I didn't even want a Blackwing. Its now been six months to the day that I picked up my 4BW.
I grew up with a lazy eye (specifically, strabismus amblyopia) and therefore have no stereoscopic vision, a very weak vestibular system and a proneness to motion sickness. As a kid, things like swings and roller coasters were a no go for me. For most of my driving-age life, I could do typical normal tasks (drive to work, go shopping, etc.) without issue. Several years ago, though, I started having problems that initially manifested as headaches while driving and, over the next couple years, devolved to getting motion sickness while doing household chores. In between these two extremes, I got prescribed meclizine so that I could drive symptom free.
During the devolvement of my vestibular system, I bought a C7 Z06 which includes a trip to Spring Mountain. After I got confidence I could drive symptom-free with meclizine, I enrolled in Corvette Owners School/Spring Mountain. The on-track activity triggered my motion sickness symptoms (which wasn't unexpected, but I wanted to really test it in a safe environment) but in a new way that allowed a true diagnosis of the issues I was having. It was likely that I'd had an infection that damaged hearing on my left-side and inner-ear function on my right side. I'd subtlety lost eye control. The best way to describe it is by imagining living life constantly seeing things through the camera-shake effect you see in action movies.
Treatment is physical therapy, doing exercises that trigger the symptoms so that the brain relearns, then modifying the exercise to continue pushing symptoms as the brain adapts. Doing the exercises got me back to a good baseline in most activities, the one exception was driving my Altima. My max driving time in it was about 60 minutes on a good day, whereas I could drive my Z06 syptom-free for hours. Eventually, I decided there was something specific about the Altima that I wasn't going to be able to overcome. Based on my experience with the Z06, I bet getting a sport sedan was the best option.
When the Blackwings got announced, I was already looking at the V's. I wasn't going to spend the money to get a 5BW (especially since I had the Z06) and 4BW was smaller than the Altima, which was our long-distance travel car. Also, I didn't want a Blackwing parked in my driveway. So, I'd settled on getting a 5V (runner up was a Acura TLX) based on already being in the GM family. While waiting for a local dealer to get a 5V allocation, some of the criteria that pointed me to the 5V changed, which opened up the potential of getting a 4BW instead. When I found a 4BW matching my desired color and transmission choices within driving distance, I bought it.
Fortunately, the 4BW doesn't give me any issues with normal daily driving. I still don't have the vestibular system for tracking, but I can at least enjoy the cars with some spirited driving here and there.
My track alternative is a sim-racing rig. If you look closely, you might notice the Wilwood master and slave cylinders, the brake pedal on these works by fluid pressure sensing, they have DOT5 fluid in them. My main time-spend is iRacing...
View attachment 17002
I also play American Truck Simulator, which I can do while streaming TV or listening to music...
View attachment 17003
Does this AI car look familiar?
View attachment 17004