Speed MattersThat's been a fact since, well, the firsttwo Neanderthals with crudely hewed stone wheels met up with one another on a wooly mammoth trail and immediately had to find out who had the faster wheel. The results of that first speed contest, whether Glog beat Magog or vice versa, are unknown; which is probably why they call it pre-history.
A few millennia later, it was most likely a couple of early farmers who bet bushels of wheat on whose team of water buffalo, complete with exceedingly primitive plow, could furrow a cubit of soil quickest. And so it has gone for thousands of years. Captains of the pharaoh's barges on the Nile River undoubtedly wagered on which crew of slaves could row fastest. The Romans had chariot races in the Coliseum (think Ben Hur), and just a century ago, horseless carriage pioneers like Louis Chevrolet and Henry Ford gained their first public notice by racing.
Dave Hill talks about the...
Dave Hill talks about the 50th Anniversary Edition Corvettes, immediately after unveiling them for the first time in public.
Those same old competitive urges lurk just beneath a civilized veneer today. Pull up to an intersection in your Z06 next to some guy in a new M3, and you're both throwing revs in a matter of seconds. Ditto if you're just out for a Sunday cruise in the '66 big-block roadster, and the car that pulls alongside is a '69 Hemi Roadrunner. Speed contests are time-honored and thoroughly illegal activities; they're fun, a little dangerous, and almost completely irresistible.
If you're in the business of making fast cars like C5s go faster, handle better, and stop in shorter distances than they were already capable of (in other words, you're what the Europeans have long called a tuner), then it's simply human nature to know, absolutely and positively, that your special modified Corvette is faster/quicker/better handling/whatever than your competitor's version. And each and every one of your competitors knows that his special "tuned" Corvette is the fastest, quickest, best handling, etc. This simple fact led, in turn, to...
An invitational Supertuner Shootout at Beech Bend Raceway, the wildest portion of two days of driving activities (including participant drag races, autocross schools, and timed autocross competition) at the Bend.
For three days in April, the 18th, 19th, and 20th, the National Corvette Museum was again home to and co-host (with the Official C5 Registry) of the 5th annual (and by far, the biggest yet) C5 Birthday Bash. In addition to the inaugural Shootout, the Birthday Bash was also highlighted with more firsts, the first official public showing of the 50th Anniversary Edition Corvettes on Saturday morning and the ultimate in adrenaline-churning competition-the first annual RPI Designs C5 Executive Office Chair Race, which was conducted on a straightaway immediately in front of the Museum.
An NCM event wouldn't be complete without tech seminars, and the ones at the Birthday Bash are, needless to say, devoted to the C5 and vague hints about the future C6. These included hearing Corvette Chief Designer Tom Peters tell nothing concrete about "Designing the Next Corvette," "The Continuous Improvement Process" by members of the Corvette engineering team (and lead by Assistant Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter), Wil Cooksey's discussion of adding production of the upcoming Cadillac XLR into the Bowling Green plant while keeping Corvette and XLR production totally separate and specific, and Andy Pilgrim and Brand Manager Rick Baldick conduct an informative program about the C5-Rs and the 2002 racing season.
Other events included a Celebrity Choice car show, scenic road tours, special assembly plant tours, and the annual banquet and auction.