I was at a burnout contest...but I have a question.

[MHQC]

Friday night, in a ski center parking lot; basically an empty football field.
There was a couple of stangs, an Iroc, lotsa rice, couple of muscle cars and a Viper. Quite a crowd gathered. The Viper was one of the last ones to go. So this guy (not me) lined up and away he went. Smoke just bellowin' out from the fender walls, guys and girls just a screamin'; I was so hyper I was expecting to see Vin Diesel look over and give me a thumbs up or something. So during all this excitement and smoke and women smiling, the guy must have hit the "rev limiter" 2-3 times .

I did a search on the board for my own info, and said Michael, what if you had done that? Would you be kicking yourself in the a$$, or would it be o.k.? Should I lose sleep over it and over analyse any little different noise the car would make (if it had been me). Most of the posts in the archives say, it is not the end of the world, but just don't make a habit out of it. Agreed? Anyway the Viper laid a 66 foot strip.

It was just awesome! But I would just like some piece of mind...

 

[Daffy Duck Viper]

How do you know when you hit the "rev limiter" in a Viper? What happens?

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[Jeff Torrey]

When you hit the rev limiter the computer shuts the gas off. Does it harm the car? No. If you were racing you loose time, shifting to late. The way cars are dynoed they go flat out until you hit the rev limiter.
The flip side is you are pushing the engine to the threshold. Your call...
Burnouts eat tires.

 

[MHQC]

the motor would cut for about 1 second and start up again. Apparently I learned from other threads that the injectors simply cease to send fuel to the engine, thus cutting out the engine. The sound reminded me of F1 cars at the starting grid just before they launch. It is not a pleasant sound...

 

[RedGTS]

I'm not sure how the rev limiter is set up on a Viper, but in some cars (late model stangs for instance) hitting the rev limiter with a blower can be a very bad thing. Gradually shutting off fuel to a cylinder under full boost at high rpm that is still getting spark . . . well, you get the picture. I know the stang tuners compensate for this with tuning tweaks, and it may not even be a problem on a Viper depending on how the systems are set up.

 

[GARY J]

Besides the revs being high it shouldn't hurt a thing. You probably wouldnt want to cruise at 50 mph in first gear for extended periods but every once in a while shouldn't hurt a thing.

 

[genXgts]

I hit the limiter in my car all the time, no big deal in my book.

Not for any length of time but for SOTP on shift points it's important to get a feel for where it hits, how hard, and when it falls off.

And above all it's fun.

 

[GTSnake]

I just wonder what kind of tires this guy was burning out? So was it worth $5-600 for 60 seconds of smoke???

When I watch those contests I always wondered how a Viper would do but then I thought, why would you want to do that to a Viper? You would spend a good hour cleaning up melted rubber off of your car. Sorry it's just not 'appealing' to me.

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

good post!

 

[Daffy Duck Viper]

I think burnouts are great fun. They are **** of a lot of fun to watch...even when just on video. I really love the tire spinning donuts, too. They are a blast. Plus, it's safer than racing. So, I say there is every reason to do them, and no reason not to...unless your Viper is a garage queen. Yes, I will be going through tires like nobody's business. *chuckle* But who cares? Anyone that can afford a Viper should not care about the price of tires.

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[Viperzilla]

There's always the Gen I RX-7 vid I have. It goes over 2:30 minutes of power braking burnouts/donuts on a dragstrip until it blows its engine. The crowd went nuts. Cool to watch every time how bare wisps of smoke come over the edge of the front fender.
I'd just worry about tires and paint rather than hitting the limiter just a few times. You're alright, I hit my limiter ~5 times all at once in my 91 Mazda while passing a car before almost being creamed by a car ahead (when someone is passing you on a 1 lane-each-way-road, don't accelerate!!!). The car performed fine for the next 100 miles, and it's been fine ever since. I can tell this from any irregularities I may have experienced because the engine runs perfect then and still.

 

[Viperzilla]

P.S. who won the contest?

 

[CAS]

Back on topic - hitting the limiter at 6200 isn't going to damage your engine. The motor isn't designed to be bounced off of the limiter for long periods of time, but if you hit it 2 or 3 times it is perfectly normal. Agree totally with genXgts. The Viper is (obviously) not supercharged, so the fuel cutoff isn't going to cause meltdown in your cylinders.

Good story BTW ..

Clint

 

[MHQC]

I just wonder what kind of tires this guy was burning out? So was it worth $5-600 for 60 seconds of smoke???

It was the stock ones. It was getting dark and I really didn't take the time to notice. But smokin' the tires to me is just too wild. It is the ultimate expression of power. I think it is the greatest. The cost? Well that is probably relative to what you want and expect from your Viper. The last thing I am thinking about is money when the smoke is coming into the cabin. I know that smoking the tires can cost $$$, but it is money I can spend with a smile

P.S. who won the contest?

The Viper, not because it did the best burnout, I thought this old challenger was much better, but because it was a Viper and the people were just tripping over it. One little kid (about 12 I guess) made a ball of the burnt rubber and kept it. I asked him *** he was doing. He said "this is Viper rubber man!"

I said "cool", then said to myself, future Viper owner right there...

These rev limiter posts are comforting...you know...in case this ever happens to me.