viper067
Enthusiast
Howdy,
Just wanted to say that it was a great time out at Pocono, it was really cool to meet everyone from NH, NY, NJ, PA, etc. Even though I was looking at the rear of your rides most of the time.
For those that haven't been, Pocono is an awesome track ... unfortunately it's as flat as a pancake (unless you count banked turns as elevation changes). The banked turns were really neat also and provides a great appreciation for those NASCAR drivers who can only turn left. On video games, it seems so easy to drive along the wall and dive into a banked turn ... in real life at 130+mph in your own car, it is much different.
Just as an FYI, there were 2 photographers out there ... easy to misplace their cards so here are their websites
Pocono Viper Days - Art Photography by Steve Keefer - Online Picture Proofing
tom branoff photography
The Good:
The class time was very good, as a newbie on the track it was good to have someone explain things that are different from street driving, where your hands should be, braking, etc. It was also really cool that it rained on Sunday...I'm sure you are saying ***, but the instructor changed his plan to talk about driving in the rain/wet conditions, consequently I was able to improve my best lap time by 4 seconds ... as someone else said, who says Vipers aren't good in the wet.
The track was excellent, in my '94 I was able to get up to 140mph and somewhat able to hang with the newer models though the road course...as we rarely get to drive at WOT, it was very odd to come to the front straight with your foot on the floor (from a gen 1 perspective) and get passed like you were a prius on a highway. I'm sure many of you Gen 4 guys were able to get into the 160's or greater and could definitely take turns much better.
The people were also great...the Stouts (Jim and Kathy) were super nice as usual, but everyone there was willing to offer advice and help out, just ask any of the 4 different driving coaches I had that weekend
.
The Bad:
I still have tons of stuff to learn about driving. For the most part, my shifting was way off and will need to be improved. Braking, I need to get on the brakes much harder ... not an easy thing to say for a non-ABS car knowing that if you lock'em up you are going into a wall. I also have a lot to learn on the topic of suspension. It's relatively easy to add HP, but outside of a straight line that doesn't help a whole lot. So now I have to delve into the topics of setting up a car for the track, should I really at this level care about tire pressure (other than it has it)? Of course, this will also bring with it a whole new set of mods
Also of Interest:
Watching the ACR-X races, it was very interesting to watch the lines the various drivers took through the course. Going into turn 1, the big banking turn, they would drive the straight much further and dive in much harder than us rookies. I would also have to think that a 6pt harness would help...being in a stock 3 point belt, you are really thrashing about in the car. It would seem logical that being held more securely in the seat would allow for greater concentration on driving and less on holding yourself in. Roll Bar, still have to look into that one, the visibility in an RT/10 is so much greater without a roof than with.
I don't really know if there is a moral to this story or not, just go to Viper Days and have fun.
Victor
Just wanted to say that it was a great time out at Pocono, it was really cool to meet everyone from NH, NY, NJ, PA, etc. Even though I was looking at the rear of your rides most of the time.
For those that haven't been, Pocono is an awesome track ... unfortunately it's as flat as a pancake (unless you count banked turns as elevation changes). The banked turns were really neat also and provides a great appreciation for those NASCAR drivers who can only turn left. On video games, it seems so easy to drive along the wall and dive into a banked turn ... in real life at 130+mph in your own car, it is much different.
Just as an FYI, there were 2 photographers out there ... easy to misplace their cards so here are their websites
Pocono Viper Days - Art Photography by Steve Keefer - Online Picture Proofing
tom branoff photography
The Good:
The class time was very good, as a newbie on the track it was good to have someone explain things that are different from street driving, where your hands should be, braking, etc. It was also really cool that it rained on Sunday...I'm sure you are saying ***, but the instructor changed his plan to talk about driving in the rain/wet conditions, consequently I was able to improve my best lap time by 4 seconds ... as someone else said, who says Vipers aren't good in the wet.
The track was excellent, in my '94 I was able to get up to 140mph and somewhat able to hang with the newer models though the road course...as we rarely get to drive at WOT, it was very odd to come to the front straight with your foot on the floor (from a gen 1 perspective) and get passed like you were a prius on a highway. I'm sure many of you Gen 4 guys were able to get into the 160's or greater and could definitely take turns much better.
The people were also great...the Stouts (Jim and Kathy) were super nice as usual, but everyone there was willing to offer advice and help out, just ask any of the 4 different driving coaches I had that weekend
.The Bad:
I still have tons of stuff to learn about driving. For the most part, my shifting was way off and will need to be improved. Braking, I need to get on the brakes much harder ... not an easy thing to say for a non-ABS car knowing that if you lock'em up you are going into a wall. I also have a lot to learn on the topic of suspension. It's relatively easy to add HP, but outside of a straight line that doesn't help a whole lot. So now I have to delve into the topics of setting up a car for the track, should I really at this level care about tire pressure (other than it has it)? Of course, this will also bring with it a whole new set of mods
Also of Interest:
Watching the ACR-X races, it was very interesting to watch the lines the various drivers took through the course. Going into turn 1, the big banking turn, they would drive the straight much further and dive in much harder than us rookies. I would also have to think that a 6pt harness would help...being in a stock 3 point belt, you are really thrashing about in the car. It would seem logical that being held more securely in the seat would allow for greater concentration on driving and less on holding yourself in. Roll Bar, still have to look into that one, the visibility in an RT/10 is so much greater without a roof than with.
I don't really know if there is a moral to this story or not, just go to Viper Days and have fun.
Victor
