I'm such a moron!
 

I just found out today that if I press down on the "ACTIVE HANDLING" button on the center console of my car for 5 seconds it will put the car in "COMPETITIVE DRIVING" mode when I launch it from the line. I saw it in the VHS video that came with the car. I finally decided I should watch the thing! :)

Has anyone here tried this setting on your car? "Competitive Driving" ..... sounds good to me......is it really better than just dissabling the active handling all together?

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

I tried holding down the button and it didn't do anything. Not sure if mine is disabled or what, I just like traction control off.

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Oh, yeah. Competitive driving means the traction control and the active handling are turned off. When you do this, all the safeguards that GM put in the car, which can "interfere" with your driving fast and noisily, are turned off. Now you can power slide the car, break traction,, create blue smoke in the middle of a turn, drift, and spin the tail way out, and all those other hero-things that make it go just that tiny bit faster at the track --- or toss it off the road into a tree if you drive like an idiot on the street.

This mode really is great for the race track -- the active handling is pretty conservative and can interfer with very spirited, competitive driving, but realize the active handling can save your butt when you are out on the street and acting a bit playful, particularly if there is water or sand on the road. It has saved my butt from a spin out two times that I know of, when I got a bit too much into the power in the middle of a sharp turn or curve where the traction wasn't what I expected it to be, both times because of sand on the road.

I always turn the system off at the strip, but never leave it off on the street.

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Thank goodness, those systems are in place. The other night, while turning onto a long, open street, I cut my wheels and gave it a lot of gas. My tires were screeching and I started fishtailing. My heart was pounding - it was such a rush! And my Borla Stinger Pipes were roaring! It was a fairly safe thing to do, since there was absolutely no other traffic on the road and it is not like I was out of control, so all the trees were safe, but it was so much fun. During all this, I noticed across my display that one of these systems was on, reminding me that I was not being smart. Oh, well, everything in moderation - even a bit of craziness.


-04 Silver Coupe
Borla Stinger 7.5" Dual Pipes

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Hahahaha....but it felt goooood didn't it RJ? :D

Oh, how I love me some fishtail.....and I'm not even into seafood! :D

But Lee is right.....vettes were meant to be enjoyed safely (with an occassional race or two) ....... not driven wrecklessly to end up by the side of some road! Sober thought! [sm=exactly.gif]

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Hey, PeceMkr -
You are so right - I did love it! And it was a very safe situation, since no one else was around and I was always in control. You and Lee are absolutely right - safety has to come first.
But vettes are so cool, they are fun at any speed.

Take care,
Rita

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

'embarassed look' .. I umm .. read the manual.

Competitive driving mode actually leaves some of the safeguards on that active handling has.. ie: it will apply brakes independently to help recover from a skid situation to prevent spinning the car.. allowing a driver to push a bit harder into the apex of a corner and power out of it perhaps.

It does turn traction control off ..I am finding that I prefer it on for the reasons already stated (doin a u-turn in a parkin lot and ran across a steel plate (some kinda construction goin on) ..was a weird feeling momentarily as I expected the car to slide a bit .. and it didn't slide much at all.

-Frank

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

I don't think they had it in the first few years of the C5

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

I guessI get to "slide" on this one since I didn't get a manual with mine whenI bought the car. I recently ordered one though, along with the 3 volume service manual set, butI just haven't received them yet. I'm glad you posted this though cause now I'll have an excuse to go test it out tomorrow.

I personally don't care for the traction control systemon the cars. The first time I drove my 96 Z28 in the rain with it on, I almost wrecked it.Having that gas pedal lock up the first timemy wheels broke traction made me want to rip that system rightout of the car. I thought something rolled out from under my seat and got stuck under the pedal. [>:] So,..now the first thing I do after startingeither oneofmycars is turn it off.

I've been inquite a fewsituations whereI've needed to have that fullthrottle to be able to control the car,........and if I'd been driving either one of thesewith it on, I would have wreckedthe car for sure.I completely agree it's good for a lot of people though! I just don't care for it myself.

BTW, I love me some fishtail too!! :D

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Haha, now I know im not worthy to hang out with you C5 guys, but I NEVER turn my traction control off. My friend tells me its stupid because if someone wanted to race or something, then it would completely mess me up, and he is completely right. But, I always leave it on as a reminder to myself that I am only 20 and I already have 4 speeding tickets built up over the 4 years ive been driving. Only one was with my vette and I had to lie in court to get it dropped down a bit :eek:. I dont go more than about 5 or 6 over the speed limit now for the fear that I could lose my car, my job, go into debt because I cant find another job that pays as much, and my insurance would go up even more or worse, they could drop me. One more ticket could really ruin my life. I leave my traction control on...

Matt

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Yea I don't think it's on our 98. I just turn it off when I want to have a little fun. :D

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

umm ...

.. I have a '98 C-5, with active handling ..and the owners manual sez 'competitive driving mode' is available if I press and hold the active handling button down for over 5 seconds, the DIC will state that traction control/active handling is disabled, there won't bethe little warninglabel on the dash,
..but oh ya .. yer in competitive driving mode.

With traction control on, I still get a little fishtail if I get on it cornering ..where it really shines tho is jumpin on it a bit off the light ..I don't have to worry about smokin those ~$200+ tires and I can still stick a fender up on that lil red ricer with the wing till we get to the speed limit ..and make it look like I am not even payin attention to him .. LOL.

-Frank (and if I ever get pulled over ..it's 'racing? I didn't even realize he was, officer! The Vette just comes off a stop light a bit fast, it's very responsive officer :)

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Yeah, my '98 has it too!~ AsI mentioned in my first post, being in a situation where you need to be able to give it full throttle,then not having that full throttle can be of no benifit at all. For example: I was sitting at a stop lightlast summer in my Z28, whenthis lady came flying up behind me not paying attention towhat she was doing. Now ifI would have had the traction control "on", she would have totaledthe rear of my car no questions asked. ButsinceI choose to drive withthe system off, I was able to floor itand move out of the way.

