A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

Well, this is both a rant and a praise to the fine engineers at Chevrolet...

Last night on my way home, I was on a four lane highway. Two lanes each way, separated by a cement median. The left lane traffic was going at least 5-10mph below posted limit, and in the right lane, 20+mph below the posted limit.

As we in the left lane were passing vehicles on the right at a normal clip, I left quite the distance between myself and the person in front of me as I was very tired last night on the way home.. as I came upon an elderly lady in the right lane, I was about to overtake her.. remember, this is all happening at well below posted speeds.... right at the moment my front bumper lined up with her front fender I noticed the turn signal indicator come on, to come into my lane.

What amounted to simply sheer reflexes, I found my right foot all of a sudden firmly planted on the go-go pedal. Thanks be to GOD for 340 ft lbs of torque, because each and every foot pound kicked in and launched me right past the potential disaster. As I passed her, I could see her in my mirror realize what just happened, and she began to vascilate in her lane from what I am sure was shock.

I'm sure the roar of the L98 didn't make her feel much better, either.

ANYWAYS, I just wanted to share with everyone that sometimes having gobs of power available to you can actually save your bacon. It did for me.

3 CHEERS FOR CORVETTE!

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

Dude ! I'm just glad you didn't get drilled !![sm=icon_rock.gif]

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

I'm glad it worked out, but consider this: as you describe the moment you saw the turn her signal indicator come on, your car was not quite directly alongside her car -- your front bumper alongside her front fender, so . . .

You could have hit the brakes. Any street car, even a Corvette, can de-celerate harder than it can accelerate* and you had less distance to move, relative to her, slowing backwards (less than a full car length) than accelerating forwards (slightly more than a length to clear her completely). Yes, if you hit the brakes hard, you had to worry about someone behind you hitting your car, but I doubt you had someone tailgating you.

I would have hit the brakes.
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* A C6 can accelerate to 70 mph in about 6 seconds. It can decelerate from that speed to a stop in a bit less than 3.

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

Good point, Lee!! My wife said pretty much the same thing last night when I told her all this. I dunno really, it just "happened"... a knee-jerk reaction I guess to plant the foot. There was a 3/4 ton pickup right behind me, so... but, yeh, to be honest, I am sure he would have slowed down in time...

Regardless, all I know is if I had done nothing, my car would be a mess today.

I totally concur with your post here, bro. Next time IF this happens again, I bloody well plan on plantin' the binders that's for sure.

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

Yeh, thanks bro! I was shakin' for about 2 hours after that.... [:o]

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

YOU DEFINITELY HAVE GUARDIAN ANGLE ON YOU SIDE.I BET YOUR FOOT WAS SHAKING ALL NIGHT[8D]

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

With a lot of newer cars having front and rear side marker/turn signals:eek:, I can see this happening with front bumper to front bumper. Glad It worked out O. K. for ya.;)

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

This important thing is it worked out and you know you can depend on your reflexes and intuition.

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

This important thing is it worked out and you know you can depend on your reflexes and intuition.

RE: A little story about horsepower can actually save an accident
 

Hi TopSpeed: You are exactly right. You have to go with that instant reflex. If you sit there and scratch your head and say "what do I do" , it could be over in a moment. I was looking for a parking space in the mall, and honestly some people never even look when they start backing out, I was behind the car and they started plowing backward. This is one time I floored my vette. He would have hit me in an instant. I was so shaken after the episode. He came up beside me and said "sorry, I wasn't looking, that was very apparant. I have seen where people hit the accelerator instead of the brake, and I have thought, that's crazy, WHO would do such a thing. That statement came back to bite me, the 61 vette lost brakes as I was leaving my office several years back. When I backed out of my parking space, it would not stop moving, in the excitement I was hitting the accelerator, anything to get the car stopped, the last thing I saw was a tree coming toward me , and finally the idea of the emergency brake came to mind. You just never know in that split second what is going to happen. I remember when it happened, hubby ask, why didn't you try the emergency brake. All I had in my head was just trying to get that car stopped, and yes, that was why I was hitting the accelerator.