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Hard on the mountain, soft in the heart
Everyday escape in the US legend
There are these days when others want to explain what you're doing wrong. Too heavy. Too ruthless. Too rough. They call you stale-cheeked. Yes, it may be an icon, but from another world. Not adaptable to this environment. Sporty? No - you're too heavy for that. Too bulky. And your drive? Free of innovation. The same thing the others do - just nicely packaged.
If the bullshit bingo at your desk gets too much for you, and you are bored with the ever-superficial conversation, then it's time to head for the mountains. Find yourself a lonely passport, find yourself. Best in dialogue with the small block of Chevrolet. 6.2 liter of self-confidence. 6.2 liter of violence. 6.2 liter balance.
If Sunday is worth 69.900 €
Such an escape from everyday life does not have to make you poor. Not even when you get the tool of your choice new Iconic car dealer buy around the corner and really pay with money. The rough experience of climbing into the sky of the super sports car for less than € 70.000 is similarly formative as the double thrust in “title mode” at the Hahntennjoch, just before you switch back to wave two. Sequentially. As with the seven courses.
At the beginning, the Corvette blinds you with the prejudices that are cultivated against it. Too American. Powerful yes, but only useful on the drag strip. It's just like with yourself. Once you have disappeared into the drawer, you won't be able to get out of it so quickly. Not even if you fight against it with 466 PS and 620 Nm. But it is not the violence of the small block that convinces in the end - it is the package of surprises that hit you in the form of the convertible Corvette.
7:45 a.m. - 29 km wait for Hahntennjoch
The best way to start is directly from Imst. Behind the hotel “Zum Hirschen” it goes up to the Hahntennjoch, 29 km lead from the Inn Valley into the Tyrolean Lech Valley. It is a rough alternation between rough rock faces and green mountain valleys that takes place on this narrow but mercilessly attractive pass road. At the exit of the town, the 8 pots of the Corvette wake up - we ignored the cylinder deactivation in Eco mode and directly selected the “title mode” - the free-roaming cows on the side of the road. The second cattle gate behind you, you will meet at most cyclists, no more cattle. Time to pick up the pace. The ascent from the village caused the oil in the block of the light metal V8 to rise to a healthy 50 °, the warning to move carefully in the tachometer has disappeared. By turning the knob you leave the eco mode (cylinder deactivation on V4 active), hike over the sport mode to the “track mode”, translated into German by some intern with “title”.
The large fully digital display changes to sports mode, showing the most important information. The head-up display animates you with a G-force indicator, the Grip level of sports tires to test.
Cold tire, fog
While the Hahntennjoch on the east side is barren, rocky and partly covered with fog, it opens up to the Paßhöhe in a green landscape. The descent is less spectacular than the ascent. Also because it accelerates easier than braking with the Ami.
The sight of the narrow lane, the dance between cliff and abyss, for the Corvette a fun on the verge of madness. The short-stroke V8 sucks freely, 6.2 liters allow enough torque to be present. Charging is not missed. Instead, one feeds on the willing, on the hypnotic gas intake. Two, three times plucked wild on the virtual throttle cable and you are the reactions of the mounted further behind the front axle, yes he is actually sitting almost at knee level, small block expired.
Because of lethargy and obesity in the bay of a fast food restaurant. Even without a compressor and dry sump, as in the sharp C7 Z06, the US boy pulls the Schwaben, the Lower Bavaria and northern Italians from the Lederhosen. It tugs at your own worldview. And on the wide 20-Zöllern in the wheelhouse.
Leaf springs and Rev match
To correctly assess the Bergprüfung am Hahntennjoch, you have to dive under the GFK-Carbon hood of the Corvette. The front, the long hood, you bake for the Corvette, in fact, made of carbon. Saves weight where you do not need it. The rest of the shell is made of plastics. If you look at the gaps. Do not bother me. Because once you sit in the intimate cockpit, you do not care anymore. Then it's about you, the road to the V8 under the hood. And that's all you have to know.
The Corvette puts itself in the center and as a convertible makes it then with the passengers. However, with 1.894 meters above normal zero, nobody is watching. Not at this time.
Not only the 7 gearbox supplied by the US professional Tramac and a variable differential, which switches from open to completely locked within one tenth of a second, also live on the rear axle. Steering angle, accelerator pedal position, speed and driving modes, the Corvette pays always a wolf, just so you get along with the 630 Nm on the rear axle. Both gearbox and differential lock have their own radiator, both of which release the warm air over the grille next to the taillights. So much real technology.
And then there is this “leaf spring” on the rear axle. An heirloom, something of a tradition for the Corvette. There are also variable Bilstein dampers. Is it created? A dream.
Who brakes hard at the Hahntennjoch in the last two bends in front of the pass summit, will gratefully use the Rev-match function of the Corvette. When hard braking, the speed adapts to the announced speed when engaging, even if the small block on command turns like the ** personally, the drag moment of the V8 you do not want to let fall on the rear axle. An unwanted lunge could be the result.
Everything under control thanks to Rev-Match. Also the ears. They are happy about the intermediate gas salvos.
Can not be a coincidence
Of course, during the photo break at a hut, you can talk shop with the farmer's wife about the four exhaust pipes. One could object that when parking you have to drive by ear because the mountains in the field of vision offer space for wheel arches and pushrod V8s, but they just end at the level of the driver's nose. But driving by ear is much better with the “Vette” anyway. Preferably in “title mode” with Rev-Match. It all sounds a little chubby, a little rough, lacks any restraint - but that's also what other people think of you. Why not at least have a little fun yourself while fulfilling the prejudices?
That the Corvette is really very different. That you can travel incredibly well over long distances with more than fair gas consumption in the speed range of a marine diesel? That the leaf spring on the rear axle gives you time and space to correct your mistakes behind the steering wheel? That you can make Zuffenhauser long with the most American of all icons? My God, if you don't want to know - then there is more time for you - the best thing is to find a passport for this experience. In Austria. For example the Hahntennjoch ...
GETAWAY - The Corvette trip in detail
[tabgroup] [tab title=”Map – Street Map”] [/tab] [tab title=”Details”]- Ideal starting point: Imst, Overnight at the Hotel zum Hirschen (directly behind it goes to the rise of the Hahntennjoch!)
- Goal: Elmen (optionally expandable!)
- Route length: 30 km
- Time factor: 45 Minutes
- Getaway fun factor: 4 out of 5 stars!
- 30 km are not enough? Then plan to continue to Schnepfegg, from there continue to Bregenz. This is how 60 turns into a flight, a beautiful Sunday.
- my map route planning
