Hey guys, a newbie here! I'm about to pick up my second Vette since having sold my '90 6-spd Z51 coupe in '01 in order to go wheel-to-wheel racing with SCCA. The new ride is a '99 C5, torch red w/ black leather. Corsa Indy exhaust, magnesium wheels. Sweet ride. Anyway..... here's my delimma: I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old, and occasionally plan on driving the Vette to work, as will my wife from time to time. However, no matter which one of us is driving, one of us will have a kid in the passenger seat since she takes the daughter to school in the AM's and I drop off the son at daycare in the AM's. Knowing that it's not considered safe for kids to ride in the front seats with airbags, particularly the older "safety-nanny" airbags that were just way too powerful, I'm wondering if there is a quick and easy way to disable the passenger side airbag without affecting the driver side airbag, or setting an error code w/ the PCM. I'm almost positive that the T1 class corvettes have to have their airbags disabled for competition per SCCA rules, so I'm wondering how they do it and if that would be acceptable for street use, or if there is some sort of module that can be wired/plugged in to trick the computer into thinking the airbag is still connected/functioning.

Any ideas or advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to CF.
I can't help with the Air-bag, but I sure would like to pick your brain on setting up a Vette for the SCCA!!!

 

Man
sorry can't help you with the air bag, but welcome to the forum anyway!

 

Sorry, can't help too much with setting up a Vette for wheel-to-wheel racing except to tell you to call Doug Rippie! I had all their go-fast goodies on my old C4 Vette and I used to clean up at the local SCCA Autocrosses.

As far as my SCCA wheel-to-wheel racing goes, it's been done in a :gasp: HONDA CRX! And a 20 year old one at that! Why? CHEAP! And you just can't kill the daggum' thing! She'll turn 7500 rpm all day long during a race without a complaint (races vary from 30 minutes for a sprint up to 1.5 hrs for an enduro), is easy on consumables (1, maybe 2 sets of brake pads a season and new tires every 3 to 4 race weekends, and better mileage than my Suburban gets - I actually average about 15 mpg during a race - the Suburban gets 12-13 mpg towing!). And best of all, I have less $$ in the entire car than some of my buddies have just in wheels and tires for their high-HP GT1 cars. And I get to run the same tracks - Road Atlanta, Lowes Motor Speedway, CMP, VIR, etc. Just costs me a lot less. She was fast enough to help me win the Southeast Division SCCA Improved Touring "B" class championship this year, scoring a 1st place in 4 races, one 2nd, and two 4ths in 8 races. Good, cheap fun.

And hey, it's even painted like a Corvette Pace Car! Gotta have something Vette-ish in the garage 'til I get the new Vette!



Anyway, enough non-Vette stuff.

I got the answer to the airbag ? from the C5 forum. Thanks, guys, I look foward to being a member of the boards!

 

Man, I bet you had a great time!!!
One question, how can I get a rule book and car specs?
I used to race roundy-round, and would like to turn right, at least once in a while.

 

go to scca.org - the GCR (General Competition Rules) are available online in pdf format for download. Membership info can be found there as well.