I went to the Barrett-Jackson auction yesterday with a few specific goals in mind:
1. To see the new 2015 Mustang in the metal.
2. To watch the auction of the final 2015 LE Mustang #1964
3. To see if GM brought any Stingrays.
I've been planning to buy a Stingray for quite a while now, but the introduction of the new 2015 Mustang caused me to compare it to the C7. So I wanted to see it in person to know if it could hold a candle to the C7. In short it wasn't even close. Within 5 minutes of being at the event I came across a yellow 2015 Mustang GT sitting in the halls of the Mandalay Bay hotel. It's certainly a nice car, but it didn't elicit any of the passion I feel when seeing the C7. I was finished with it as an option right there and then.
Thankfully the Stingray presence at the event was strong. There were so many there I lost track. First of all there was a Shark Gray C7 with Kalahari interior sitting right outside the entrance to the vendor display/auction cars display area. It was epic! I fell in love with this color combination instantly. Then inside the event room was a white C7 that was auctioned yesterday with VIN 001 and a Shark Gray Z06. Then it got really interesting, outside setup in the parking lot was an area called the Ride 'N Drives. Chevy had an awesome Stingray display out there with multiple cars including another Shark Gray C7 which I got to sit in and talk to a rep about for 20 minutes. It was glorious.
Then there was the Ride 'N Drives where my perspective on what a sports car is changed permanently. Ron Fellows was present taking people on what was called a "hot lap". You had to drive any other car at the event first before you could go on the hot lap. I drove the new Cadillac ATS coupe with a a 2.0 liter turbo, yawn. Then it was my time for the hot lap which happened in a torch red C7. When they call it a "hot lap" they really mean it! What followed was the most exhilarating 20 seconds of my life! First of all I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THIS CAR WAS TRULY CAPABLE OF!!!!!!! I got in the car and the Ron Fellow's driver made a quick left down a straight away and immediately punched it, I had never felt acceleration and brute power from a car like that in my entire life. But when we hit one of the sharp left turns (they were all lefts) in the course it felt like the driver went around them at full speed and I kept thinking the car is going to slide out off the course to the right, it never did. You guys might be used to this sort of driving or handling but I certainly was not. It was astonishing that the car continued to grip the road around those turns at speeds that had my hands shaking when the ride was over. I REALLY wanted the C7 before these 20 seconds based on it's looks and what I knew was great performance. After exiting the car when my lap was over I was completely and thoroughly enthralled and intoxicated by the experience, it was so much more incredible than I even dreamed it would be!
After the lap I asked one of the guys running the hot laps, "are the drivers crazy or is the car just that good?". The reply I got amused me, without hesitation or even a smile he said, "both."
They provide you with a video of your lap and I'm going to put a link to it here. It's almost embarrassing to see how I reacted but it was genuine joy during that drive so I am going to share it here. I was at a loss for words and even asked the driver if he "was for real?". I cannot adequately capture what this experience was like in words, I think the video does a better job of that than I ever could.
My Chevrolet Corvette C7 Hot Lap video from Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas
1. To see the new 2015 Mustang in the metal.
2. To watch the auction of the final 2015 LE Mustang #1964
3. To see if GM brought any Stingrays.
I've been planning to buy a Stingray for quite a while now, but the introduction of the new 2015 Mustang caused me to compare it to the C7. So I wanted to see it in person to know if it could hold a candle to the C7. In short it wasn't even close. Within 5 minutes of being at the event I came across a yellow 2015 Mustang GT sitting in the halls of the Mandalay Bay hotel. It's certainly a nice car, but it didn't elicit any of the passion I feel when seeing the C7. I was finished with it as an option right there and then.
Thankfully the Stingray presence at the event was strong. There were so many there I lost track. First of all there was a Shark Gray C7 with Kalahari interior sitting right outside the entrance to the vendor display/auction cars display area. It was epic! I fell in love with this color combination instantly. Then inside the event room was a white C7 that was auctioned yesterday with VIN 001 and a Shark Gray Z06. Then it got really interesting, outside setup in the parking lot was an area called the Ride 'N Drives. Chevy had an awesome Stingray display out there with multiple cars including another Shark Gray C7 which I got to sit in and talk to a rep about for 20 minutes. It was glorious.
Then there was the Ride 'N Drives where my perspective on what a sports car is changed permanently. Ron Fellows was present taking people on what was called a "hot lap". You had to drive any other car at the event first before you could go on the hot lap. I drove the new Cadillac ATS coupe with a a 2.0 liter turbo, yawn. Then it was my time for the hot lap which happened in a torch red C7. When they call it a "hot lap" they really mean it! What followed was the most exhilarating 20 seconds of my life! First of all I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THIS CAR WAS TRULY CAPABLE OF!!!!!!! I got in the car and the Ron Fellow's driver made a quick left down a straight away and immediately punched it, I had never felt acceleration and brute power from a car like that in my entire life. But when we hit one of the sharp left turns (they were all lefts) in the course it felt like the driver went around them at full speed and I kept thinking the car is going to slide out off the course to the right, it never did. You guys might be used to this sort of driving or handling but I certainly was not. It was astonishing that the car continued to grip the road around those turns at speeds that had my hands shaking when the ride was over. I REALLY wanted the C7 before these 20 seconds based on it's looks and what I knew was great performance. After exiting the car when my lap was over I was completely and thoroughly enthralled and intoxicated by the experience, it was so much more incredible than I even dreamed it would be!
After the lap I asked one of the guys running the hot laps, "are the drivers crazy or is the car just that good?". The reply I got amused me, without hesitation or even a smile he said, "both."
They provide you with a video of your lap and I'm going to put a link to it here. It's almost embarrassing to see how I reacted but it was genuine joy during that drive so I am going to share it here. I was at a loss for words and even asked the driver if he "was for real?". I cannot adequately capture what this experience was like in words, I think the video does a better job of that than I ever could.
My Chevrolet Corvette C7 Hot Lap video from Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas
