SCSN Caravan 09 eNews

No. 34 - 7/29/09

>>>TOP STORY<<<

>>IT'S ALMOST TIME!<<

It's one month to Caravan!

At 8:00 AM, thirty days from now, the Southern California/Southern Nevada Section of the 2009 National Corvette Caravan 225 or so Corvettes will roll off Auto Club Speedway's Lot 1-W headed for Bowling Green.

The excitement is building and we can hardly wait to get on the road to Bowling Green.

>>>OTHER NEWS<<<

>>CAPTAIN'S HEALTH AND MAINTENANCE ORDERS PART TWO<<

It's been ten years since a National Corvette Caravan crossed the deserts of Southern California and Northern Arizona in the dog days of summer. The most brutally hot day will be the first one, when we make the run from Victorville CA over to Seligman AZ. We could experience temperatures over 110° for four-to-five hours. We could experience temperatures up to 115°F in the vicinity of Needles, California. This week, the temperature in Needles is expected to be over 110 every day. Corvetters driving in those conditions need to be aware of dangers extreme heat poses to both to themselves as well as their cars. Make sure you and your car are ready because it's going to be hot, hot, hot.

First, drink water--plenty of it. Soft drinks do not quench thirst. To repeat, drink water, not Coke, Seven-Up, Mountain Dew or the like and absolutely not "energy drinks". They contain a potent mix of sugar and caffeine which can be dangerous on a very hot day. Drinking water keeps you hydrated and less likely to have trouble in the heat.

Next, use sunblock on your arms and face. If you wear shorts, sunblock your legs, too. Wear light-colored clothes, which absorb less heat, and bring a hat. Persons who sometimes suffer health problems in hot weather may have trouble on the first and maybe the second day if they don't take care by staying hydrated, avoiding long periods of time in the sun and knowing the early warning signs of heat-related health problems. Find out more info about heat-related helth issues at web sites like "Web MD".

Your Corvette's tires are important pieces of safety equipment on drives across the desert in 110°+ weather. Few people know that the useful load of a Corvette is limited. In fact, a full tank of gas, two adults along with baggage a couple will typically carry on a two-week road trip will have the car weighing more than its gross vehicle weight rating (GVW). Some Vettes are at GVW with just full fuel, two adults and no baggage. Long periods of driving a car which is overweight in very hot weather is extremely hard on tires. Make sure your tires are in very good condition and inflated to GM's recommended pressure. The recommended pressure is listed on a sticker on the driver-side door post.

Beware of cheap tires and high temperatures. Low-price/low-end tires are more likely to fail than top-quality tires when the car is overweight and road temperatures are very high. Be careful with brands such as Falken, Summitomo, Riken and other brands characterized as price leaders.

Those who own C5s and C6s normally-equipped with Extended Mobility Tires (EMT) or "run-flat" tires and removed the EMTs in-favor of non-run-flat tires should consider putting run-flats back on for the round trip to Bowling Green. If you have a tire problem in the middle of the desert with the temperature is 110°-115° and have no spare, you will wish to God you'd kept the EMTs. Also, those who have run-flats but have traded the Goodyear EMTs for one of the aftermarket run-flats should know that NONE of the aftermarket run-flats (Firestone, Michelin, Yokohama or Kumho) will go very far in 110+ heat with no or low pressure on an overloaded car because none of them meet the EMT tire specification GM set for tires on Corvettes. The only run-flats which meet that specification (200 mile run-flat-distance for C5 and 100 mile run-flat-distance for C6) are made by Goodyear. Expect the 50 miles the makers of aftermarket run-flats promise to be more like 10-15 miles at 115 degrees and the car over GVW. For more information read the article at: http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/kb/questions/465/Technical+Article%3A+Run+Flat+Facts

Make sure your cooling system is properly serviced before you leave. If you've not had cooling service in the last three years, now is the time to do it. Flush the system, change the coolant, inspect all the hoses, belts and all other cooling system components. If you have C3 or earlier Vette, make sure the fan clutch works properly. If you have a C4 or later, verify your electric fan system is operating correctly. Also, C4, 5 and 6 sometimes have trouble with debris (paper bags, leaves and such) getting sucked up into the space in front of the radiator and/or between the hvac condenser and the radiator. Inspection and removal of the debris is the way to avoid that. C3-C6 need the stock air dam for their cooling systems to work properly. Make sure your air dam is in place and functional.

