Who doesn’t love the Chevrolet Corvette? It’s one of the most thrilling sportscars to drive and offers performance akin to some high end Italian exotics and for a third of the price. It has always appealed to power-hungry enthusiasts who love nothing more than pushing these cars to their limits on racetracks and private circuits. That is the best and safest place to enjoy their horsepower and torque – everyone knows and are constantly reminded that public roads are no place for speeding. You would have thought employees from General Motors who helped develop the car would know this best, right? Well, it seems that two of them didn’t get the memo…
After a good stab at the throttle, two GM employees were arrested for allegedly speeding in a pair of brand new 2020 Stingrays through the streets of Bowling Green, Kentucky, close to where the automaker has an assembly plant which builds the iconic sportscar.
The pair are said to have exceeded the 45mph (72kph) speed limit on Lovers Lane by more than 25mph (42kph) - enough to trigger a court hearing. Their driving licenses could be suspended.
Kentucky State Police stopped them on January 8 and cited them for reckless driving and racing motor vehicles on a public road. It is alleged that one of the drivers, 27-year-old Alexander Thim – a computer-aided engineer at GM, clocked speeds of 120mph (193kph) while his electrical engineer colleague - 30-year-old Mark Derkatz - was snapped at 100mph (160kph). There was third C8 but the driver of that particular Chevrolet was not misbehaving behind the wheel.
Following their arrests, the two C8s – packing a 6.2-litre V8 with 495bhp and featuring a new mid-engine layout for the first time in the history of the American sportscar – were towed to a nearby impound and collected by representatives from the automaker the next day. The duo were lodged in the Warren County Regional Jail and released on a $1,000 bond.
Fortunately, nobody crashed and there were no injuries but the incident would have brought severe embarrassment to the American carmaker. In a statement, it said, “We are aware of an incident involving our test vehicles and are currently investigating. Safety remains our overriding priority at General Motors. We have no further comment at this time.”
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