Competition Coupe Stuff!

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Steve Ferguson is da man. He is quite often ahead of the curve with what is happening with alot of things at DC. The Comp. Coupe
change on the panels for aerodynamics is correct, but it may not be as drastic as Steve heard, if another source I talked with is correct. The rear wing is now adjustable , thanks to PVO listening to the driver's requests, but the revamped team has been really open and cognisant to what the new owners want in a factory race car. Tommy Archer was testing at Gingerman a little over a week ago and the car is fast. Steve is the first to convey the changes, as he still feels the pulse in Detroit, and so I did
a little checking. Some of the changes may be for aerodynamic flow for other items ( we always assume air flow is based on top speed and this is not always the case ), such as better air control around the brakes, engine cooling,etc. Either way, with Wolfgang Berhard , the Godfather of the Comp. Coupe, and the man that directed AMG for many years, taking a personal interest in this project, I imagine the changes are for the better.

Thanks Steve for the update, and please keep us posted on any other items, as you have been involved with this idea for many years, and it will be exciting to see these new beasts on the tracks Nationwide in the near future.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Whoops,typed too fast and forgot the n in Bernhard. Sorry , Wolfgang, and I lived in Germany for 3 years as a young man, so I know how to spell it correctly.

Auf Wiedersehn,
Wilhelm Pemberton

 

[Steve Ferguson]

The only body part going forward on the CC that ran at Gingerman a few weeks ago was the "adjustable wing", twhich had not been seen prior to that event. The rest are all being adjusted or tweaked, call it what you want. My point is that staying true to the philosophy of what the CC intended is the exact direction PVO is going with the car. And for any true PERFORMANCE ENTHUSIAST, this is GREAT NEWS.

 

[Tom Glenn]

Bill, The three years you spent in Germany when you were a "young man" would that have been before the East/West split?

 

[Mike Brunton]

You guys must have missed Bill's edit of his post... before he edited it, it said "I lived in germany for 3 years WITH a young man".

Nice save, Bill!

Steve, I am with you 100% - the CC should be about performance. if they give up some aesthetics in the eyes of a few folks (who aren't even buyers for the car) to make it a better performer, then I am for it! I didn't know the AMG guy is involved in this project - that's a very good thing. Some folks can criticize Daimler and think them a bad influence, but anyone who'se owned a sporting Benz or spent some seat time in an AMG car can appreciate what they bring to the project.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Mike, we do not know if the changes will be more or less appealing to the eye? What we do know is that they are being done for the right reason, performance!

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Aus gesichnet!!

Dear Herr Brunton,

I vus livin in das kleine village ov Bitburg, mit meine familia, und meinen vater vas eine Fighter Pilot, zoooooooo...... I vas das jungen und yur statemindt I vind tasteless und nassteeee!!
Zhame on you, on take offen those stiletto heels und handcuff yurzelf to das poster bed. Arnold vill be obfurr in an hur to giv you das vhippin you bad, bad jungen!!

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Was Wolfgang in charge of the 1999 Mercedes Race program? I may be wrong but from memory he was in charge of building the famous flying LMP Mercedes at Le Mans? Their 2 LMP V8's in 98 both had engine failure early in the race.

ORECA would be my choice to work with PVO to build a race car.

This year ORECA had three entries two V10 Judd's and one Viper. All three finished running. The percentage of cars that finish is approx. 50 plus or minus a little depending on the year. This year 27 cars finished running of 50 cars. ORECA's Viper came in third behind the Two Corvette's. This was a great performance for a team with 2 young rookie drivers and a started failure. With magic drivers like O. Beretta, and K. Wendlinger the Viper would give the Vette's more pressure than they can handle, in my opinion. The ORECA LMP's came in 5th and 6th. Some interesting info.


Car Finished car# Pit Time Laps Best Lap
Audi LM P900 1st 2 34:22 375 3:33.886
Audi LM P900 2nd 1 37:38 374 3:33.483
Audi LM P900 3rd 3 43:00 372 3:34.604
Bently LM GTP 4th 8 45:53 362 3:39.484
ORECA LM P900 5th 15 49:18 359 3:40.268
ORECA LM P900 6th 16 59:55 359 3:40.474

This is outstanding performance for a privateer.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Fred, Wolfgang was in charge of AMG, but the main item is not that Oreca didn't do a good job, it is the fact that we have a bona-fide GEARHEAD working hand in hand with PVO. This is a completely different situation than Oreca, as we are talking about a Officer of DC that has oil in his blood , like the rest of us!! I am sure we will all hear great things about Wolfgang over the coming years, and I know John Fernandez, Herb Helvig, Pete Gladyzs, Pamela Neikamp, and others are pumped that he likes muscle cars and wants PVO to be the American equivalent of AMG---
I don't think any of us could ask for a better situation.

