I saw one of the most rare automotive events today…

[anotoneher]

…a Corvette at wide-open throttle.

Why is it I could probably count on one hand how many high performance cars I’ve seen really lay into the pedal on a public road… but I couldn’t even begin to count how many economy cars I’ve seen with the pedal through the floor.

EDIT: Title grammar for the win.


Modified by anotoneher at 12:00 PM 3-1-2007

[jron]

can't say i've ever seen that.
ever.

[Cool Me]

hmm, come to think of it, i have never see a c6 zo6 go wot before. Ive seen C5's, but not any C6's

[eggman95]

it's fun to drive slow cars fast

[Egz]

Quote, originally posted by anotoneher »

…a Corvette at wide-open throttle. Why is it I could probably count on one hand how many high performance cars I’ve seen really lay into the pedal on a public road…

Out here, I can count on one hand how many performance cars I see in a year.

[Wes@motivemag]

..a BMW with an operating turn signal?

I keed... I keed...

[Boxer2100]

Aside from a track, I've maybe seen/heard one or two C5 Z06s get on the loud pedal. When I was in downtown Chicago in December, I was lucky enough to be standing on the sidewalk when a Ferrari 360 went WOT merging onto Lake Shore Drive.

[Live-Wire]

Most owners don't want tickets is probably the biggest thing stopping them.

The owner of the Chrysler dealer where I'm from (Georgetown, Ontario) owns a Viper and he's been known to top out first gear (basically 100kph) down the main strip in town (speed limit is 60kph)... I've heard and seen him do it several times... quite impressive.

Most people with adequately powered V6 sedans never use more then 1/2 their available power either... If people would actually put their foot down, maybe 200hp would still be considered more than adequtely powerful for a mid-size car.

[DoubleNaught]

Oh lord Jesus we need a post preview feature on here I'm suing! give me my click back

[Lumis_Wolfy]

Quote, originally posted by Wes@VMG »

..a BMW with an operating turn signal? I keed... I keed...

im going to second that... what is that about anyway i wonder...

[SkilledDriver]

Come to think of it I can't recall ever having seen that ever...and there are A LOT of corvettes in Houston.

I have seen a 993 911 Turbo launch on the street via what sounded like a clutch dump at around 4,000 rpm. The car was very fast, made a lot of noise, and all four tires were spinning.

[al@absolute]

Quote, originally posted by eggman95 »

it's fun to drive slow cars fast

and its miserable to drive fast cars slow.

[eibbor]

I've seen it once, and heard it. It was an 80km/h road. I was passing on in the right-most of three lanes, because everyone hogs the other two, and a C6 corvette in front of me decided to do the same. Hearing that thing at WOT was just beautiful.

It's definitely sad that such an occurrence is so rare. I see all kinds of awesome cars every day... lots of BMW's, Audi's, Porsche's, even the occasional S2000 or NSX... yet I don't think I've ever seen any of them being driven the way they were designed to be. My dad in his S4 and my mom in her A4 are the only exceptions I can think of.

There's something very wrong when I, in my 106 hp civic, am out accelerating everything from Corvette's to 911's, and I'm not even trying.

Seriously, most people around here should be driving TDI's, since they think moving "that one gauge with the numbers from 0 to 8 on it" past 3 is "bad for it".

Edit: Incomplete sentence FTW!


Modified by eibbor at 1:36 PM 3-1-2007

[346cid]

I always go wot in my vette. That's why I get 9 mpg.

[Oliver@triplezoom]

Quote, originally posted by anotoneher »

Why is it I could probably count on one hand how many high performance cars I’ve seen really lay into the pedal on a public road… but I couldn’t even begin to count how many economy cars I’ve seen with the pedal through the floor.

You seriously don't know the answer?

[riceburner]

Drive around in your S2000 with the top down and a blond girl in the passenger seat. My g/f has even noticed this, and she generally refuses to ride in the S2k because it "messes up her hair, can't we just take the damned Acura."

Every C5 Z06- replete with weird wheels and an aftermarket exhaust and a guy behind the wheel with a baseball cap facing backwards- in a 20 mile radius will immediately seek you out. Vrooom, Vrooom, I'm a macho man, listen to my loud exhaust, vroom vroom.

True story: sitting at a red light, aforementioned Z06 with backwards cap driver pulls up at redlight. Revs wildly, looks over. I rev back. Light turns green, he burns rubber and speeds to next to light. I pull away slowly from light and pull alongside him at next red light.

He glances over with obvious scorn. With my right hand, I make the universal male gesture for self-pleasuring. Me and g/f laugh, non-menancingly and scornlessly. Light turns green. Z06 again burns rubber. Vroom vroom, Corvette leaves waves of useless testosterone behind on roadway.

[jron]

what's normal WOT usage for car lounge people anyway?
that should be a thread...

[pueblorrado v3.0]

i have pestered a couple viper owners enough in my corrado to get them to stand on it. what an event! caught up fifteen minutes later to shoot the thumbs up.

[HeadlinerG60]

I happened upon a yellow Z06 last year on the interstate while driving my R32. I went to pass it since he wasn't doing the speed limit. Just as I got about even with him in the left lane, he downshift and unleashed hell. That was freakin' insane. Looked like it was shot off the deck of aircraft carrier.

Another time, a younger guy in a red C5 was tearing through traffic on I-90, weaving in and out. He then cut a car off to hit his exit in a similar fashion as Arnold pulling into the used car lot in the vintage 'vette from True Lies.

