left turn that transitioned up a bit steeper section of the hill when we saw the red 2016 C7 Stingray coming down the hill at a speed that I estimated to be too fast. I moved over to the right side as far as I could get in the split second that I had to react but the red C7 appeared to be in a serious understeer condition (the car did not appear to be turning sharply enough after the apex of the turn) and shot across the center line and hit me at an angle scraping back along my driver's side and tearing the left rear suspension completely free of the chassis and bursting the tire. The first mark of impact on the GS was the middle of the driver's door - hard to see in the pictures. The estimated point of impact on the road was roughly 4-5 feet on my side of the center line. The impact on the rear spun my car around so that the right rear was forced into the embankment so the rear quarter panel on the passenger side suffered a bit of damage as did the right rear suspension. Only the driver's side airbag on my car deployed. I think a front airbag may have deployed on the red C7. The red C7 bounced off my car and went to the opposite shoulder where there was a bit of a pull off area. In some of the pictures taken at the time you can see where his rad started to leak which was very close to the white line marking the shoulder on my side or the road. Our car was full of airbag dust and we were a bit stunned from the impact. The electric doors on our car would not open from the inside but people quickly stopped and opened the doors from the outside before we got a chance to check the operation of the manual levers that open the Corvette doors in case of electrical failure. The other driver lept out of his car and apologised profusely and admitted full fault which was pretty obvious. He said that he did not know what happened admitting that he may have frozen and just mashed on the brakes when the car started having difficulty in the turn due to his speed but he truly did not seem to know how it happened. Of course everyone was in a bit of shock so memories of such an incident are always questionable. Based on my experience with C7s on the Spring Mountain track the red C7 should have made that turn. He may have had to come a foot or two over the line but we could have managed that. Instead his left front fully impacted my car. To my way of thinking at worst his car would have slid sideways and the cars hit side to side but then again I am not an expert in accident reconstruction or the physics of understeer. His insurance company has acknowledged full liability but the insurance companies have not made a decision on the fate of my car as they wanted a specialized adjuster to look at the car which is still in a compound in rural Tennessee. The long weekend has also created delays. Personally I would very much prefer that my car was declared a total loss after a serious impact such as that. There were major castings and other broken parts and electrical cables from my car scattered across the shoulder of the road, not to mention the diminished value of the car come trade in time with a record of a serious accident on the title. Since the GS is only 22 months old I still have full replacement value coverage on the vehicle. It also took two men all they could do to force the removable top back into position which could have serious chassis implications or it could have just been the angle the car was on with the right rear pushed up the the embankment on the passenger side. A big complicating factor for the insurance is that I am from Ontario and the other car is from Quebec and yet Tennessee law applies since the accident was in Tennessee. Three separate legal jurisdictions, can you see any problems arising from that?? Fortunately the other driver was a class act and did not ever try to deny liability. Even more fortunately no one was seriously hurt although my wife has some very nasty bruises along the seatbelt impact points. We had stiff necks for 4-5 days but those have now gone. One interesting side to this incident is that section of Rt.129 is well out of cell phone coverage so no Onstar notifications. However, after the cars were towed away (took nearly an hour for police to arrive and 2.5 hours for tow trucks) and returned to cell phone coverage I quickly got 4 emails from OnStar telling me that a variety of issues had arisen with my car and I should take it to the dealer immediately. One other annoying issue was that the PDR which I use most of the time as a dash car did not produce a proper video file. Instead of the usual MP4 file it added the extension ".raw" after the MP4 extension. Several IT experts have looked at the file and tell me that the file is seriously corrupted likely caused by an inappropriate shutdown likely caused by the total electrical failure at the time of the impact. Tells me that I need an aftermarket dash cam if I want anything that records an accident.
I'll post again when I get news on the fate of the GS. If it is declared a total loss I will get a new GS same colour and same options and yes chrome wheels again despite the constant cleaning of brake dust and the M7. Since this is my second C7 and I have a number of friends with C7s I know what I like and also what I don't want or need.
Should have added an update to this post many months ago. Both car were declared a total loss. Since I (Cyber Grey GS) had full replacement coverage the insurance company just went to a local dealer and got a price for a new 2019 Corvette with the same equipment and cut me a check for that amount. I shopped all of the local dealers and could not find the combination of colour and options that I wanted - Cyber Grey is out of production. So I finally ordered a new build from my usual dealer who offered me the best price among six dealers who gave me quotes. I even got the car for slightly cheaper than the insurance reimbursement check.
Since the estimated delivery date was going to be within 4 weeks of my usual winter storage date I opted for an early April delivery of a new Blade Silver GS with the exact same options as the 2017 with the exception of adding the GS hood liner.
I've driven the Dragon many times. I would say "spirited " most often. However, I always stay in my lane. Problem is you don't know what the guy coming towards you in a curve may be doing. It's always a gamble.
