Spring Mountain Trip Live sort of

Sparro said:

It was nice meeting you Andrew and thanks for showing me you sweet ride. These cars a lot better than most people know. You have to see them in person to really appreciate them!

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Nice to meet you too! That HTC is the sweet ride. I like my Bluray but that HTC is the bomb!

Day 2 Update.
Sorry for the delay all. Yesterday was a brutal travel day. When I finally made it home, it was just dinner, drink, and bed. My new bed in the dungeon as I start my 14 day isolation.
So our group had a great meal Tuesday Evening after Day 1 at the Winery. I highly recommend this venue. The food was good. Even though we could only order non-alcoholic drinks.
There is a back story here on the ownership change and the dispute over the need to apply for a new liquor license. I guess the learning moment was don't pick a fight with the licensing folks.
So Day 2 involved more track time. The groups were re-shuffled for Day 2. So half the class went out to the track for more lead/follow exercises. While the other half went out for the Autocross Course. I can say that for the novices, with each lap on the 1.5 mile west course it gets better and faster. Now we are never allowed to get crazy and at all times the instructor is in the lead car. The lead cars were all Camaro's. I am guessing so that we could all identify the instructors easily.
The track times were never timed. We did get the track preloaded on the SM supplied 16 gig SD cards. The only timed event was the Autocross. The course was setup with orange small cones. If you hit a cone you loose seconds on your time. So each of the groups of 6 had their own autocross timed events. Only the top three in each were announced. Sorry guys I did not make the top three in our group. I think I hit a cone.
On the second day they send in a course photographer to take photos of us all. They have a photo package along with big prints available. We all took the digital package which had a price of $150.00 now because we were a group of 10 we received a 10% discount.
The two days were great. I think it would even be better if they added a third and fourth day. It is a lot to take in for just two days. More track time in the cars would be better. I would have gladly paid more. But I am not complaining. The time is great fun and I certainly recommend this for all C8 owners.
The team of instructors are great. Young guys that all know what they are doing.
So things to consider:
1) Photo package as a keepsake is a consideration. Digital high resolution files of at least 25 shots of you on the course for $150
2) frame available at the gift shop for your Certificate and Name Badge $40 US
3) Shirts and caps and lots of apparel items available in the shop.
4) Tipping of Instructors - I am not sure if everyone tipped but for sure many did. They share in the group and there are six support instructors. I left $100 as did others, do as you wish.


Our class photo. The waiting for delivery of our respective cars was what brought us to this event. Great group of guys here. We had fun!

pumpkinodin8844 said:

Pic looks great. Can't wait to get back there again but I'm on the list for Z06 so might be a bit.

Out of curiosity as I'm planning a trip into the US and I don't see any requirement to get a covid test prior to leaving Canada, did you get one? If so did it help with customs?

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No, there is no requirement to get tested on either side of the border. I had no issues or questions at US Customs or coming back at Canadian Customs. I am a frequent traveller and have my Nexus Card so not sure if that had any impact at all. Upon return to Canada you will have to isolate for 14 days. I am doing that now. I did go to the Etobicoke drive through testing Centre to get tested today. This was more for my family and how we interact in the house.

My post trip take on the additional insurance buy down.
So I did buy down my exposure on the deductible from the stated 8,000 to what would then be 2,000 for the additional fee of $200.00 USD. Not knowing what our exposure was to be able to damage the car, this made sense to me.
Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I would say it was not worth it. At no time are we in a position to loose control of the vehicle. All track time is in a follow the leader role so speed is controlled and all other exercises are also well controlled. So, in my opinion, only with having completed the exercises, I would say I could have passed on this.

Jack Raccoon! said:

Glad you enjoyed your time. Hope your isolation is uneventful. Let us know if Health Canada checks up on you.

If there is no chance to lose control of your car, I don't know if I want to go...

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I hear you Jack. Don't get me wrong, it was still a blast for me. I had a great time, learned lots, and completely enjoyed the experience. I am just saying that they do not let you get out on the track alone and let'r rip! The course we were on was only 1.5 miles and full of turns. You are lucky to hit 100mph at most on the one large straight away. Lots of braking needed. That was the lesson. With a mid engine car you have to use the breaks into the turns to put the weight on the front wheels to effectively steer. It is completely different driving from the C7's who have the weight of the engine up front.

SN-III said:

Did not one person in the class ask “why are you guys in Camaros” ? We did in our class a few years ago and the semi-pro instructor had an excellent explanation. I won’t mention it because the explanation he had started with “well some may argue the reasons ... but ... “. So I won’t take this thread in that direction . Just saying though that there is a couple of reasons for it.

The instructors in our "Corvette Owners School" (COS) were there for us to try and keep up when it was our turn to be behind them. The only time I was “paced” was when I followed another “student”. I know a few of the better-experienced Z06 student drivers were able to push the instructors when following them. I tried in my Stingray and I was only able to do it for a couple of turns and then my humbling inexperience kicked in (arrogance would have me saying it was all due to not having the extra 200 horsepower - so I won't say that - but maybe I just did)

It does seem like the outline of the COS has changed a bit as we did not have an “autocross” but we did have a figure-8, an oval, a wet-braking and blacked-out windshield steering exercises along with an “at-car” orientation that was above and beyond anything a dealership does.

In-class chat had good take-aways too. I valued and still am disciplined by the part about why you must use your first few “miles” and corners to get your Corvette Tires to warm up when driving on the city streets. I have a habit now of displaying my tire pressures on my dash and wait to see an increase before driving and cornering with a bit more spirit.

Curious if these have remained as a part of the C8-COS for you? The COS was much more than expected from what I experienced and read from past write-ups on CCF. I agree on the insurance concept and bought it more to protect myself from being in a predicament with the other drivers (as I don't know them). I just adjusted my driving if I felt the back end was getting too squirrelly.

Student Groups were made so that Sunday Drivers can be together and separated by the more capable and the more spirited ones. They cater to all driving types very well. Thanks for your writeup and photos ... I had about twice as many in my “class” photo so it looks like your experience was closer to a one-on-one ratio than mine

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We did all of those exercises also. The figure 8 was a demonstration of our weather mode in the C8. First runs were with TC off and we were told to push the car to spin and loose control, then again with the Weather mode engaged and no matter what you did that car did not budge. We did the Serpentine with the screens. We did the tech talk with the overview of the car and yes it was informative also. Classes are only 12 students per and our cars are assigned and kept personal for the duration. Only once was a instructor in the car and this was in the track demo at the end of day 1. You rode shotgun to see what the car can do and how far you can push it. Yes tire temps are important and they also emphasized that to us. Also that the sounds the tires make are good warnings before you loose it in the corners.
I would have been in the Sunday Driver flight on Day 2. haha.

I now am working from home in my quarantine period. This is now the time to pay the piper mode. Can't drive my car. On the positive note, My COVID test came back negative. So I have that. haha. I will be sending Rick some thoughts now that I have had time to think the training over. As great as it was and it was certainly informative and enjoyable, there is no data collection on metrics that are shared with the students. I think it would be great to see track times as a sort of improvement of Day 2 over Day 1 and also the times for all of the passes of the autocross track. Would just give the student an idea of improvement and applying the concepts taught. We get no real report card or review which I think would be a more constructive take away. If the idea was to create a path of continued learning to invest in the level 2 course then this would be a good foundation tool. Just my opinion.

AxeZ06 said:

With your negative test, will you be allowed to shave 7 days off your quarantine?

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Is that an option? I was not aware of that here in Ontario. I was working strictly from the Quarantine Act. It looks like 14 days with no early parole for good behavior.