Bdog

http://www.newsobserver.com/167/story/1616313.html

By Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer
RALEIGH -- If you plan to outrun the law in Wake County, you’d better have a very, very fast car.

Or maybe a rocket.

Wake deputies have been spotted using a black Chevy Corvette Z06 to pull over speeders on Interstate 40. Among the fastest production cars in the world, the Z06 has a base sticker price of $74,875 and a growling V8 racing engine that turns out 505 horsepower.

The car has a top track speed of 198 miles per hour, according to Chevrolet.

Though the car has set tongues wagging among Triangle sports-car enthusiasts, Sheriff Donnie Harrison declined to talk to The New & Observer about the Corvette Monday or Tuesday. He did show the car to crews from local television stations.

“You’re not going to force me to talk about anything, you understand?” the sheriff said by telephone late Tuesday, his voice raised. “I’ve got a schedule to run. I don’t sell papers.”

Harrison said he was upset by an N&O reporter calling county commissioners for comment about the Corvette before he was ready to hold a media conference about it.

County Manager David Cooke said that it is his understanding that the Corvette was seized from a drug dealer, but that he could provide no further information, such as how much county money had been spent to upgrade the car.

Gary Buchanan, a Raleigh resident who owns a 2007 Corvette, saw Wake deputies last week using the stealthy, unmarked Z06 to enforce the 65-miles-per-hour speed limit on I-40 in Cary.

“It had blue lights in the back and blue lights in the front,” Buchanan said. “It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Something like that is so extreme. I mean, if my wife was out driving and this thing came up behind her and the lights started going off, man, she’d be scared to death.”

A Corvette co-insurer, Buchanan said he was concerned about the safety and expense of using the car for law enforcement. The special high speed tires the Z06 requires have to be replaced every 10,000 miles and cost up to $1,500 a set. The vehicle handles poorly in wet or cold weather, he said, and he wondered how a deputy could use a stick shift and work the blue lights and radio all at the same time.

The car’s wide, low-slung profile makes it nearly impossible to take off road, such as would be required to cross an interstate median. “This thing is not cheap to operate,” Buchanan said. “And Corvettes have to be driven by people who know what they’re doing.

"Because if you don’t, you can get into serious trouble real quick. The Z06 in particular is a pretty potent automobile.”

Other North Carolina sheriff’s departments have deployed flashy, souped-up cars in the past.

Former Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege had a black Chevy Impala SS with a painting of a black widow spider emblazoned on the side doors. Rebuilt by the Welcome shop of a NASCAR team-owner, the government-owned car Hege drove had a Corvette engine and two tanks of nitrous oxide to boost its horsepower.

The “Spider Car” was sold at auction for $32,000 in 2005, after Hege was removed from office and convicted on corruption charges.

In Forsyth County, former sheriff Ron Barker bought several Camaro Z28s in 1999 for a special Highway Interdiction Team. Kevin Barker, the sheriff’s grandson and a deputy, soon wrecked and totaled the $21,000 sports car while traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour during a high-speed pursuit.

The Wake Sheriff’s Office refused to comment on how its Z06 will be used or who gets to drive it. Asked Monday whether the car could be photographed, spokeswoman Phyllis Stephens said it was not available because the deputy it was assigned to was not on duty. Asked whether the deputy had taken the car home, Stephens refused to answer.

There are several photos of the sheriff’s car posted on Internet sites run by Corvette enthusiasts, however.

A request filed early Tuesday seeking public records related to the vehicle’s acquisition was not granted.

“I can get those to you at my convenience and at a time allowed by law,” Harrison said. “We’ll get you public records when I get time to get the public records to you.”

State public records law dictates that government agencies provide public records “as promptly as possible.”

Wake Commissioner Tony Gurley, who used to race stock cars, said he first heard about the Z06 being used by the sheriff’s office while at a recent car show.

“I was looking at a Highway Patrol car and a trooper told me about it,” Gurley said. “He was jealous. I told him that I didn’t remember voting on any funds to authorize that. I can’t even afford one for myself.”

Board chairman Harold Webb questioned whether using such a car at a time when the Wake sheriff’s officer and other county agencies are undergoing deep cuts and staff layoffs sends the right message.

“I hope he didn’t use any stimulus money for this,” Webb said of the sheriff.

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chill_dog

Beats the modded Z's and Mustangs seized from street racers here.

Fireguy0826

Thats freakin bad ass! Back home the Univ. Of Purdue used to have a modded 02 WS-6. That thing was Bad!

CocheseUGA

Sheriff sounds like a complete douche.

Cool car, though. NC speeding penalties are tough as fuck.

bigman

An Impala with nitrous, damn.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

sounda like a complete douche lol

stright-(paint)balling

see this is what pisses me off about goverment.waste of money.
yes they got a deal on this car but do they need a 500 hp car on their fleet.
90-95% of the time a v-6 car sedan will do the cop station.
they got v-6s over 300 hp.
a V-6 Impala or V-6 Tarsus would have done them fine.
2nd thing is why do they need Nitrous. remember this is taxpayer funded organization. i wouldn't care if it was a privately owned car. hell on the fire dept. I had to go in front of town hall meeting to explain why on a fire truck for a option( front suction) which was 20,000 dollar option we needed it.