[L_Tech]

Quote, originally posted by anotoneher »

Why is it I could probably count on one hand how many high performance cars I’ve seen really lay into the pedal on a public road… but I couldn’t even begin to count how many economy cars I’ve seen with the pedal through the floor.

While this is completely obvious to most people in here, I'm going to just say it anyway.

The reason you don't see it very often is because by the time you're at the top of 3rd gear in a Vette you're going fast enough to land yourself in jail in just about every single state.

WOT lasts about 4 seconds before you're breaking the speed limit on most roads, and less then 7 before you're breaking it on the highway. Not only that, it makes a hell of a lot of noise and draws a lot of attention.

If I'm going to open the GTO up, I normally do it where no one's going to see it for two reasons. One, that's where it's the safest, and two, that where I'm least likely to get a ticket for doing it.

[PhaetonChix]

The most beautiful WOT sound I ever heard (and saw) was a 996 on the Autobahn between Aachen and Frankfort. The speed limit went unrestricted and off he went! We were putting along at about 110 mph in our rental R32 and ZOOM...he was gone, at least 155 mph and climbing. I feel so sorry for Porsches in the US, it's high performance car Purgitory here.

[DoubleNaught]

Its the same reason you've never seen a beaver shot of Britney Spears getting out of a car.....hmmm wait a minute never mind

[Wes@motivemag]

Quote, originally posted by Lumis_Wolfy »

im going to second that... what is that about anyway i wonder...

[2MuchRightFt]

where i'm at, and i say that i the hope that noone thinks im saying this is true for owners of different areas, Corvette owners putz their cars, Porsche owners are either at 10% throttle or WOT, the Vipers I've seen are usually doing no less than 70 on any road including residential areas, and the Ferrari guys are just cruising.

[DedRok]

Hang around some people with Lamborghinis. They aren't scared to redline.

[patrickvr6]

Not something you see too often, I did see a guy spin a C5 Z06 getting onto the Interstate, he got into it a little too quick coming out of a 90 degree corner and it snapped right around on him. He didn't hit anything but he did have to back up on the ramp to get out of the grass.

[SteveMcqueen]

Couple days ago, I was merging into I-405, pull behind what I think is a 360 Challenge Stradale.

I had previously only read about the wonders these cars produce from their tailpipes. It was a complete audiotory experience. The only way I can think to describe it, was that every frequency of sound was momentarily filled. I could hear only that car. I could feel only that car.

Stuck with him for a quarter of a mile, gave him the thumbs up. He took off and it was like the gates of hell opened up. Hell freakin ya.

[20GTIVR603]

If anyone gets to hear an 07' Saleen Extreme Mustang open up, the engine and exaust are like music to your ears!

[corpsedub]

as it's been said. alot of high performance cars giddy up real quick. quick enough to be dangerous in traffic. some people like the status of that. in thier minds they probably think they could take on the world. in reality, they cant handle the car's capabilities.but i say screw that. i cause mayhem in my snake wherever i go. it's a bruiser, so drive it like one.

[triptronic]

Quote, originally posted by Wes@VMG »

[6cylVWguy]

I have to say that owning cars in the recent past and currently that range from 115hp to about 300, I rarely need to go above 4k rpms in any of the cars. I live in a fairly busy area, so getting on the throttle is just not very wise. Zipping by lots of cars that are traveling slower than you are can be a pricey proposition.

And in cars that actually make low end tq, you can get moving quite nicely without winding the car out. I would think that in something like a vette or othre high powered car you almost have to try and not drive it quickly. I can see those cars getting to illegal speeds without even trying or realizing!


Modified by 6cylVWguy at 5:05 PM 3-1-2007

[Wellington P Funk]

I go to a college where mommy and daddy buy their kids Cayennes and RR Sports and GC SRT8's and Q45s for going-to-school presents. I'm sick and tired of hearing WOT when there's too much traffic, too many pedestrians, not enough traction, and not NEARLY enough driver to make it acceptable.

Man, I must be the oldest 21 year old on the planet.

[HwAoRrDk]

I have only ever witnessed balls-out driving on the street from two cars that were made to go like that.

The first was on a trip to Scotland. There's a particular route I like to take from the south going north that runs through some really nice scenery (through a national park most of the way, actually), with the bonus that it's a really great sweeping & undulating driving road. Anyway, it was early evening, and I thought I was flying along at a pretty brisk pace - about 70mph where most traffic does 45-ish - when out of nowhere a set of headlights is gaining on me real fast. They stay behind me for a little while, but when we get to a clear-enough straight, the car charges past overtaking me, and lo-and-behold, it was an Evo VII. The guy then proceedd to disappear off into the horizon like I was standing still! I thought to myself: "Now that's how you drive an Evo!".

The second was on the motorway/highway on a trip home from a friend's house near London. I was just merging onto the motorway, when I hear a gorgeous exhaust note behind me from a car obviously at WOT, which goes flying by me in a grey blur. "I'm sure that speeding blob looked like a TVR...", I thought. I elected to try and confirm what I thought I saw, and, well, let's just say that I had to reach well into triple-digit speed to only just catch the car. Turned out to be a dark grey metallic TVR Tamora. It really did sound awesome, though.

[slmda4]

I havent heard too many exotics at WOT either. I heard a zo6 with exhaust before though at wot and it was one of THE loudest freaking cars ive heard on the road. Not to mention my buddy brought over a c6 vette last night and we went out for some wot.

[PassSedanGLX]

Quote, originally posted by Wes@VMG »

I hear you only get it with the optional courtesy package.