Mrgogo

I was doing some cleanup on the interior of my 99 bone stock convertible when I accidently pushed the traction control device button. I never knew I had a function called competative driving. I looked it up in the owners manual and then forgot about it. Heres the scarry part now. Driving home after a swing shift I remembered the competition mode and decided to give it a try. I want you all to know there was no one around and did what I did as safely as possible. Light turns green and I nail it. Holy *****! Its an automatic when it spun up thru the gears the back tires were spinning like mad! Got up to about 75 with the backs still smokin. Whooowee! All I can say is to remember to respect the power this cars got. Any others got stories?

ALLEGRO

Take it from a lot of us, turn the Baby-Sitter on and leave it that way. If you are going to "play," be sure you cannot hit anything or anyone. It is amazing how well the TC/AH works in these things, but DON'T get caught with it off. It will get away from you and in one heck of a hurry.

itzza427

Actually,,Competitive Driving mode KEEPS Active Handling on,,just allows you to spin the tires for say going to the strip. Lets you launch harder but still keeps the baby sitter there if you start to get a little sideways!!

damilleniumboy

You should try it with the Traction Control OFF!

baxsom

try driving my fully built C3 bigblock with 373s in the read end and getting caught in a sudden rain storm.

BOUT X

Amen to that I did that when I went did a auto-x event talk about slide ways what fun in a controlled environment

Fixed

Mine doesnt work, because of the known ECBM problem. I love it off. It is all about throttle control. Launching, drifting corners, and skirting the gears are all a good time.

I will say that you really get to know the car, and understand you don't always need full throttle with it off. If you are going to play with her, ease into it. It sounds like you are smart about it. Throw a good set of seats in her that really hold you in place, and OMG you will really be surprised at what the car can do.

madmatt9471

Be careful! But have fun!

Thanks,Matt

Vetteman Jack

These cars can surprise you. Just be careful as others have said.

ALLEGRO

I so agree.

With the near 50/50 weight distribution, you would be surprised how much the TC/AH does make adjustments when driving spiritedly. You may not notice it, but it is making minute limits to keep yaw and slip-angle to a minimum.

My suggestion again, when driving normal, keep the Baby Sitter ... ON !

Jesse Asis

Ditto, it's great and keeps you in check when you skills may not be up there like the race car drivers.. But with that said, be careful on the streets, to many vettes are seen tail wagging and you end up with a damaged vehicle that will be hard to keep and or sell. Keep it on a track if at all possible. As far as HP, the stock 350 to 355 HP is great in this C5, I wonder how much more HP will I need to get out of situations. A supercharger adds around 175 HP over the stock numbers. Will I ever need that, well I guess it would be nice to have but the stock works 99% of the time for my kind of driving at this stage in life. Love this C5, best sports car for the buck, American Buck!

itzza427

Mine has been out for quite a while too and have not been in a big hurry to fix it! Been driving more years than many members have been alive! I do like the concept of ABS and so on,,but I don't feel like an endangered specie without them. Muscle cars have been around for a good 4 decades before all the electronic nannies came on the scene! But then again I grew up in the formative years in the country and learned to What they now call drifting on dirt/gravel roads before I was old enough for a drivers license. I have practiced in the rain and snow ever since. Electronics are great,,BUT they still can't completely cover your but and experience and skill are STILL a good back up!!

ALLEGRO

I do not disagree, BUT....at speed, and in a turn, when it does break loose, it generally gives little to no warning, and even the most experienced driver will be challenged with the resolve.

Bottom line: the TC/AH is there for a purpose.

Grimlock

The first thing I do when I start my car is put it into Competition Mode. I think the Corvette is actually a pretty easy to drive car and very safe. Sure, if you are an idiot, you can easily get into trouble. I keep on the Active Handling on just in case I hit a patch of gravel or oil slick or something crazy.

Also, remember if you hit the reset button, it will clear the competition mode message from the screen. So you can view oil temperatures or whatever you normally like to view.

fendermender

I grew up sliding a go cart around on red dog side roads. The first time at the track with my 1980 TR8, I learned a lot about throttle control. It has a built 4liter aluminum V8 in a small 2500lb car. They didn't have TC or ABS back then. The instructor was quick to criticize my application of throttle. Stabbing the gas was just upseting the car. But the power did help on a hairpin uphill turn where the car would start to push out and loose speed. A gentle nudge on the throttle let the rear step out a bit and power up the grade. Huge fun with no electronic help.

But my advise would be if you didn't notice the tires spinning until 75mph, keep the TC on.

Black0ut

It has become a strange habit that when i get into the car, SM/TC are turned off. Keys? Check. Seatbelt? Check. Turn car on? Check. Traction control? WTF IS THAT?


On a side note, I have once driven with competitive mode on and it was great. PS2's got all plastic-y from heat cycling and the track was dusty. Scariest lap event ever... never again.

GoldenFlame

I turn that crap off everytime I start the car

Cubman

Too Funny .....

Mrgogo

Well as the original poster, I just wanted to see what the thing would do. I certainly don't condone any kind of unsafe operation on city streets. I keep my slip slidin to my dirt go-cart. Be safe Y'all!

tiojames

Had traction control deleted when Andy tuned the vert after the mods. We left the active handling alone.