Nobody likes to see their favorite sports car is disrepair, and this nearly-new C7 Z06 definitely does not look good on the side of the road. First and foremost, we know that driver was not harmed in the crash. Secondly, despite the photos the car is actually very repairable and the airbags did not deploy, we hope it’s back on the road in no time.
According to CarThrottle, the “cameraphoneman” who goes by the name Jake had this to say, “The car had been off the lot for about 24 hours. It’s a Z07 package with the manual 7. The cause of the accident was a misunderstanding about launch control: it was his [the driver’s] first time using it, it controlled the torque completely through first gear at wide open throttle. After shifting to second (expecting the torque management to continue working) it was unrestricted power to the wheels and just came as a surprise, which is why there wasn’t really a reaction to it. The car was in track suspension mode and sport 1 traction control, so active handling would’ve been expected to handle slight yaw from wheel spin, but didn’t. The driver was experienced with high power cars and owns a heads/cam/intake c6 z06 also.”
Clearly it’s best to leave most if not all of the computer controls active unless you’re on a closed course and are well versed with your car. Having driven the new Z06 ourselves we can tell you that it is a lot of power in one quick-reacting package. We buy these cars to have fun, but 650 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque is nothing to scoff at.