Paul Hawker
Enthusiast
Greg.
Some of us VCA guys were inside the VIP Thunderbird tent when the race was staged. We had a front line, flight line view of the start.
For the stock SRT vs. standard power jet start, pretty much everything you would expect took place. The car took off to a quick lead, while the jet took some time to get momentum. Once the Jet settled down it quickly reeled in the Viper, and it was just a matter of time before it would pull ahead.
I have seen this race in past years, and it seemed that the new gearing from SRT in the Gen 5 was perfectly suited for this venue, as it continued to pull like a freight train all along the 3,000 ft course. The jet could not get jiggy fast enough to pass the car. The grand finale was when the Jet pulled directly vertical into the wild blue yonder, while the car began to burn donuts on the flight path in front of the reviewing stands where all the spectators were on their feet, cheering the win.
I heard that the jet pilot said he was never so impressed with a car's performance, and that claimed that someday he would own one of these Vipers….that said it all for me.
For the twin turbo RSI Viper Vs. the full afterburner jet, the fix was in. The military was not going home without a win. We could see the pilot standing on his brakes, with the afterburners lit before the flag was dropped. The count down was a rapid fire 5,4,3,2,1,GO! as the jet could not maintain that thrust for more than a second or two. The full afterburner jet lept down the sunday like it was shot off an aircraft carrier. The sound was fantastic, and he got the jump on everybody. They won, but had an edge. Have to hand it to the fighter pilot. He had a plan, and executed it perfectly. Next year we will have to be on our A game if we hope to sweep all 4 races :>)
Late Saturday afternoon there was a pretty big dust storm the deposited lots of sand on the runways. While I am sure the military cleaned it off before the race, it still made traction difficult for the traction control system on the Twin Turbo. While this may have hurt the cars performance, both the car and the Jet still put down outstanding runs.
Take away from this, is that even the ********* military people in the tents were impressed by the civilian performance of SRT's bright white Viper. They all thought the jet was going to dominate, and that we were just there for the show. Well, we were there for the WIN and pulled it off.
A pretty proud day for the Viper Community, and great exposure to a real Red White and Blue crowd of 180,000 patriotic people.
Some of us VCA guys were inside the VIP Thunderbird tent when the race was staged. We had a front line, flight line view of the start.
For the stock SRT vs. standard power jet start, pretty much everything you would expect took place. The car took off to a quick lead, while the jet took some time to get momentum. Once the Jet settled down it quickly reeled in the Viper, and it was just a matter of time before it would pull ahead.
I have seen this race in past years, and it seemed that the new gearing from SRT in the Gen 5 was perfectly suited for this venue, as it continued to pull like a freight train all along the 3,000 ft course. The jet could not get jiggy fast enough to pass the car. The grand finale was when the Jet pulled directly vertical into the wild blue yonder, while the car began to burn donuts on the flight path in front of the reviewing stands where all the spectators were on their feet, cheering the win.
I heard that the jet pilot said he was never so impressed with a car's performance, and that claimed that someday he would own one of these Vipers….that said it all for me.
For the twin turbo RSI Viper Vs. the full afterburner jet, the fix was in. The military was not going home without a win. We could see the pilot standing on his brakes, with the afterburners lit before the flag was dropped. The count down was a rapid fire 5,4,3,2,1,GO! as the jet could not maintain that thrust for more than a second or two. The full afterburner jet lept down the sunday like it was shot off an aircraft carrier. The sound was fantastic, and he got the jump on everybody. They won, but had an edge. Have to hand it to the fighter pilot. He had a plan, and executed it perfectly. Next year we will have to be on our A game if we hope to sweep all 4 races :>)
Late Saturday afternoon there was a pretty big dust storm the deposited lots of sand on the runways. While I am sure the military cleaned it off before the race, it still made traction difficult for the traction control system on the Twin Turbo. While this may have hurt the cars performance, both the car and the Jet still put down outstanding runs.
Take away from this, is that even the ********* military people in the tents were impressed by the civilian performance of SRT's bright white Viper. They all thought the jet was going to dominate, and that we were just there for the show. Well, we were there for the WIN and pulled it off.
A pretty proud day for the Viper Community, and great exposure to a real Red White and Blue crowd of 180,000 patriotic people.
