Repair-It

Rich Ceppos: "This car is a delight to drive hard. The turbo lag is imperceptible from 3000 to 5000 rpm. A little ruffled on hard braking and a bit rough on ride, but quite the canyon car." Csaba Csere concurred: "Damn good car! Feels incredibly good. I can get everything out of it that it has to offer. Engine makes nice power, has much less lag than the Mustang's turbo." Jean Lindamood: "Fun car to drive because it feels a little nasty, a little macho. Lots of action for the driver."

Our foray on the Angeles Crest Highway proved conclusively that the Corvette is the fastest point A—to—point B American-made car—at least when the way is filled with zigs and zags. At speeds that had the other contestants screeching, bouncing, sluing, and clawing for traction, the Corvette bulled its way around corners without even sliding a tire—as if it were a giant slot car. Its adhesion is an order of magnitude higher than that of anything else on the street. "Awesome" was penned in the Corvette's logbook more than once to describe its cornering power.

Mixed with the Corvette's road-wrinkling grip was a liberal dose of orneriness—a collection of feints and darts that scare you into thinking danger is imminent when you're well below the spin-out threshold. Part of the problem is the Z51 combination of fast steering and no-nonsense tires. The chassis is so responsive to the wheel that you have to be careful not to change lanes every time you blink.

Ultimately, the Corvette is a difficult car to drive hard and fast because it just doesn't talk to you. Understanding the messages it sends up through the seat of your pants and through the numb steering is a long-term learning process.

The Z28 remained collected, controlled, and maneuverable at the limit even in the face of adversity. We encountered corners sprinkled with grit, cracked and broken pavement, and decreasing-radii bends that demanded heavy braking; the unflappable Camaro ate up the route and spit expertly processed highway out the back. "Have we complained about the harshness of the Z28's ride in the past? Forget it," said Lindamood. "The suspension was thoroughly recalibrated for 1984. It works!"

I had a then new 1986 Mustang GT during that period, and the Z28's handling was simply in a whole different league beyond 7/10th's or so. The Z28's were brilliant right on the edge of adhesion, with nicely controlled 4 wheel drifts being readily available in the hand of a moderately skilled amateur with some natural talent.

Chevy offered an optional factory handling suspension packaged named "Gymkhana" in C3 Corvettes from the 1974 - 1982 model years. The RPO code was "FE7".

It was $7 option in 1974, yet only a small percentage of cars were so equipped.

http://www.rogerscorvette.com/specs/74.htm