Sure I could have let her hit me and had the rear of my car wasted, and who knows how much damageit would have done to my back and neck,......but since I'm on gaurd at all times and constantly paying attention to what's going on around me, I choosenever to drive with the traction controlon. I certainly won't remove it from the car though. If for what ever reason I have to let someone else drive it, I'd rather it be on since I don't know how well they can handle power. But since I've been driving and racing (high horse-power) cars over the last 24 years, I know how to handlemost any situation.

Believe it or not, I have my mother to thank for that. She use to take me down tothe huge (empty)Boeing parking lots in the wintertime, and teach me how to drive in the snow. That's right, my mom taught me how to driftback in '79. How cool is that?........having a mom that knows how to drift her '73 Camaro,then teachesme how to do it at the age of 13. She wasactually justteaching mehow to control a car in a slide, but it may as well have been a drifting lesson the way she taught me tofeather the gas during that slide so as to control whereit wouldgo. I gotta love my mom for that one. :D

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

LOL Arch!

My mom useda do the same thing ..only with me it was in her '57 Ford 2-door, icy parkin lots in Great Falls, Montana. She told me to always take a 'new' car to me out to a slippery lot an see what to expect out of it. Took my daughter and son out to Mojave dry lake in my Honda CRX for the same reasons when they were 16.

Traction control keeps 'em from spinning ..smokin tires do not equal acceleration ..if they are smokin, yer not puttin it to the ground. -period-
I lost count of how many street racin hero's that got a good look at my tail lights due to their smokin tires.. gotta hook 'em to *go* :)

-Frank
ok .. I'll list the cars I owned an grew up on :)
'67 Hemi 4-gear GTX (my first tunnel-ram car) (it had 20k miles on it, was 2yrs old when I bought it for $2700 from a dealership)
'69 426 Wedge Road Runner, 4-gear car (began life as a 383 car, and I dint tell many that I had swapped out)
'64 Chevelle L-88, 4-gear (no, it didn't come 'stock' with it:) (my 2nd tunnel-ram car, lotta folks thought it was a 327 -evil grin)
'71 440 powered Duster (my first automatic, 3rd tunnel-ram car, and reliable as a rock)
..and now a '98 Vette coupe that I am still learnin about :)

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

You guys are old... :D;)

Haha, Just kidding guys. I know I am gonna be there one day (in about 30 years! LOL!!)

Matt

P.S. - I know when I get there, I am gonna have some 20 year old laughing at me calling me an old man just like I do to you guys. I figured I would get my fair share in while I still can lol.

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

He-He-Heeeeeee.....:D:D:DActually you'll be my age in 20 years.

I hear ya thoughbuddie!!! It's funny because I don't actually feel all that old @ 40,......... but then again I do remember 20 years ago thinking that 40 year old guys were pretty old,and that I certainly wasn't looking forward to being one!

I'mjust glad I don't feel as old asI thought I wouldwhen I turned40. I'm also glad I don't look that old either. I look atall of my friends that I grew up with, and just aboutevery one of them is either going grey or bald, and half of them have big old beer bellies on 'em. (LOL) I do have a few more aches and pains than I'd like to, but then again who doesn't? :D

I live by that saying that goes..........................
"I may be getting older,BUT I REFUSE TO GROW UP"!!!
For the most part I still do all the same things I did whenI was 20.....I just do 'em Clean and Sober now!!! ;)

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

That's great man.I am updated version 7 of 39(46), and if/when I grow up I want to be a retired guy with a cool vette.

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

I hope you kids don't mind this ol' fossil (54) hoblin' up to the plate here.
I do remember when,....just after God created water,.....learnin' traction control without this new fangled electronical stuff. A '70 440/6 packRR, and a '70 SS454 Chevelle were the tools for my leanin' way back when. Oh,.... and a '55 two door Chev. sedan with a toasty 283, on the roundy round track. Now I'm buildin' an '80 454 Vette.
Fishtails? OH YA!!! Love'em!!!
Traction control is kinda like gun control, bein' able to hit your target!:D

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

-grin-

56 atm .. my hair started greyin at the sideburns when I was 17 ...all white in my late 30's .. people always took me way more seriously than I did :)
ie: useda overhear people sayin 'watch out for the old man in that Duster' ..-evil grin-

-Frank (I know people who have 'grown up' ..they are *no* fun to be around!)

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Guess I will have to check her again....But haven't got it to work yet.

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

The last time I drove mine, (98 cpe) I held the "active handling" button down for like 10-15 seconds but nothing happened other than it said: "Traction Control/Turned Off". I didn't notice any difference in the way it handled than whenI do asimple push and release on the button. Hmmmmm :eek:

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

Well, in responce to my post above, I finally realized the reason whythe "Competitive Driving"hasn't worked for me on my '98. It's because every time I tried it, I was driving the car. I guess on 2000 and prior C5's (with active handling) the car has to be at a stop when activating it. I still haven't received my manual yet, but I read it off another post I seen last night. I'm going to re-post this thread I'm referring to as it was the most informative thread I've read so far.

**EDIT** That was that "Useful Information" thread I posted up.

RE: I'm such a moron!
 

I know this keeps coming back around, but I thought I'd mention it anyway just to answer any further questions. 98's with the Active Handlingdefinitely have this option. Also if anyone has this option and they try it without success.......make SURE your car is stopped and in park before holding the button down for 5 seconds. I tried it like this in my '98 andthe word's "COMPETITIVE DRIVING" showed up on the display. And yes I could feel the difference in the suspension. ;)