The lessons we learned after our C5 Corvette’s engine exploded | Articles

Project Cars: You Can’t Keep Them All

When our projects start to wind down, we usually make the decision to move on and sell it to a new caretaker. In our case, we had a verbal arrangement with a buyer, a good friend and a valued member of the amateur motorsports community.

“Do you want a deposit?” our buyer asked.

“No, we trust you,” was our reply. “Besides, if you send us money now, something awful will happen.”

Turns out we didn’t need the deposit to fulfill that prophecy.

During our final track session with the C5 Corvette–which wasn’t even a full-on test day but rather a photo session so we could fill our archives with content on a popular project car–some gentle acceleration pulls ended in a horrendous thump, followed by the sickening “clackclackclackclackclack” of iron hitting aluminum. And the smell, and smoke, of oil. So. Much. Oil. 

Here’s where we’ll provide the first lesson of the story: When you blow an engine on track, you have some hard decisions to make. Within seconds, it was clear that the failure was catastrophic, and in most situations the proper reaction would be to exit the track immediately and park near a corner worker. That prevents the track from becoming overly oiled and gets you and your car the help it needs as quickly as possible.

The catch in our situation was the fact that the track was lightly staffed. We’d have to go a ways to reach the next corner worker station.

With lots of smoke but no visible flames, we made the decision to at least coast until a fire extinguisher was in sight. Then we’d bail to grab said safety device.

Upon coming to a stop and opening the hood, we quickly assessed the situation. There was no fire, quite a mess behind us, and one apparent conclusion: This particular 525-horsepower LS3 was done forever and off to engine heaven.

Now What?

Upon contacting the buyer, we confirmed that they were still a customer for a…