Main Street in Motion - Alameda 5/20/11

Mark Remelman and George Hamma attended the GM presentation Main Street in Motion at the Alameda Naval Air Station runways. It was an event not to be missed, and being early on the first of three days was the correct strategy. MAKING TIME FOR THIS EVENT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

Photos by George Hamma. Photos and videos (C) 2011 George Hamma

We arrived about 7:30 for an 8:00 start - and they let us in at 7:45. We signed up as interested in Chevrolet and then looked at the static displays.
Mark found he didn't fit if the top was up.
More cars and product specialists were on display in the Chevrolet pavilion. There were also displays for GM trucks and Buick cars.
The first cars we drove were the Chevrolet Cruze and Volt.
Chevy and competition cars.
Chevy Volts
We had lots of questions about the volt
On the left is the motor generator, while the electric motor controls are on the right.
Volt doesn't carry a spare, so a compressor and canister of Slime is included instead.
After driving at least two other Chevrolets, we were allowed to go to the performance cars area. The first car I drove was the 6-cylinder Camero RS. A course starting with a straightaway then a big turn followed by slaloms was available. The point of the exercise was to put your foot down and only let it up to slow down for the turn. It was zippy but not really impressive.
The next car was the 8-cylinder Camero with another hundred horsepower. This provided a very satisfying muscle car experience and really zoomed down the course. There was some lean in the turns, but the SS worked very well, indeed. Each of the performance cars had a professional driver in the right seat to make sure that nothing went wrong with the customer's run.
Next was a Z03 Corvette. This is definitely an E-ticket ride. When leaving the line there was a brief pause for the traction control system to let things get rolling then, with a healthy roar, the V8 kicked in to fly down the course. You could hear the roar at the other end of the runway.
The official offer was 3 rides of performance cars, but we were so early there was no one else there yet, so I got another ride, this time in the convertible Corvette. I had more confidence in handling the power and stayed on the go pedal till the last moment, hit the brakes and got into the turn, then back on the throttle to keep the back end hanging out. Back and forth through the slalom and it was back to the start, thoroughly excited.
This is a video (windy day) trying to capture Dana's run around the course in the silver Corvette. Enjoy the roar and watch his tires as he goes around the turns.
We drove almost every car and truck, both GM products and the provided competition vehicles. After over four hours, we were ready to head out, stopping to find Mark fits fine if the top is down.
We visited OnStar to see the live display of button pushes and automatic crash reports in the US.
This was one big truck - with an incredible wheelbase.
As we were leaving we sat TeleMondo 48 interviewing someone in Spanish about the event. We watched the taping then chatted with the on-air and production talent. Mark wanted a Kodak moment.