In some cases, the addition of Red Line Water Wetter, a cooling system additive, will lower peak coolant temperature. Above all, remember that when the outside air temperature is 110+ and you're running the a/c at full blast, your cooling system has almost no margin of operation left over. To prevent overheating and breakdown, before you leave on the Caravan, have your cooling system serviced and its proper operation verified.

The final Captain's maintenance tip? C3 and C4 have rear ride height that is easily adjustable using aftermarket "longer" spring bolts. C5 and C6 have adjustable ride height at all four corners. With two people and full cargo, you'll have a nicer riding car on the Caravan if you raise the car up 3/8 to 1/2-inch. With my C4, which was the lead car in 2003, we ran it 1/2-in. higher than stock in the back and enjoyed a nicer ride and proper headlight aim once we had us and our stuff in the car. For 2009, we're driving a C5 and I had it raised 1/2 all the way around for the trip. Once all our gear is loaded and we're both sitting in it, the ride height will be just about right.

>>AND NOW, THE BAD NEWS<<

The SCSN eNews learned, today, that one of the centerpieces of the first three days of our trip, the "Corvette Caravan Pancake Breakfast" in the back lot of the Mid-Point Cafe in Adrian Texas, announced back in eNews 21, has been canceled.

"This is a major disappointment for me and our Events Director, 'Commander' Brent Hicks," Southern California/Southern Nevada Captain, Hib Halverson, told us. "I developed this idea in the Spring of 2007, during an initial route survey trip through the area. I wanted an event which had not been done on the 94, 99 or 03 trips. I wanted the SoCal/SoNev Section to meet Texas and Oklahoma at Adrian because it was the actual mid-point of old Route 66 and I liked the symbolism in that. Brent worked tirelessly to make it happen. We negotiated with local two groups to help us stage the event and on both occasions the same guy, 'Dave the caterer' was involved, first as a subcontractor, and then as the main vendor. In both cases he misrepresented his abilities, his planning and his possession of commitments from local volunteers. Last week, when he failed for a second time to fulfill promises, Brent wisely chose to not sign a contract. We tried 're-rack' the breakfast deal one more time using a different caterer we had a lead on, but when that business told Brent it was unavailable on the 31st of August, we were only a month out and running out of options, so, I pulled the plug."

A problem with a our overnight stop in Tucumcari, New Mexico is that it's a small town lacking enough food service in the morning for our roughly 500 people. The catered pancake breakfast at the mid-point of Route 66 was, also, a way to solve that problem. The SoCal/SoNev Caravan Organizing Team is working hard to replace the pancake breakfast with another catered event, this time, in Tucumcari, which will provide a good breakfast for everybody. We'll have more details in a future issue of the SCSN eNews.

Best regards,
The SoCal/SoNev Caravan Organizing Team

Caravan info: email to captain.socalcar@charter.net

Going on the Caravan?
Don't go braless!

Even new cars with less than 1,000 miles have paint blemishes from normal driving. Imagine what a cross-country trip will do to YOUR paint.

The solution? A "Clear Bra".

It functions like a traditional auto bra but is far more durable and cannot be seen. It will NOT scratch your Corvette's finish like most "strap-on" auto bras. This 3M Paint and Headlight Protection lasts for the life of your Vette. SCSN Capt. Hib Halverson used a 3M Clear Bra on the 2003 National Corvette Caravan and endorses it as the best way to avoid damage to the front of your car.

Professional installations by the 3M factory-trained Installer in California most experienced with Corvettes: Envisage Design Labs. Call (310) 613-4691 or email Envisage at: envisagedesignlabs@yahoo.com

To SoCalCar Home Page

Hib Halverson
captain.socalcar@charter.net