Viper?

[Raven]

Note: for some reason, this post was supposed to be a reply to a different thread but somehow it came up as a new thread entirely.

A Viper? In a good driver's hands, they are evil, wicked, mean and nasty.

In most of the average owner's hands, they are a good looking high 13/low 14 second car.

They are brutally attractive, have enough torque to move a mountain and handle fairly well. They draw lots of attention and in my view, are an incredible machine esepcially for a Dodge.

If I had the garage space and the money, I would definitely have one. (And it would definitely be quicker than a 13 second car too... )

 

[LinearX]

Originally posted by Raven
Note: for some reason, this post was supposed to be a reply to a different thread but somehow it came up as a new thread entirely.

A Viper? In a good driver's hands, they are evil, wicked, mean and nasty.

In most of the average owner's hands, they are a good looking high 13/low 14 second car.

They are brutally attractive, have enough torque to move a mountain and handle fairly well. They draw lots of attention and in my view, are an incredible machine esepcially for a Dodge.

If I had the garage space and the money, I would definitely have one. (And it would definitely be quicker than a 13 second car too... )

With a few bolt-ons they can make some really good power, and times. A friend of mine has a Hennessey 500 (all bolt-on stuff, but bone stock motor otherwise), with a Roe supercharger and he just recently ran a best of 10.16 on blower only. This was on good fuel with water/methanol. His best run to date on N2O is a 9.85@144.

 

[tracy]

Originally posted by Raven
Note: for some reason, this post was supposed to be a reply to a different thread but somehow it came up as a new thread entirely.

A Viper? In a good driver's hands, they are evil, wicked, mean and nasty.

In most of the average owner's hands, they are a good looking high 13/low 14 second car.

They are brutally attractive, have enough torque to move a mountain and handle fairly well. They draw lots of attention and in my view, are an incredible machine esepcially for a Dodge.

If I had the garage space and the money, I would definitely have one. (And it would definitely be quicker than a 13 second car too... )

An "average" driver can only get a Viper into 13's and 14's huh?

What baloney! My wife could put a Viper in the 12's. Walk it out and nail it - it's as simple as that. My friend has two of them and he is an "average driver. His blue GTS has run high 11's.

They are easy cars to drive with a really flat power curve.

This person does not have a clue.

 

[kenny]

Re: Re: Viper?

Originally posted by tracy
An "average" driver can only get a Viper into 13's and 14's huh?

What baloney! My wife could put a Viper in the 12's. Walk it out and nail it - it's as simple as that. My friend has two of them and he is an "average driver. His blue GTS has run high 11's.

They are easy cars to drive with a really flat power curve.

This person does not have a clue.

The last Viper meet here at the track, 90% of the Vipers were in the mid-high 13's.

ONE went 11's, and that was at 140mph.

 

[Phoff]

I have seen many Vipers run at Atco and the SLOW stock ones ran 12.40's the FAST stock ones run 11.90's.......I have never seen a stock Viper make a full pass slower than 12.9's...my stock 2001 Camaro runs 13.1's and its not in the same class as a Viper......


Pete

 

[tracy]

Around Chicago I have NEVER seen a Viper running anything slower than a 12.

It seems silly to me to even suggest that these are ANYTHING but easy 12 second cars.

What seems really strange to me is; here we have someone saying average dirvers can only squeeze 13-14 seconds from a Viper. Yet other posts claim any knucklehead can pilot a stock LS1 to an ultra low 13 or high 12.

 

[kshef]

97+ GTS Vipers run 12.0-12.1 around here

those pre 97 RT-10s were 13-sec cars

 

[Pronto]

At NED I witnessed a Viper run mid 15s. One pass and then straight out the gate. Most I see run in the low 13s-mid 12s. Less in the 11s.

 

[Phoff]

If a Viper is running slower than 12's its the driver not the car.....

 

[Pronto]

Rich boys toys. They got too much money and no idea what they got.

 

[Buick From Hell]

obviously some of you don't know Raven. Especially ONE of you...To say "this person does not have a clue" is more than a little short-sighted. I'll just leave it at that.

 

[TurboCustomz]

My best friend used to have a 93. He bought it wrecked and we rebuilt it. I drove the car many times. They really arent that great. Cramped on the inside, the interior sucks, and it really wasnt that fast for what it is. The car was more then able to run a low 13 however, and it was the lowest rated in HP and TQ. With all that torque, a bad/new driver could easily run mid to high 13's. I've seen a new 500HP one run a low 9 in the 1/8th. I'd say its mostly driver error.

 

[tracy]

Originally posted by Buick From Hell
obviously some of you don't know Raven. Especially ONE of you...To say "this person does not have a clue" is more than a little short-sighted. I'll just leave it at that.

