'Vette vs. Cayman

[Reynard38]

I have owned three mid-engined cars. A Fiat X1/9 and a Lancia Beta Montecarlo/Scorpion (depending on where you are from) and a Porsche 914. Yes, the dynamics of a mid-engined car are very benign until you push past their limits. Once you lose control, the centralized mass prevents the car from letting either end from leading the spin, making it very hard to recover from. I also had an early 70's 911. That car wanted to spin if you even thought about letting up on the gas while turning.

Fiat X1/9, 2nd gen Toyota MR2 and a ‘97 Carrera S for me.
If you want to use high performer vehicle to its full extent you’d best learn how. Silly to blame the vehicle. The capabilities of a mid engined car exceed those of a Front engined one. That’s why the C8 has the motor in the middle.
Smart thing would be for new owners to attend a high performance driving school. Plus it’s a hell of a lot of fun!

[David G]

Fiat X1/9, 2nd gen Toyota MR2 and a ‘97 Carrera S for me.
If you want to use high performer vehicle to its full extent you’d best learn how. Silly to blame the vehicle. The capabilities of a mid engined car exceed those of a Front engined one. That’s why the C8 has the motor in the middle.
Smart thing would be for new owners to attend a high performance driving school. Plus it’s a hell of a lot of fun!

One thing my youngest & I used to do is lottery tickets. Every so often, I'd buy him one. Which then became, over the years, the excuse for wide-ranging discussion about how we'd spend millions of dollars. And about the values behind those choices.

We both always said we'd buy some nifty sports car. And I ALWAYS insisted that we budget for a serious course of driving school as part of the purchase. Utterly foolish not to.

[Jim Mahan]

I have never wrecked a McLaren, and I never went to a performance driving school.

[George Jung]

Me, either.

Must be a trend.

[Art Haberland]

One thing my youngest & I used to do is lottery tickets. Every so often, I'd buy him one. Which then became, over the years, the excuse for wide-ranging discussion about how we'd spend millions of dollars. And about the values behind those choices.

We both always said we'd buy some nifty sports car. And I ALWAYS insisted that we budget for a serious course of driving school as part of the purchase. Utterly foolish not to.

I would love another Lancia. that was a great little car and with only ever 1803 of them in the country, nobody ever knew what it was.

[David G]

I have never wrecked a McLaren, and I never went to a performance driving school.

Me too. But when I raced it was low-power, high-revving dohc euro engines. Fiat & Alfa.

But that was a lot of years back, and those were nowhere near the level of performance/danger that a modern sport car is. So if I were to own a Porsche or McLaren or Alfa or somesuch today... I'd want to blow the mothball smell off of my skills. Ideally, I'd find a way to get some instruction in the specific car.

[Paul Pless]

actually, mclaren, having gained a bit of a reputation (lol)
now supplies driving instruction as standard when you buy a car from them

[Ted Hoppe]

The PCA has really nice programs for club members. Autocross and great race tracks in some of the best places. You do not need to drop a ton to get a chance to drive them. These programs prove you can be more clever than rich.

[Bob (oh, THAT Bob)]

*sigh*

The C7 Corvette (and some earlier generations) had 50% front / 50% rear weight distribution, with variance on that a percent or two based on fuel and passenger loading.

The C8 has roughly 40% front / 60% rear weight distribution, with the same qualifiers as above. That's a big difference, but not unreasonable.

In the case of both cars, the transaxle is in the back. The engine is between the axles and so are the driver and passenger. Both just swap places. And the engine versus driver+passenger+seating are closer in mass than you think; The C8 LT2 engine is 472 lbs with fluids.

Further, that weight bias is going to get smaller as GM adds a hybrid electric motor system and battery to drive the front axle, to a) improve fuel economy, b) improve traction in non-dry conditions, c) save clutch wear on the dual clutch transmission, lower emissions, and save fuel, when creeping forward in stop-and-go traffic.

Lastly, comparing the vehicle dynamics of modern rear-mid-engine cars to ones of decades previous is foolhardy. The difference in suspension and structure engineering is like night and day, except perhaps for the most sophisticated cars of decades past, such as the McLaren F1 (of which I attended a very technical SAE paper presentation and was extremely impressed).

If you think GM should have stayed front engine on the 'Vette, go look on youtube for videos of C7 and C6 drivers losing control, there's plenty. Personally, I would have liked GM to have also kept in production the C7 chassis and sold it only as a shooting brake a la the Callaway AeroWagon, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. But if you prefer the C7, hey, good news for you, used prices on those are dropping.