Sorry DeLorean, no more street racing for GM! More C8 Vette News

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by 12lives, Jan 25, 2020.

  1. 12lives

    12lives Control the controllable, let the rest go

    I like the old stories about the GM engineers going out to Woodward Ave at night to test cars by street racing the locals. Not any more: from Automobile -
    "GM Employees Jailed for Racing C8 Corvettes on the Street
    Enjoying the 2020 Corvette’s capabilities goes wrong for two engineers.
    According to Kentucky State Police, a trooper stopped Alexander Thim and Mark Derkatz on the evening of Wednesday, January 8, on Lovers Lane in Bowling Green, for exceeding the posted 45-mph speed limit by more than 26 mph, reckless driving, and racing motor vehicles on a public road. Automobile has not yet been able to verify just how much higher than 71 mph the cars were traveling when police nailed them and hauled the drivers away. (Exceeding the speed limit by 26 mph is simply Kentucky's standard under its driver's license points system to trigger a hearing and a possible suspension; it does not mean the cars were clocked at precisely 71 mph, or 26 mph more than the posted 45-mph limit.)

    UPDATE: According to Kentucky's WNKY, Thim, 27, was caught driving one Corvette at 120 mph, and Derkatz, 30, at 100 mph; a third Corvette on the scene was "not participating in the racing." Various local news outlets report that Thim and Derkatz posted $1,000 bail and are scheduled for a pretrial hearing at Warren District Court on February 18.

    According to the employees' LinkedIn profiles, Thim is a CAE (computer aided engineering) engineer working on induction and exhaust systems, and Merkatz is an electrical engineer. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

    "We are aware of an incident involving our test vehicles and are currently investigating," GM noted in a statement provided to Automobile. "Safety remains our overriding priority at General Motors. We have no further comment at this time."

    As for the Corvettes, police enlisted two towing companies to remove them from the scene and deposit them at a tow lot, where a police representative said the vehicles were collected the next day "by the owner," presumably representatives of General Motors. Per GM's statement, it is unknown whether Thim and Merkatz remain employed with the company."

     
  2. Freakazoid

    Freakazoid Gold Level Contributor

    I would think GM would have their own test track there? If not they should build one.
     
  3. dynaflow

    dynaflow shiftless...

    ...they have test tracks, this was about being seen in a C8...
     
    Freakazoid likes this.
  4. TexasT

    TexasT Texas, where are you from

    To me this signifies there is hope for the next generation. They just need a little more "street" smarts. I mean there is a whole series call street outlaws.
     
    HotRodRivi likes this.
  5. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    I'm not gonna throw too many stones at these guys, i quite possibly would have (and have as a matter of fact) done similar. But if they lose their jobs over it I'm not going to pity them. They knew what would happen if they got caught. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They played and won.
     
  6. Fox's Den

    Fox's Den 355Xrs

    Wanna Play you gonna pay....if you get caught he he he.
     
  7. thebuick

    thebuick Well-Known Member

    should of used the fuzz buster
     
  8. 69GS400s

    69GS400s ...my own amusement ride!

    Dont do the crime .. if you cant do the time
     
    Rob Ross likes this.
  9. 65Larkin

    65Larkin Well-Known Member

    Good luck to them in today's world.
    Working in a Holden (GM) dealership in Auckland NZ in the eighties I had a number of quiet discussions with policemen for driving at the kind of pace that would get you sent to jail without collecting $200. How times have changed
    A number of those times I was behind the wheel of marked and unmarked Police cars - good times
     
  10. Smokey15

    Smokey15 So old that I use AARP bolts.

    A close Friend drives new and prototypes for Fiat/Chrysler. They have certain routes and strict rules to follow. Some vehicles are in camo and have to be covered when they take a break. In those cases, they travel in pairs. One person has to stay with the vehicles while the other goes in for break, then they switch. People have tried to get 'peeks' and they are denied. Spy vehicles have tried taking pictures of interiors, etc. They are never to open the hood. If they should have a problem, the cars are picked up. There are tracking devices on the cars. One young guy had a Hellcat and they noticed it was staying in a certain area. They found the guy in his driveway with the hood up and a group of his buddies there. He had been giving them 'rides'. They fired him on the spot and took the car.
     
  11. knucklebusted

    knucklebusted Well-Known Member

    It was big news here two-three weeks ago when it actually happened. They do have a test track at the Corvette plant and they have the National Corvette Museum road course across the street.

    I've been seeing C8's all over the place as employees take them home and whatnot. There was about a dozen at the Barrett-Jackson auction on display, including the new convertible hardtop.
     

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