Radar Deflection
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,748
Likes: 2,493
From: Buckeye, AZ
St. Jude Donor '12-'13
I am not sure about today, but years ago R&T did a test of radar detection distances of various vehicles. A normal car about 1 mi, an 18 wheeler amount 2 mi, and Vettes were about 1000 ft, the felt due to plastic construction. Large vehicles had much more metal mass to reflect the radar. They also tested around curves, over hills, etc. The worst scenario is if you had a speeding truck coming up behind you. The radar is picking up the truck but the cop may assume it's the car in front. Most of the radar on crowded roads is very subjective by the cop. I had a state trooper tell me once, they typically radar the farthest left lane and best to stay as much right as you can if driving fast!
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 1,396
Likes: 1,323
From: Melbourne Florida’s Barrier Islands
The corvette body is probably invisible to radar, but everything underneath isn’t. Radiators have a big radar signature. C3 corvettes are stealthy because their radiators reflect radar signals to mars. C8’s might he ok because they are so low, but I’m just guessing.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 8,441
Likes: 3,926
From: Omaha
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C4 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
The C4 Corvette was the first they really tested against radar, and they found that the laid-back radiator deflected a lot of the signal off into space instead of back at the radar gun, decreasing detection range substantially. The fiberglass body is basically transparent to radar, and I would assume the C8 SMC is as well. The problem is that on the C8, the front radiators are much more vertical than C4/5/6/7, but they are smaller for each unit (but probably similar total area).
