I have been running most solo-2 events in the Sacramento Ca. area for the past year and a half, and really enjoy this type
of racing.
Auto-cross is a good way to compete without risking major damage to your car or yourself (or your competitor, for that matter.) In this venue, you race around a flat track made up of cones usually on a large asphalt area (airport, parking lot, etc.)racing the clock. (Kind of like a down hill ski event.) Speeds rarely get over about 60mph, but a I have been on a few courses where I hit the rev limiter in second gear which is about 80mph. If you get into trouble, all you do is hit a few cones, and or flat-spot your tires... Most courses require 30-60 seconds per lap to complete. SCCA events give each driver 4 laps per day while American Auto-X allows 5 laps each. The best lap of the day is used to tally scores/points. Oh, there is a class for nearly every car ever produced... You see them all on any given day.
In general, this type of racing favors lighter, nimble cars, with great handling and very good brakes. Mazda RX-7's and the new Honda 2000's are amazingly fast, for example. Horsepower & Torque help, but aren't the most important factors in getting around the tight courses quickly. Unfortunately, the Viper is relatively heavy and the(non-ABS) Brakes really ****...
The Corvette guys in the Sacramento area are really good drivers with extremely well prepared cars (several national champs here)
They usually smoke me off, but at least I am able to beat most
of the rest of the Vets/Cobras/Porsches/etc. that are like my Viper, stock... As far as handling goes, Improving the front/rear brake bias is a must, and setting up the front end with more camber and tow out helps. Oh, Hoosiers give you a 2-3 second per lap advantage as well.
One final note, it seems totally unfair, but the Viper GT-2's and ACR's are not able to run in the "Super Stock" category with other GTS's and 1997+ C5 Vets, apparently because of the smooth tubes installed at the factory, we must run in the ASP (A street prepared) category which allows quite a bit of non-stock tweaking to engines, drive trains, suspensions, aerodynamics, etc. This class includes everything from 4WD Porsches, Ferraris, Z6 Vets, M5 BMW's, etc.
Bottom line, give Solo-2 a try. It is safe and cheap and the best thing is you can drive your stock Viper to and from events and still be competitive. Beware, it can be habit forming!!