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Have a gear head is good. Now will he get us back (the Viper) to Le Mans? One of the original plans for the 2003 to be a rag top and in parallel ORECA was to work on a race car, then convert it to a street GTS. This was a good plan! The economy NASCAR, etc changes the plan. Bad news for Viper race fans. Regarding Wolfgang (I met him in 97 or 98 at Laguna Seca, not a very sociable type) I think ORECA/DC had a better race program than Wolfgang's AMG on a lower budget. No problem is he gives PVO the freedom to build us the best of the best in terms of performance.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Fred, I think you are missing the point. Wolfgang is pumped up about the Competition Coupe, and it is a unique way to get our Snakes back on the track. No other Major Manufacturer is building a factory racecar that is essentially a Spec Class Car where drivers will determine a win. I don't even include Porsche,as they are much smaller and their car is much more expensive. Keep in mind Oreca is in the past, and Wolfgang didn't control the Nascar situation. We need to all applaud DC for getting us back into the fray, as opposed to wringing our hands because it isn't as good as it used to be. I loved the ********** by Oreca, and I understand your loss ( we all felt it ),but I fully feel the glass is half full with this new program. We have a energetic group at PVO, and Wolfgang is among them. I imagine we will all look back at the Comp. Coupe, PVO, etc in the coming years and see a new resurgence in performance in the US --- and DC will lead it. Keep in mind that 4 years ago, Wolfgang was not in the position he is now, nor had he become assimilated with the American car culture. Many who know him ( that are racers and gearheads ) think he is the man to run the performance side and even the old guard that has left ( Bob Lutz ) is impressed with
Mr. Bernhard. Give him the benefit of the doubt, as I firmly feel he will become even greater in DC and he is an invaluable friend to us Viper owners --- as well as Dieter!!!

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

I hope your dreams come true!

 

[VOI9 ASP]

Has anyone heard of anyone backing out of the first phase of the build group on the Comp Coupes? In other words - Is anyone with a deposit down and approved in the first group of Comp Coupes no longer interested?

 

[VIPERESS]

Thanks for the information

 

[pitviper]

fred, you would be hard pressed to find someone who is going to agree with your statements more passionately than myself. i want the new Viper to be brought back to the forefront of the racing scene more than anything else (automotively speaking) in the world. i hope that DC finds it in their hearts to bring us back a factory team, even if it isn't with ORECA, who is incredible to say the least, and have recently made public their desire to find a manufacturer to work with to win LeMans. wouldn't it still be neat though, to have the factory "PVO Viper SGTS-R"'s going to leSarthe and wining?! i'm sure you'll appreciate my comments portrayed in the post link below...
http://vca1.viperclub.org/ubb/Forum21/HTML/000536.html

cheers,
pit

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Agree! I know many other also would like to see DC-ORECA on the podium in front of GM, Ford, etc.

 

[bad viper]

Basic Comp Coupe question....
There will be no VIN # and no new car warranty
that we know. I assume car is being sold as a performance part?
If this is the case, do we get a 90 day warranty like
the one given on crate engines? Will the engines be bench
run for an extended period of time? Will we be able to run them all out as soon as we turn the key?

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Fred, Wolfgang is every bit as social as Bob was. Ask Maurice about the joke session we had with him this past January, you will laugh your assoff!

 

[Guyver1]

Unfortunately, ACO regs are currently changing.

GTS is going to turn into practically "GT1". The Viper won't be able to compete there unless PVO bites the bullet and builds a limited production run of $400,000 carbon-fiber monster-tech Vipers. GTS is going to be running unrestricted Saleens and cars like the McLaren F1 and Zonda.

If we try to stick the Vipers in with the GT's, odds are they'll be heavily heavily restricted, and end-up performing like the heavily restricted Viper GTS/R in the JGTC.

Then someone could make a Viper derivative LMP, but thats not likely.

SO unless DC plays the max-money game, we probably aren't going to see a Viper in high level endurance racing for a while.