1st autocross in the Viper: impressions vs. Z06

[ChrisGTS]

Well, I did my first autocross event in the Viper yesterday, and wanted to share my experience with everyone. Keep in mind that I autocrossed Corvettes for 3 years before this, including 2 years in my 2001 Z06. I thought the Z06 was an awesome autocross car.

I was absolutely blown away by how great the Viper felt on the autocross course. Obviously, the power and torque helped me get out of the corners faster, but I was expecting that. What really surprised me was how nimble the car felt turning in. No understeer at all -- the front grabbed so hard that I actually had to turn AWAY from the apex a couple of times to keep from hitting the cone! The car held so much lateral force that it conserved LOADS of speed through every turn.

As a Corvette owner, you hear alot about how the Viper is superior in terms of straight-line speed, but inferior in handling. I had been led to believe that the Viper would feel sluggish and heavy in an autocross environment. On the contrary, it felt lighter, steered quicker and more precisely than the Z06!

Anyway, yesterday was an absolute delight and re-confirmed that I made a great decision in getting the Viper. If any of you are holding off autocross because of a perception that you don't have a great car for it, think again.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Chris, you have verified what alot of us have been trying to folks. Having Autocrossed for 22 years I found the Snake to be the ultimate killer car. Most folks percieve it to be too big, and it is much lighter than a Mustang or Camaro ,which does very well in Solo II. Give me a call if you want any thoughts on wheel alignment, brakes, etc., as you can take this car all the way to Nationals with few changes. Glad you had such a riot.

Bill Pemberton
1-800-889-1893

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Did you get a chance to run a Vett through the same course? It would be interesting to see what the difference was at one event.

We had someone do that at a local event and the Viper barely won, but it was a short track.

 

[RedGTS]

Well that's an interesting post. I've never autocrossed, and I'll admit I assumed the snake was not a suitable weapon. Questions. Is your Viper stock, and was your Z06 stock, or if not, what modifications were you running? Also, what was your impression of the fairly tall stock gearing--did you leave it in first or second or did you shift a lot?

 

[Snakester]

I had fun the one time that I autocrossed my Viper. It does handle great with little body lean and tons of grip.

The downside for me was having zero time to inspect the track before the run (had to wait forever in line, and through the tech sessions), and the fact that the course was really tight (never got out of 1st gear), and it was drizzling.

With a bigger track, and something less than 200 drivers, it could be real fun in the Viper!

I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself. I had a Corvette before as well, and the Viper definitely handles better.

-Dean.

 

[Venom Lover]

Oh, yes, excuse me! All I know is what my buddy Ron tells me!!!

Z06 is a sled....Z06 is a sled....Z06 is a sled....

I couldn't take it any more, so I dumped it, even though it was the best car ever!

Me ->

<- SloCal

 

[ChrisGTS]

Ron, leave Mike alone!

(although I wonder if Mike deserves a little criticism for showing an avatar of a car he NO LONGER HAS ...

Anyway, here are the answers to the questions you guys posed:

(1) Steve: the course changes at every event, so this was a new course on the Viper. It was similar in character and on the same pavement as my previous events with the Corvette.

(2) Ronnie: both Viper and Z06 were stock on street tires. I ran the course two ways: shifting between first and second (heel-toe for downshfits) and then entirely in second. I got better times leaving it in second for this particular course. Second felt just fine. This is also typically how I ran courses in the Z06, which had shorter gears but less torque.

Mike -- with respect to braking on the street, I believe that the Viper takes slightly more distance to stop than the Corvette. Like you, however, I had worries about my Z06 brakes on the track. I put Motul 600 in it, and after a day at Road Atlanta (2 hours of driving time), the brakes were pretty mushy. I have not yet tracked the Viper, but the absence of any brake cooling ducts makes me think I need to put something on there to cool at least the fronts off, especially someplace like Road Atlanta. What do you use?

 

[Joseph Houss]

Vipers definitely can hold their own on the autocross!

Most important remember,

ZONE RENDEZVOUS ARE BACK IN 2003!

Autocross focused, and maybe some surprises! (hint, hint)

Stay tuned!

 

[RedGTS]

Thanks for the info Chris. And while I'm far from an expert on this, it's my understanding that it's very easy to pop out the sport shims in the suspension for an extra 1 degree or so of negative camber for a track/autocross event, and then put them back in when you're done. No alignment necessary.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Ronnie, if you ever do the the shims try a race alignment, holy **** does that car grip!

 

[Venom Lover]

Chris,

I'm glad you're enjoying your new toy! I don't know if you've seen any of my long rambling posts over on the Corvette Forum, but sometimes the self-righteous attitude gets a bit much for me. My experience is the Viper is a superior track car in every respect -- including braking. Maybe my '01 Z06 was an anomaly, but I had all kinds of trouble with the brakes -- bad booster, ABS coming on at weird times, a lot of fade, even with Motul fluid, etc. etc. The Viper brake just instill more confidence, IMO. And the handling and acceleration goes without question. Of course, the Viper doesn't consume 2 qts of oil per day at the track like my Z06 did either.

Cheers!
Mike

 

[SoCal Rebell]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Venom Lover:
Chris,

I'm glad you're enjoying your new toy! I don't know if you've seen any of my long rambling posts over on the Corvette Forum, but sometimes the self-righteous attitude gets a bit much for me. My experience is the Viper is a superior track car in every respect -- including braking. Maybe my '01 Z06 was an anomaly, but I had all kinds of trouble with the brakes -- bad booster, ABS coming on at weird times, a lot of fade, even with Motul fluid, etc. etc. The Viper brake just instill more confidence, IMO. And the handling and acceleration goes without question. Of course, the Viper doesn't consume 2 qts of oil per day at the track like my Z06 did either.

Cheers!
Mike<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What do you know about tracking a car Venom Loser