Tampa Corvette Owner Killed

[als2052]

Sorry to hear about it...prayers go out to family of deceased and well wishes go out to the injured...

[Shadow]

Chaz,

Not to chage the tone of the tread or try to 2nd guess the dead, but I've thought the same thing.

We've had some God awful rainstorms recently (didn't say whether it was raining at the time?) and hydroplaning in these cars is easy to do.

Sometimes we all forget

[CHASZ51]

I know my C6 and wet roads dont mix at all! I stay out of the gas on wet roads.

[Rich Z]

Actually I believe a lot of people don't really know how to drive on wet roads at all. I've had people passing me like I was standing still throwing huge plumes of water off of the sides of their vehicle. Many people don't realize that when you hit water on the road, your tires aren't even contacting the road surface. So if you make a turn of the steering wheel, the car doesn't react, they try to over compensate by turning the wheel more, THEN the column of water under the tires goes away and they car leaps sideways suddenly, usually heading off at a sharp angle, or swapping ends at high speed.

People should drive on snow and ice at least once in their lifetime. You learn a lot about how to control a car when the steering wheel feels slightly disconnected from the car.

[Guro305]

Originally Posted by coolassbrad

its a proven fact that people forget how to drive in the rain

[Rich427]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Chaz,

Not to chage the tone of the tread or try to 2nd guess the dead, but I've thought the same thing.

We've had some God awful rainstorms recently (didn't say whether it was raining at the time?) and hydroplaning in these cars is easy to do.

Sometimes we all forget

Also not trying to hijack the thread, but you guys maybe on to something.

We mod our cars to get the most out of them, which a lot of times means putting tires on that are sticky in the dry, but terrible in the wet weather. Plus, if you are running OEM tires, the factory runcraps are not great rain tires (at least the EMTs that came on my '01 vert. Maybe the newer C6 EMTs are better). This is one of the reasons why I decided a couple years ago, to remove the EMTs (and give up that convenience) for a tire that performs well in the dry AND wet conditions. I decided to put the Goodyear GS D3s on my '01. I also put a small compressor (similar to what the C5 Z06s have) in the trunk. I got better traction in the dry and much better traction and stability during rainy conditions. If you look at this picture I took shortly after I replaced my tires, you can see the tread pattern that funnels water out of the tire patch.



I am not suggesting that everyone go buy these tires, although they have been great on my '01 vert and I am considering putting them on my Z06, they are a SIGNIFICANT upgrade to the orignial runcraps and also give me great dry performance for more spirited driving. IF you know what I mean?

Sorry, not trying to turn this into a tire thread, but just thought this might add to comments about weather conditions at the time of the accident.

Rich

[Shadow]

That's probably going to be the crux of the matter unfortunately

The tread patter and siping grooves on a tire make all the difference in the world in wet weather.

You can still have a good dry weather tread compound and have a good wet weather tread pattern

Anyone want to start a tire thread? If so we can move the last 2 post over to it and get a discussion going

If not, then I'll just leave them here.

[Z06 Rocket]

Originally Posted by Shadow

That's not a good thing

They don't do that for cuts, bruises and a broken leg

Sometimes the bird flys them out due to "Mechanism of injury" as in how bad the crash looks. It's some set standards they have for intrusion into the cabin area a certian amount etc... Not always simply based on injuries sustained.

[Rich Z]

Originally Posted by Z06 Rocket

Sometimes the bird flys them out due to "Mechanism of injury" as in how bad the crash looks. It's some set standards they have for intrusion into the cabin area a certian amount etc... Not always simply based on injuries sustained.

Yeah, that makes sense. They may have to just assume there are potentially non-visible internal injuries that could be life threatening. The more parts of the car intruding into the cabin, the more likely this would be the case.

[CHASZ51]

From the pic i saw of the wreck the road looked dry.