TheMirror

X2

I know we're all enthusiasts here, but c'mon. Do they really NEED a speed missle like that to catch speeders? What, is there some kind of speeding Ferrari-Lamborghini epidemic in the Carolinas where they need a Z06 to catch 'em?

CarbonGray Earl

Helicopter, radios, and roadblocks (for traffic, not to try to stop an idiot doing triple digits). Really, what are you gonna do at 160+ mph but add to the danger?

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

Seems to me they should have sold the car and used the money to make up for cuts.

He sounds like someone that won't get reelected.

Didn't Buford Pusser die in a Vette?

Aman

I just hope the cops know how to drive. That thing isnt your run-of-the-mill Crown Vic AT ALL.

What are you gonna do at 180 mph, anyways? PIT the guy and risk killing him AND you? that is assuming that you first FIND a car that can do that speed, catch him in a moving violation, and then have him ignore the sirens and try to get away from you while you just happen to be driving the Corvette instead of the Crown Victoria. And they're betting 70k + cop stuff on those chances.

Bdog

From Wiki:

"He died from wounds (most likely a broken neck) sustained in an automobile crash in which his specially and powerfully modified brand new Corvette hit an embankment and he was ejected from the vehicle. The Corvette then caught fire and burned. It was rumored that the steering mechanism had been tampered with, causing it to fail and the car to go out of control. Others believed that the car's tie-rods had been cut..."

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

There you go. Police + Vettes = death.

wackjum

Italian police have a Lamborghini Gallardo that was donated to them.

http://jalopnik.com/5068397/

But they use it for high-speed organ transporting.

Costco

I don't know about you guys, but this made my desire of becoming a deputy in NC go from 0% to 10000000%.

Aman

Id wanna be a cop in Germany. They'd probably give you an SL65 AMG for high-speed pursuits, unlimited top speed. 738 lb. ft of torque, wheeeee!

alexSU

iTrader: (3)

^ they roll around in M5's lol

tsxgoogs

In Italy they get a Gallardo. The cop that gets to use it on a regular basis is lucky. In my town there was a fight over which officers get to drive the new chargers.

Fireguy0826

what department are you on bro? On our commitee i had to argue against a 30k huskey foam system for our new engine. I lost, they wasted the money.
It is bad ass, but you guys are right, why the F would you spend 70k+ for one cop car. I've very familiar with I40 through that area, its nothing 2 impalas can't handle, one to tagem, one to pull em over. Its not a good way to spend the tax payers money.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Pure BS. I drive a lot, I speed a lot, I know cops. 99% of speeders are just average people in normal cars doing 10-20 miles over the limit. The other 1% are people doing 25-30 over. Why any cop needs a Z06 baffles me.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Exactly my thoughts. Arent there laws on the books that state after a certain speed the cops have to back off for the safety of the public?

If someone is travelling that fast to necessitate a Z06 as a pursuit vehicle, the cops just need to deploy a helicopter and follow them from the sky. They are turning a dangerous situation into a deadly situation.

On a similar note, I was pulled over yesturday on 85 in Durham for tints. I have NY plates and 50% tint on the front windows. No ticket, but still a waste of my time.

crazyasiantl

iTrader: (7)

where do i sign up

Speed_Racer

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Well there ya go, if you see a Vette with the plate TRY-2848 dont do anything stupid lol

Or is the YRV?

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Just read this:


http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5627211/


If anyone wants a used Z06, keep a look out at the police auctions.

BoBByLiGhT83

iTrader: (1)

I actually know the deputy that gets to drive this. A guy I went to high school with. He said they only plan to use it a few months, then sell it at auction and give the money back to the local schools.

mcflyguy24

^Good. Cos it IS a waste of money otherwise. Good PR for the dept though I suppose.

mrmako

Actually, most of their areas have speed cameras. They just mail you a ticket and you have 10 days to respond. I got one for speeding in a construction zone and I challenged it. They sent me the photo, and I had to call them within 3 days. The license plate was off by a letter, and the front end was a Camry, not my LHS. So I called them and got out of it.

When they do set up a trap it's like this:

A small Opel wagon, tinted all around, with a camera in the back window (or a stationary one). It's parked on the shoulder. You drive by and bam, they got you.

About a kilometer or so down the road, is a couple of cars, a van (on a busy day), and two guys on BMW motorcycles (1600 cc I believe, at least 1200). A Polizei with a wand (has HALT in big letters) stands in the road and directs you to stop by the cars and you get a ticket or they pull your license on the spot. No argument. If you don't stop, they will fire up the bikes. And they will chase you down. You will not outrun the Polizei.

Car and Driver did a story about these guys. They also do an undercover car (Opel I think). Don't even think of screwing with them. They have the right to beat the shit out of you. And they have this right because you don't.