- Joined
- Jan 19, 2003
- Messages
- 3,021
- Location
- 5,800 feet above sea level
- Corvette
- 2006 'Evil Stealth Black' Roadster
Subtitle: "Do We Corvette Owners Have Only Ourselves To Blame?"
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Dateline: Sunday afternoon/evening, Colorado Front Range
Despite the picture perfect day we had in Denver on Saturday, we awoke Sunday morning to a heavy cloud cover that would not go away. By early afternoon, the clouds opened up a minor rift and we experienced a drizzle. By mid-afternoon, the drizzle was becoming a hard rain.
Not a problem, I told myself. I could take the Eldorado down to Colorado Springs tonight for dinner with my parents. So at a little before 4:00 PM, I hit the road, leaving my Z06 in the garage- warm, safe and dry. Less than five miles from home, with the better part of an hour on the road ahead of me, the road conditions deteriorated.
With a Spring snow, you get flurries which make the roads wet. With a hard rain, you get instant run-off. On the Interstate, multiple cars were hydroplaning, hitting large pools of water and kicking up rooster tails behind them. I found myself happy I'd decided to leave the Z06 at home today.
And then it hit me: I've moderated my driving style to not only fit the road conditions, but the car I'm driving. Had this been a clear sunny day, and I was in the Z06, I'd have been pressing the accelerator, moving quickly to capture a space in the left lane and (I sheepishly admit) trying to intimidate drivers of "soccer-mom mobiles" into changing lanes as they observed the profile of my black, stealthy Z06 rapidly gaining on them in their rear view mirror. But this was not a clear, sunny day, and I was not in my Z06.
I hit a large pool of water at the bottom of a swale in the road, and felt the back end of the Eldorado momentarily go soft. I took my foot off the gas, and let the water itself slow me down. When full traction returned, I got into the right lane, and allowed myself to calm down to the "I need to pass these slow moving folks" sentiment that usually affects my road trips.
And I thought about that. What is it about a Corvette that instills in me a sense that being more aggressive is to be expected? Is it the car, and all it's capable of, or is it me?
In the Technical Discussions forum, over the weekend, we had a bit of a debate crop up about Superchargers, and whether it meant that the owner of a supercharged Vette was likely to have been more firm on the throttle because he or she had a supercharger. This thread occurred to me, as I plodded along, windshields desperately trying to clear the liquid debris from my Eldorado's windshield as a turbo-desiel Ford F-350 kicked water off the road in its wake in a pretty dramatic fashion.
Setting aside the Supercharger issue, the question I ultimately came to was this: before I bought my first Corvette, how aggressive a driver was I? And the truth I came to was that despite the fact that my first new car after graduating from college was a 5.0L Camaro, I never had those aggressive driving instincts before I got a Corvette. Did the car make me a more aggressive driver when optimum driving conditions allowed? Or did I just become one, knowing what kind of power my Z06 has as it's disposal?
For my part, I think I may have "evolved" as a driver because of the Corvette I have. I find myself looking for those gaps between groups of cars, and accelerating to place myself between them, because it gives me a sense that I have more of the road to myself. I find myself becoming irritated quicker when someone in my lane doesn't move over as I close on them, forcing me to break my stride. In fact, I've found myself becoming more possessive of the left lane than I was before I got the Corvette.
Has anyone else found this to be true about how owning a Corvette has affected their driving? I'm not talking about your driving skills- I'm talking about your level of aggressiveness when driving the Vette. And when you drive something other than the Vette, do you start feeling like you have to "behave" a little better on the road?
I'm curious to hear thoughts on this...
-Patrick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dateline: Sunday afternoon/evening, Colorado Front Range
Despite the picture perfect day we had in Denver on Saturday, we awoke Sunday morning to a heavy cloud cover that would not go away. By early afternoon, the clouds opened up a minor rift and we experienced a drizzle. By mid-afternoon, the drizzle was becoming a hard rain.
Not a problem, I told myself. I could take the Eldorado down to Colorado Springs tonight for dinner with my parents. So at a little before 4:00 PM, I hit the road, leaving my Z06 in the garage- warm, safe and dry. Less than five miles from home, with the better part of an hour on the road ahead of me, the road conditions deteriorated.
With a Spring snow, you get flurries which make the roads wet. With a hard rain, you get instant run-off. On the Interstate, multiple cars were hydroplaning, hitting large pools of water and kicking up rooster tails behind them. I found myself happy I'd decided to leave the Z06 at home today.
And then it hit me: I've moderated my driving style to not only fit the road conditions, but the car I'm driving. Had this been a clear sunny day, and I was in the Z06, I'd have been pressing the accelerator, moving quickly to capture a space in the left lane and (I sheepishly admit) trying to intimidate drivers of "soccer-mom mobiles" into changing lanes as they observed the profile of my black, stealthy Z06 rapidly gaining on them in their rear view mirror. But this was not a clear, sunny day, and I was not in my Z06.
I hit a large pool of water at the bottom of a swale in the road, and felt the back end of the Eldorado momentarily go soft. I took my foot off the gas, and let the water itself slow me down. When full traction returned, I got into the right lane, and allowed myself to calm down to the "I need to pass these slow moving folks" sentiment that usually affects my road trips.
And I thought about that. What is it about a Corvette that instills in me a sense that being more aggressive is to be expected? Is it the car, and all it's capable of, or is it me?
In the Technical Discussions forum, over the weekend, we had a bit of a debate crop up about Superchargers, and whether it meant that the owner of a supercharged Vette was likely to have been more firm on the throttle because he or she had a supercharger. This thread occurred to me, as I plodded along, windshields desperately trying to clear the liquid debris from my Eldorado's windshield as a turbo-desiel Ford F-350 kicked water off the road in its wake in a pretty dramatic fashion.
Setting aside the Supercharger issue, the question I ultimately came to was this: before I bought my first Corvette, how aggressive a driver was I? And the truth I came to was that despite the fact that my first new car after graduating from college was a 5.0L Camaro, I never had those aggressive driving instincts before I got a Corvette. Did the car make me a more aggressive driver when optimum driving conditions allowed? Or did I just become one, knowing what kind of power my Z06 has as it's disposal?
For my part, I think I may have "evolved" as a driver because of the Corvette I have. I find myself looking for those gaps between groups of cars, and accelerating to place myself between them, because it gives me a sense that I have more of the road to myself. I find myself becoming irritated quicker when someone in my lane doesn't move over as I close on them, forcing me to break my stride. In fact, I've found myself becoming more possessive of the left lane than I was before I got the Corvette.
Has anyone else found this to be true about how owning a Corvette has affected their driving? I'm not talking about your driving skills- I'm talking about your level of aggressiveness when driving the Vette. And when you drive something other than the Vette, do you start feeling like you have to "behave" a little better on the road?
I'm curious to hear thoughts on this...
-Patrick
that there would be no others (drivers, pedestrians and especially law enforcement) on the road and no animals to cross my path I would probably extend my speed for that section. But this is hypothetical, of course...
