News
On Track – Of Corvettes and B.R.M.
News
On Track – Of Corvettes and B.R.M.
Such a large vehicle liability is unusual — and unsettling. No matter, I was there for a story, and the show had to go on. Plus, I’ve had a jones for Corvettes, one of the few true American supercars, since I was a kid. I signed the form.
After a welcome dinner by Chevrolet, our group of media folks retired to luxury condominiums built on the track premises. Next day it was an early morning breakfast in the clubhouse, followed by classroom instructions on the basics of road racing. Our fleet of beautiful Corvettes (and the accompanying, patient instructors) were provided by the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School.
The inventory we were to test included the more modest Sting Ray and Grand Sport, each at 455 horsepower, plus the more powerful ZO6 (650 horsepower) and the new ZR1 (755 horsepower).
Alex MacDonald, Chevrolet’s Vehicle Performance Manager, told the story about a recent filming of Jay Leno’s Garage to illustrate the power of the ZR1. At General Motors’ Milford Proving Grounds near Detroit, Michigan, Leno had taken a ZR1 to over 200 mph on a big, high-banked oval, for that particular episode. The track we were testing on, full of twists and turns, would not allow for anything like that, but we would get to test the car’s acceleration, braking and cornering abilities — things you might do on a public road.
For some hands-on driving instruction before heading on to the track itself, we drove the small Oval, Slalom and Barrel matrices in both the Sting Ray and Grand Sport. Each member of the group was timed. I ran somewhere in the middle of the pack.
We did the classic lead-follow program with four cars in line at a time, changing positions each lap so the instructors could judge our progress when we were directly behind them. Via radio, they gave us real-time feedback. Amazingly, they could pilot their cars and still see enough in their rearview mirrors to critique our driving. At one point, the instructor told me to keep both hands on the steering wheel at the nine-and-three position. How did he know that I had morphed to eight and two and that I had taken one hand off the wheel for a split-second?
Speaking of split seconds, for the day I was wearing a handsome Corvette Racing loaner watch, the V12-44-COR-03 Corvette Limited Edition automatic chronograph, which retails for $11,950. A number of the program participants inquired about the timepiece made by B.R.M. — some even strapped it to their wrists for photos. Many of the Chevrolet track personnel didn’t even know Corvette Racing watches existed. The fact that I had one made me stand out a bit from the crowd, especially when I happened to be rotated into a yellow ‘Vette that matched the yellow watch hands and trim.
By the way, to say signing the release affected my driving performance is an understatement. I was as careful as I could have been with the cars. But maybe that was a good thing. None of us went off-track or incurred a fender-bender, which easily could have cost more than the price of the Corvette watch I was wearing.