I understand a tech test driving a vehicle to see if the problem is fixed. but not like this…
GM Tech Street Races Customer’s C8 Corvette, Hits 148 MPH on Highway - CorvetteForum
Far from the first one to be caught doing this with a C8 and I’m fairly sure it’s happened to Hellcat’s and other performance cars as well.
Left unsaid is whether or not the tech was canned. If not, he should have been.
“What’s particularly shocking about these incidents is that these dealer technicians either don’t realize the C8 is capable of recording their nefarious driving or perhaps they just don’t care.”
At this point, probably every new car has this capability…which is a huge privacy risk to the owner, which many people fail to understand.
The guy is not a tech, but about 10 years ago this one ran his Corvette to over 190 on the Kilpatrick Turnpike; which is an OK City metro area roadway. Posted it to YT, someone ratted him out, and he got arrested.
Social media again. Don’t post this stuff for the world to see.
Off topic but reminds me of a local incident a few years ago. Kid was making a drug deal at the truck stop. I dunno anymore if he was the buyer or seller. At any rate got robbed and called the police. Yeah he got arrested. Pretty funny at the station.
Obviously the tech was trying to replicate a high speed miss.
I don’t use social media in general, as I just don’t understand the appeal.
What I really don’t get is why/how people post this kind of stuff for the world to see…and then get surprised when there are repercussions or consequences in the “real world”. Did you not think anyone would watch/see it?
I tell my kids the secret isn’t to not post anything on social media…it’s not to record such actions/activities in the first place.
+1
About 10 years ago, I signed-up for Facebook, mostly to track-down some classmates from long ago. Once that was accomplished, I rarely logged-onto that site, and then–after so much negative information surfaced about FB, I dropped it like a bad habit, and terminated my membership. I haven’t noticed any voids in my life as a result of that decision.
But–like you–I marvel at people who post stuff on social media that can be self-incriminating and are then amazed when it comes back to haunt them. When I was still working for the Deputy AG, one of our cases had to do with the mother of a young child whom we alleged was a hard-core drug abuser. Naturally, she denied it. Just before what turned out to be our final court date, I tried to find Mommie Dearest on My Space (remember that one?), and not only did I find her, but I found her words of praise for her favorite drugs PLUS pics of her abusing those drugs.
I printed it all out for the DAG, and when she presented it to the judge it was–without doubt–the most rapid ruling that I ever saw that judge issue. (Yes, we won…)
I know this isn’t “car talk”…
But some people seem to have a strange disconnect between their real life, actual persona, and their online, “virtual” one. It’s very strange to me.
Personally, I prefer to focus most of my efforts and energies on what’s actually in front of me, instead of a cat video from some guy I went to kindergarten with 35 years ago…
That guy in the YT video I posted got off pretty easy after dragging it out for 6 months. Two counts of criminal misdemeanor. Pled guilty to 1. Sentenced to 90 days. Suspended. Count 2 dismissed. 30 hours of community service, defensive driving school, and court costs.
I’m in agreement about social media. My sister talked me into joining Facebook about 2 years ago. I’m still registered but don’t use it. Near total garbage IMO; just like the others.
Years ago the dealer I worked in did warranty repairs for the local state police vehicles.
A couple of times the complaint was:
" Vibration during high speed chase"
or:
" Engine cuts out during high speed chase".
Of course after we made the repairs, we had to “field test” our fixes. We always made sure to carry all the repair order paperwork with us.
I’m surprised we never got pulled over for going those speeds.
-1
You guys realize that when we post here, we are using a social medium. There’s both good and bad about social media, and I like to think Car Talk Community is part of the good.
IIRC, someone posted a garage jockey driving a Corvette wildly in the parking garage a couple-a three years ago.
I found a fast food receipt in my car after I picked it up from repairs once. I was close to complaining, but there were no wrappers or food stains, so I let it go once. Next time, if there is one, they will hear about it. I doubt they were wringing out a 2L Accord, though.
I bought some cheap tires at Walmart for my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon that had the 4-4-2 trim package. It wasn’t a fast car. It had the 260 V-8 and an automatic transmission and a single exhaust. At any rate, after having the tires on the car for several years and the car was 25 years old, the car had a bad vibration over 35 mph. I traced it down to loose wheel weights that Walmart had installed when the tires were mounted. I fished through the glove compartment and found the receipt for the tires and the price included lifetime balancing. I took the car back to Walmart and the service manager asked, “What kind of problem are you having”? I said that I was coming home on the interstate and a Ferrari was attempting to go around me. I floored the accelerator and the car shook so bad over 110 mph that I had to drop back and I was so embarrassed. The service manager lookied at me and then the old Oldsmobile and said, “Maybe I had better rebalance both front tires”.
When the technician finished the job, for which there was no charge, the service manager said, “Since this job was free, we won’t road test the car. You do your own road testing”.
When I worked for Citgo on the NJ Turnpike, we had the task of replacing tires on the state police vehicles.
No, those Goodyear Blue Streak tires were never repaired. The NJSP had a policy that none of their officers should ride on a tire that had been patched, so we kept a stock of those Blue Streaks in the garage for the inevitable replacements.
The troopers would drive their cars into our garage, go into the adjacent Howard Johnson’s while we worked on their cars, and then–of course–we had to pull them out to the parking area when we were done. In case you never drove a '68 Chrysler New Yorker, I can tell you that the acceleration from that 440 c.i. engine was nothing short of incredible–even though we only got to drive them for a short distance.
I can attest to that I owned a Dodge polaris one time with the 440 intercepter it was the only car that I ever owned that when I got into it I could watch the speedomoter go one way and the fuel gauge go the other way.
Yup!
Or, as one of the teachers–who owned a 440-powered Chrysler to pull his travel trailer-- used to say…
The only thing it can’t pass is a gas pump.
My '71 Charger had the smallest V-8 (318 c.i), and my around-town gas mileage was 13 mpg. On the highway, I could eke-out 16 or 17 mpg. If that is what a smaller, more aerodynamic car with a smaller engine yielded, I hate to think what type of gas mileage the 440s got.
Recently, there was a really nice-looking Polaris* convertible (pale yellow with a greenish roof) at a mechanic’s shop in Princeton. Every time I drove past, I would tell myself to take a pic next time. As of this week, it is gone, so no opportunity for a pic.
*Whoops! Nevada is correct. The model name was Polara.
Polaris XCR 440;
Dodge Polara;
IT could pass a gas pump in town but when you hit the open highway you had to have a full tank on a road trip in flat country I could get around 15 mpg.