driving and parking tips

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Congratulations!

I suggest you take the 2 day Skip Barber school before you drive the Viper. VCA members get a 25% discount.

Vipers have massive torque which can bite a unsuspecting pilot.

Many cars are lost, on their way home from the dealership, by drivers that do not know how to drive (99.9% of us) a performance car.

After the 2 day school take a few Skip Barber Car Control Clinics 10% discount to VCA members. If you feel like you can control the Skip Barber Vipers then take yours out for a safe ride.

 

[Ron Hickey]

Be careful with the Viper's torque. Unless you've got a lot of experience driving very high horsepower, rear-wheel-drive cars, you've got a learning curve. If you want to jump on the throttle, make sure that the front wheels are pointed straight ahead -- otherwise you'll be going around in a circle -- and make sure the road surface is dry and smooth. Be careful on exit ramps and similar turns where you're used to playing around. That awesome torque can get you into trouble, so squeeze on the throttle.

Most Viper owners have spun their car at one time or another. Some of those spins have resulted in a damaged vehicle; I was fortunate -- just damaged pride. Judicious application of the throttle while you're learning the car is very important.

Also watch driveway entrances and speed bumps. The front fascia is very low, and even the smallest dip can cause a scrape. So drive thru them slowly. Often approaching at a angle will help.

Have fun!

 

[Bonkers]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by brazilian:
Anyway, some things I should be aware of as a first inexperienced driver.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't take this the wrong way, but you might want to consider getting come crappy ****** to practice your stop-go technique if you're new to manuals (a $700 Subaru is cheaper than a $20k spinout in my book). Switching to a 6spd will be hard enough let alone learning how to control torque spin with a V10.

You're going to need a LOT of respect for the car and treat it like its a bomb waiting to go off. IMHO Inexperienced drivers count for majority of the REALLY bad accidents with this car.

 

[VPRVENM97]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by brazilian:
I am already practicing with an old 4 cylinder car, getting better each day since I am using it as my daily drive. I am just worried about the diference in power, really worried.

I hope everything works fine.

Luis Batista

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Since you have a ****** to practice on, go find a nice steep hill and practice your stop-n-go's on an incline. Get to a point where you go without sliding backwards. Also remember that the front end is longer then most cars. The front facia seems to find curbs and cement parking stops real fast. And like others have stated, go to a driving school. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

The Viper is wider than you think.
Don't worry about getting really close to the curb.


The Viper is lower than you think.
Approach inclines at a very, very sharp angle.

 

[ssstrong viper]

What are all you guys talking about? It's a freaking car....not a rocket ship. Dude....just drive it, floor it, have some fun. Don't be scared...

 

[CAP]

Why does SHOs signature in his profile show "97 GTS", yet no sig appears on the post.

 

[KenH]

Luis,
If you are parking in a small garage, keep in mind that the Viper has enough torque that you can just let the clutch out slowly and it will start moving, so you can keep one foot over the brake to ensure you don't overshoot when doing your tight parking. On your 4 cylinder trainer, you probably have to give it quite a bit of gas while you let the clutch out. You do not want to do this when you first get your viper.

Hemi had some excellent suggestions. I would add that you should tool around in it in a safe location like a large empty parking lot when you first get it and practice your starts and stops before you try to precision fit it into your garage. That plastic front is mighty expensive to replace.

-- Ken

 

[Frank 03SRT]

It's been said before, but it bears repeating. The front sticks out much farther than you think. You can smack it on something that you think is still a foot away. The same goes for road curbs on the side. They seem farther away than they are and you can easily curb the wheels and mess them up.

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

I take a little friendly exception to the SHO smack talk. My '90 SHO is like new, is my wife's daily summer driver, and will go 145MPH. It will take a 5.0 mustang and stick with Camaros from 60 to 120 or so. A real sleeper considering it's 15 yr. old technology. It's got all the bells and whistles they made back then. Granted the Taurus body style was a poor choice for the 7000+ RPM Yamaha motor, which won engineering awards in 1988. The car also made the cover of Car and Driver in 1989 as the 'fastest 4 door sedan in the world for less than 20K.'

Now to the Viper. When we drove the car out of the factory 2 years ago, one of the team builders for our car leaned in and told me two things. "watch out for second gear" & "remember the hood is roughly 3' past where you can see" You can get in a lot of trouble in 2nd gear if you're wheels aren't straight, even at 55 or 60 MPH. The parking advice is well worth taking. I have dinged my wheels a couple times. The width of the car is very deceiving as you are sitting in the hourglass 'beltline' of the car.

As far as the clutch goes--this is one of the easiest manual transmission cars I've ever driven. Having this much power makes it hard to stall.

Steve

 

[SoCal Craig]

Skip Thomas in Viper Days taught us to imagine an egg between our right foot and the gas pedal to get accustomed to "rolling on" the power rather than mashing the throttle. The Viper has an incredible amount of torque...

nothing quite like it. It's easy to get sideways in 1st and 2nd as I've learned. Plus I've done this stupid thing too:

Mashed the throttle in 1st to show someone the awesome torque only to have the g's force me and my right leg back letting off the throttle... which then threw me forward again and back on the throttle... which then threw me back off again... lurching forward and back a few times like an idiot. Quite embarassing

Get some driving instruction at the track and you'll see the Viper in it's element. It feels completely at home on the track. I was at Willow Springs this last Wednesday and had a blast. 2-1/2 hours of track time and the Viper didn't complain one bit. Drove it 138 miles to and from the track. What a great car!!!