Two C7's meet on same curve, and both drivers are from Canada? How weird can this get?
The guy in the Z51 admitted fault right off the bat. That would never with American drivers. US insurance companies always advise their customers to never admin fault under any circumstances. Honesty is refreshing.
Should have added an update to this post many months ago. Both car were declared a total loss. Since I (Cyber Grey GS) had full replacement coverage the insurance company just went to a local dealer and got a price for a new 2019 Corvette with the same equipment and cut me a check for that amount. I shopped all of the local dealers and could not find the combination of colour and options that I wanted - Cyber Grey is out of production. So I finally ordered a new build from my usual dealer who offered me the best price among six dealers who gave me quotes. I even got the car for slightly cheaper than the insurance reimbursement check.
Since the estimated delivery date was going to be within 4 weeks of my usual winter storage date I opted for an early April delivery of a new Blade Silver GS with the exact same options as the 2017 with the exception of adding the GS hood liner.
Good that everyone is OK, sounds like the Stingray driver was a bit over his head here, and a public highway, no matter how challenging and fun it may be, is not the place to test your driving skills or lack thereof. Better luck with the new GS, Blade Silver is a great choice, my new ZO6 coupe is Blade Silver so I'm a bit biased here, and my previous C6 Grand Sport was Cyber Gray, so similar taste in colors.
True the road was much safe before everyone in sport cars, wanna be sport cars, sport bikes and Harley found out about it.
I can tell you that a Harley touring bike is not at full lean at 15 mph on those curves. Many times I have corvettes holding me up on my Harley going through the dragon. I can run it over the posted limit on My Road Glide or my Road King, the soft tail its hard to even run the limit with out dragging parts. I live 70 miles from the Dragon. So I run my Harleys on it, on have only ever held sport bikes up, but I get to far right of the lane and wave them by. I have only ever had one Vette driver need to be waive by, and two Porsche drivers need to be waived by. I also have run my 14 Stingray and now my 18 Grand sport over the dragon a few times.
Unfortunately this is very true on curvy roads in NC, TN and north GA. Most people do not make any effort to stay in their lane.
Seeing very little of the Dragon is actually in NC odds are very good it was in TN. About 1 mile out of 11 is in NC.
That's my fear on my Harley or in my Corvette. I live 70 miles from the dragon. I only drive or ride it before 11 am and only on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
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That is extremely impressive that you can go over the speed limit on the Dragon... 30mph on a Harley is absolutely flying!
So you being able to ride it a 35mph must be some sight to see. You becareful out there. Those Harley's are known for being fast bikes.
Should have added an update to this post many months ago. Both car were declared a total loss. Since I (Cyber Grey GS) had full replacement coverage the insurance company just went to a local dealer and got a price for a new 2019 Corvette with the same equipment and cut me a check for that amount. I shopped all of the local dealers and could not find the combination of colour and options that I wanted - Cyber Grey is out of production. So I finally ordered a new build from my usual dealer who offered me the best price among six dealers who gave me quotes. I even got the car for slightly cheaper than the insurance reimbursement check.
Since the estimated delivery date was going to be within 4 weeks of my usual winter storage date I opted for an early April delivery of a new Blade Silver GS with the exact same options as the 2017 with the exception of adding the GS hood liner.
Congratulations. Full replacement insurance is well worth the cost.
Originally Posted by LarryFL
Two C7's meet on same curve, and both drivers are from Canada? How weird can this get?
The guy in the Z51 admitted fault right off the bat. That would never with American drivers. US insurance companies always advise their customers to never admin fault under any circumstances. Honesty is refreshing.
Our insurance companies tell us the same thing: never admit fault. And because insurance rates here are so high already, and go up with an at fault accident, most people lie like hell. I've had two cars totalled due to other drivers turning left in front of me (one in 2007 and again in 2016) and in both cases the other driver admitted fault and I was amazed hat they did so willingly.
...by this and other accidents with how well the C7 is built in terms of being safe for a sports car....glad it was an example and not
memorable because of injuries or worse....
Don’t get your seatbelt in a twist. Totally unscientific observation. I’ve done a lot of long road trips, west to the Dakotas & Wyoming, South to Oklahoma & Texas, north to Michigan and East to Florida & New England. I’ve probably driven from Chicago to Maine 20 times through Ohio. Sorry, but Ohio drivers are the consistently bad...but if it makes you fell any better, I forgot Indiana drivers are worse still. Illinois drivers are just self centered ********.
09-14-2018, 12:37 PM
Good that everyone is OK, sounds like the Stingray driver was a bit over his head here, and a public highway, no matter how challenging and fun it may be, is not the place to test your driving skills or lack thereof. Better luck with the new GS, Blade Silver is a great choice, my new ZO6 coupe is Blade Silver so I'm a bit biased here, and my previous C6 Grand Sport was Cyber Gray, so similar taste in colors.
