Southern US: September 2020: Day 2: NCM Corvette Experience

Southern US: September 2020

Sept 2020: Day 2: Corvettes

Ceramic is an interesting color.

Middle car in a 3-car lead follow with the instructor and 2 students.

NCM Motorsports is a beautiful track.

Showing off engines at Motorsports Park.

One of the instructor's personal rides. Camaro ZL1 1LE.

Another instructor's personal car.

The cars ready for the 10:30am class.

The front straight.

Bridgestone RE-71R's are the tire of choice around here.

Mmmm, race gas.... $8.50/gallon+..

Someone's come a long way.

Rows and rows of new C8's.

Interior.

Corvette Museum delivery.

Wiring back them was a lot less complicated.

1961 Corvette, last year of the 283 cubic inch engine.

1963 Z06 racer.

2015 C7.R race car, made famous at the 2016 Rolex 24 Hours of Dayota with their 1-2 finish. 5.5L V8, 6-speed semi-automatic, 490whp est. on E20, 2447lbs.

1965 XP-819 "The Ugly Duckling."

1986 Corvette Indy.

2019 ZR1.

And in the infamous sinkhole pavilion.

2001 Mallet Hammer.

First seven generations in a family portrait.

1992 Corvette, #1,000,000. Repaired after the sinkhole.

2009 Corvette, #1,500,000. Destroyed by the sinkhole.

1993 ZR-1 Spyder prototype on the right.

1962 Corvette, aka the original C1 generation.

2018 powertrain development vehicle for the new 6.2L LT2 and the C8.

The Beatnik Bandit by Ed Roth. Based of 1955 Oldsmobile chassis and engine.

Smokey Pig BBQ.

The menu.

Pork ribs were okay. Plenty decent. The brisket was dry and terrible. Sides were ordinary.

Vietnamese food in Kentucky??

Wait it's Japanese too. Uhhhh. Let's just say I needed veggies.

Social distancing inside, at least here, seems decent.

National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park for their Corvette Experience. 'cause who wouldn't want to drive a new C8 on the track??

Lucked out and got paired with the other fast driver in this morning's Corvette Experience, and the instructor (Craig? Greg?) who lead us-- all sessions are lead/follow-- let us get our money's worth from the morning. The C8 may have only 35hp more than the C7, but it feels like a lot more.

Youtube: Session 1 and Session 3.

Having driven on the track a few times in the past, mostly knowing the feel of front-engine/FWD cars, the natural ability of the C8 was amazing. Turn 1 and 1a and 2, it just flows-- not at all like some cars, which feel like they're beating the pavement into submission. And coming down sinkhole, even a first-time mid-engine/RWD driver such as myself can appreciate just how smooth and stable the car is. The instructor readily admitted he had to work a lot harder in the C7's.

I would not have recommended it so strongly before this, but as a weekend toy/track car, the C8 is really, really good. Even on relatively hard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's, it is damned good. Pity it's saddled with an automatic. (even if it's a good one, it's still an automatic...)

Made it over to the National Corvette Museum (NCM) afterwards. Pretty cool. Great displays of every generation of Corvette, as well as many of the prototypes and experimental steps on the way. And yes, the sinkhole exhibit, including the wreckage of several cars too badly damaged to justify repair, was both saddening and fun, as they did a great job with damage assessment and the aftermath. Add in the rows of new C8's outside awaiting customer delivery and it was a fun 90 minutes or two hours.

Rest of the afternoon was more relaxed. Found out how bad Kentucky BBQ is, and then in a yet-another-attempt for more vegetables in the land of deep fried foods and meats, hit one of the few (two? three?) Asian places for rice and meat and veggies. It was entirely forgettable but still, not bad if you want to keep your arteries flowing...