 

[RonC]

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

I also have a coworker that drives a corvette and he said he's more than glad to help me as long as he gets to drive it as well, he seems more excited than I am!!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

AAHYAAHAAAA AAHAHAHAHAH AAHAHAH O my!!! AJHAHAHAAH AHAHAH No No No No!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! Please DON'T DO IT (capital letters for yelling purposes)!

Hey j/k !

Ron

 

[MiamiJeff]

Luis, 1.) As pointed out above, drive gently at first, especially going around curves. 2.) Don't worry too much; as far as manual transmission cars go, the Viper is easier than many more "common" cars to drive. 3.) Do not pull too far into any parking spot or your front fascia will be scraping over some parking space headstone! 4.) If your garage is very narrow, a large mirror strategically placed in the front right of your (passenger side) garage might be useful when backing out (obviously, helpful for viewing the passenger side of the vehicle). 5.) Maybe someone out there can give an opinion of the Justin Bell (Corvette) Driving School at Moroso or any other programs at Sebring (not too far from Orlando)? 6.) Ignore those well meaning posts about manual transmissions & extensive practice time on inclines---you live in Orlando---you don't have any hills---except at Space Mountain!

 

[Snakester]

I just came from owning a Corvette, and the 6-speed with 4.10 gears actually was more of a handful than my Viper is. It would readily spin the tires sideways if I punched it too hard.

I've found the Viper's throttle to be fairly long, so I can modulate the gas and drive fairly smoothly. There is just more and more power available as you keep pressing further down on the pedal.

As mentioned, the car has so much torque that you can almost do parking lot manuevers without giving the car any gas. I don't think that it's a incredibly difficult car to drive, but you just have to be mindful of the car's great power.

I've been more surprised when I think that I'm doing 70MPH and I look to see that I'm doing 90MPH. Which is less than halfway through the speedometer travel (200MPH).

I'll also agree about the advice about parking away from curbs.
The nose is unfortunately about 1/4 inch LOWER than most curbs and parking stops, and the car is wider than you think so it's easy to scrape the curb if you aren't aware.

When you first park the car park it about twice as far from the side curb (or nose) as you think you should. Then get out of the car and see how close you really are. Most of the time, you are much closer than it looks from inside the car, so practice this.

Also read carefully how to open and close the hood, and practice that a few times too.

Be mindful of wearing shorts and touching the hot side sills, and keep an eye on the gas gauge as spirited driving can consume fuel quickly.

Mostly, the Viper is a GREAT car and well worth the effort of learning how to master it. If you think of the Viper as a street-legal race car and drive it accordingly, you will be just fine.

-Dean.

 

[Tiepilot]

"Mashed the throttle in 1st to show someone the awesome torque only to have the g's force me and my right leg back letting off the throttle... which then threw me forward again and back on the throttle... which then threw me back off again... lurching forward and back a few times like an idiot. Quite embarassing

So, your a memeber of the Wunkka,,,Wunkka,,,,Wunkka Terrorize the passenger club too!!!

 

[FASTRNU]

Luis,
If I may suggest, find yourself a large, open parking lot without a lot of cement stops, etc, and practice your take offs. Not meaning burnouts!!! You can get the feel of the clutch engagement, etc, without having to worry about hitting anything/anybody.

Maybe a stadium parking lot or an office complex parking lot on the weekend. Get your bud to drive you there.

Congratulations on your Viper. Can't wait to get mine (in 15 months or so!).
Dave

 

[Y2KACR]

I agree with everything mentioned before related to driving a Viper. A couple of points bear repeating: 1. Be gentle on the accelerator! 2. It is difficult to resist accelerating the car, if you must, do it with the wheels straight! 3. Give yourself more room (an extra couple of feet) over what you can directly see of the edges of the car.
Here are a couple of things I didn't see mentioned: 1. The pedals are offset to the left. Make sure you know which pedal your pushing on before you push hard. 2. Make your first few drives in the daylight hours and know the roads you're driving on well. The wide tires "tram line" easily! It is very easy to get sucked into a rut or off the road with potentially disasterous results when you try to correct the problem!
The Viper is an amazing car that is extremely fun the drive. Be gentle as you learn and it will reward you with countless hours of driving fun. Finally, remember the car is replacable but you are not. Good luck!

 

[genXgts]

Luis, congrats on the Viper purchase, nice color combo!! Biases opinion, yep.

I can comment on the FasRack Guard that was mentioned earlier, it's a good item to pick up and put on your Viper right off the hop and keep that front fascia in pristine condition. It takes the scraping and keeps the lower fascia from connecting with the road/curb/whatever, well worth the bucks. The FasRack model is painted to match the car, Roe Racing has some on his site that are not painted and much cheaper that do the same thing. You can see it from a distance however, so I purchased the painted FasRack version.

Take care, best of luck,