No more short-sighted than saying a Viper is a slower car than it factually is in the hands of an average driver.

I know we're splitting hairs here, but how about saying " the Viper is a known and established 12 seond car, BUT I see some drivers having trouble driving them to their potential. That would be alot more accurate.

Nothing personal against Raven at all.

 

[kenny]

Originally posted by tracy
No more short-sighted than saying a Viper is a slower car than it factually is in the hands of an average driver.

I know we're splitting hairs here, but how about saying " the Viper is a known and established 12 seond car, BUT I see some drivers having trouble driving them to their potential. That would be alot more accurate.

Nothing personal against Raven at all.

I'm with Raven, I've seen more of them run weak ET's than impressive ET's.

Maybe it's just the horrible Ohio drivers.

 

[XLR8]

I have only seen 3 or 4 Vipers run at the track and they were all 13 second cars. Of course a track altitude of 5800' could have something to do with it.

 

[Raven]

No offense taken because I DO have a clue. I go to the track and I've driven Vipers and GTS's as well.

So, I know what I've seen and I know what I've ran against and MOST average drivers have a hard time launching that much power and torque. Then, they have a hard time shifting properly. It's just like our TR's - when new, most time slips showed them to be in the mid-low 14's. But a good driver (and there are far fewer TRUE good drivers out there than there are 'average') could pop high 13's fairly consistently with a good launch.

I'm sure there are many people that can can get a Viper to run 12's. I'm simply saying that MOST drivers can not.

I've seen it - and not just on Ohio tracks.

For every wife or friend that can get a stock Viper into the 12's, there's 10 or more that can NOT get the car out of the 13's.

Tracy - has your wife got to run the Viper at the track and does she have 12 second slips? No flames here, just curious because anyone can SAY what they can do but often few can back it up when it gets right down to it.

If your wife has ran 12's then my hat is off to her. And if your friend has ran 11's with a bonestock GTS, kudos to him to. But you've got to admit that these would be an exception to the rule. All you have to do is go to the track and see what is really happening. I've seen Cobras running 13's and even 14's but I've also seen them run solid 12's - similar cars, different drivers. I've seen LS1's and all the others with all sorts of time slips but the few who run high 12's are FAR outnumbered by those that run 13's or worse.

I'm not saying Vipers aren't 12 second capable - not at all. It's just that it is FAR harder to make any 12 second capable car run 12's than most people will acknowledge. That doesn't matter WHAT kind of car it is - Viper, Cobras, Z06's, chipped TR's, etc. Talking the talk is one thing - walking the walk is an entirely different matter.

That is what separates the 'good' drivers from the 'average'. Sorry if this offends anyone (and it shouldn't) but that's the real world. (And Kevin, thanks for the nice words!)

 

[tracy]

Raven,

I appreciate your point of view and would agree with you on several points in your reply.

Using words like "average" becomes very subjective. I would consider my friend an "average" driver. He has two viper GTS's and has had them at 12's or better. His blue '96 is the one that touched the 11's - hense the basis for my reply.

I don't doubt you have witnessed what you have stated. I just don't think that is the be all end all litmus for Viper performance and that was my point.

No hard feelings here either.

 

[cool 84]

I've seen many Vipers run at the track. The majority are 13 second cars but the mph suggests they are capable of much better with a good driver. There's one very cool Viper owner that's always at the track with the goal of running 11.9999 on the stock tires. It's been 12.0 a few times but the factory tires are starting to wear. With headers and exhaust it's gone 119mph so it's safe to say it's an 11 sec car on dragradials.

I think every Viper is capable of going deep 12s, even very high 11s off the showroom floor. The problem is most people who buy a Viper aren't going to the track every weekend and learning how to drive. The car can only do so much with a 13 second driver.

 

[bogie1]

I was at piedmont 2weeks ago and watched with great intrest as A Blue Viper lined up at the lights. When the smoke cleared he had run 6.99 @ 122mph in the 1/8th. Looked real nice.

 

[Marc87GN]

I have to laugh when I read some of these comments about driving skills. The GN is a freakin automatic. If I gave my GN to my wife with a sticky tire and told her to heat them and go, it wouldn't be difficult getting it down the track.

I would love to see some of you guys try and launch a GTs and get it cleanly down the track rowing the gears yourself. I'm sure we would pulling a few people out off of the railing. I have done it in a few mustangs and Z28s and it's a totally different world driving a powerful stick car. It has much less driveline loss so the shock hits the tires significantly harder unless you slip the clutch and then you are killing it.

I'm sure the trapseed of a GTs shows you that if you ran into one on the street, chances are it is going to get ugly. Forget about the highway.