For the love of all things holy – but especially your safety and the safety of other people on the road – don’t drive in sub-zero weather with summer tires. Morgan Crosbie, the man who pulled off such a stunt in a C8 Corvette with the Z51 Performance Package, did it just to demonstrate the car’s roadholding and braking prowess in the adverse weather conditions of Canada.
The vehicle in the following clip is painted in what Chevrolet calls Ceramic Matrix Gray Metallic, and as for the tires, Morgan is running the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S on all four corners of the ‘Vette. The summer tire is for “ultra-high performance sport” driving according to Michelin. Also good in wet conditions, the Pilot Sport 4S is covered by a six-year limited warranty.
The run-flats measure 245/35 ZR19 up front and 305/30 ZR20 at the rear, matching the dimensions of the fronts of the C7 Corvette Stingray with the Z51 Performance Package, while the rears of the preceding generation measure 285/30 R20. In addition to the more generous rubber, the all-new ‘Vette puts down the power much easier thanks to more weight over the rear axle.
Morgan doesn’t have any trouble accelerating from a standstill in snowy weather, yet “accelerating” shouldn’t be interpreted as mashing your foot in the loud pedal down to the metal. Braking in this weather doesn’t pose a problem to the summer-tired Corvette either, but there’s a downside to the mid-engine design of the C8. When driven like a man on a mission in the twisties, the lighter front end (40:60 weight distribution) doesn’t grip as much as you want it to.
Mario Andretti once said “drivers still think the brakes are for slowing the car down,” referring to the art of trail braking. This technique allows you to pitch the car, moving the balance of the grip from the rear to the front or the other way around. In dry weather, this is probably the most effective way to cancel the understeering tendencies of the C8 Corvette Stingray, Z51 or not.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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