Got my free magazine yesterday. The cover story is about taking 9 of the best, affordable sports cars and run them through the track, slalom, editors fingers, and see which one was the best. Well, I was not naive enough to think the Viper would get the kudos it deserves, but seeing it finish in 6th!!!!!! place made me want to puke. But at least it finished ahead of the Mercedes 350 SLK and BMW Z4-lol. But get this, it would've finish higher but it scared some of the editors. However, the article wasn't a total waste-I at least got to see the Z06 finish 1st. Oh Joy, Happiness, the Wonder of it all. 405 hp and all.
Road and Puke best 9 Sports Car-March 2005
- Thread starter Rocket65C
- Start date
im sure that IS the reason it scared the shyt out of them.
I got a book on sports cars from 2000 and and the report on the viper says "the est. top speed of the viper is 192 mph however we could not conferm or deny such speeds for all of us who tested the car ran out of guts at 175 mph or so"
The reason people are so scared is even at 160+ the snake will still pull HARD.
I got a book on sports cars from 2000 and and the report on the viper says "the est. top speed of the viper is 192 mph however we could not conferm or deny such speeds for all of us who tested the car ran out of guts at 175 mph or so"
The reason people are so scared is even at 160+ the snake will still pull HARD.
BLUESNAKE367
Enthusiast
Yeah, Bunch of johnny come latelies, and most, lap dogs of Bowtie Inc, I love the part where the editors were kind of scared of the Viper, but they had no problem with the Z06.
I am making it a mission this year to run against any Vette ,(because you know the C-6 owners will believe they can out perform us also), That is, if the Vette owners do not have a problem with having there asp handed to them, I am sick of the, "ha ha" we are faster attitude. They still do not understand that just because your car is as fast as mine, does not make you a better driver automatically.............I am going to have a blast this year, with all my Vipers, and it is all thanks to, Lutz, again...................
I am making it a mission this year to run against any Vette ,(because you know the C-6 owners will believe they can out perform us also), That is, if the Vette owners do not have a problem with having there asp handed to them, I am sick of the, "ha ha" we are faster attitude. They still do not understand that just because your car is as fast as mine, does not make you a better driver automatically.............I am going to have a blast this year, with all my Vipers, and it is all thanks to, Lutz, again...................
SnakeBitten
Enthusiast
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So in other words since their candyasses cant handle a real drivers car it finished 6th....Apparently mag driver skill has declined since the Gen II's first came out....Its really shocking to see the drastic change in their skill over the years....They went from running it up to 192mph, and killing Ferrari's, Porsches etc on roadcourses in there various comparos to now not being able to drive the much easier, predictable SRT10...Its really unbelievable....They were able to pilot the "unwieldy" gen 2's to world beating performance. But now they are unable to handle the much easier to drive SRT10..I guess if the car doesnt drive itself like most of the modern supercars, its not gonna be in the top 5..Im actually shocked they included the Viper in this test...
Craig 201 MPH
Enthusiast
None of them own Vipers, what does their opinion matter anyway?
BigCarrot
Enthusiast
It sorta pissed me off when I read the line about how the guy thought the viper would have yielded the fastest lap time if he had shifted in the corner like he should have. What a ****** bag!
ViperRay
Enthusiast
The fact that a lot of "drivers" are afraid of the viper is one of the reasons I like to track it.
Many of the vette/mustang... drivers won't admit it but I think they are quietly in awe when we hustle the Viper around the track the way it can be.
Many of the vette/mustang... drivers won't admit it but I think they are quietly in awe when we hustle the Viper around the track the way it can be.
Early93Viper
Enthusiast
They tested a regular C6 not a Z06 against the vette.
I also Love the part were the guy thought the viper would have yielded the fastest lap time if he had shifted in the corner like he should have. Almost like a consperiacy....Road and Track seems to like the Vettes
The part were they factor in Fuel economy into there performance results is the best though. Next time someone asks me how good my performance is I am going to say it ***** the fuel econemy is horrible. LOL
I also Love the part were the guy thought the viper would have yielded the fastest lap time if he had shifted in the corner like he should have. Almost like a consperiacy....Road and Track seems to like the Vettes
The part were they factor in Fuel economy into there performance results is the best though. Next time someone asks me how good my performance is I am going to say it ***** the fuel econemy is horrible. LOL
Early93Viper
Enthusiast
Read through R&T more thoroughly and found that one Assistant Road Test Editor got it right. Were they have the "In My Opinion" column Shaun Bailey rated the Dodge Viper SRT-10 1st out of all 9 cars.
Shaun Bailey, Assistant Road Test Editor:
"The Viper is the best all-around sports car. It is race bred and street worthy, with no gimmicky traction control or active suspension. To many, it is the modern-day Cobra. The downsides are its running costs, most notably for fuel and tire replacement (not to mention speeding tickets), but the adrenaline rush of driving a Viper with the top down is spine-tingling."
Shaun Bailey, Assistant Road Test Editor:
"The Viper is the best all-around sports car. It is race bred and street worthy, with no gimmicky traction control or active suspension. To many, it is the modern-day Cobra. The downsides are its running costs, most notably for fuel and tire replacement (not to mention speeding tickets), but the adrenaline rush of driving a Viper with the top down is spine-tingling."
Yea, it got a couple of favorable remarks. There was a total of 600 possible points, and the Viper lost by 24.8 points. Of those points, 4.4 were for less fuel economy, 2.7 for less luggage space, 1.8 for exterior styling(they like the way the Corvette looks so much more), and 16.9 were for it being more expensive. Add that up and it's 25.8 points. Is that not just the most ludicrous thing ever? Luggage space, fuel economy, and expense(for a $84k car)? The styling, well, to each their own, but I don't think I'll be turning down a Viper because it doesn't have enough luggage space. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but that criteria is so dumb you just have to wonder if whoever designed it had ulterior motives.
Snakester
Enthusiast
Yeah, well Motor Trend picked the BMW M3 over the Z06 in a performance comparison test because the M3 comes with back seats!
I think that their skewed judgement comes from the fact that they spend most of their time these days testing econocars, trucks and minivans. So they get scared driving a car like the Viper.
The Viper deserves to be compared to other high performance cars, where actual performance (with a skilled driver) matters more than luggage space, or fuel economy, and where the Viper is the bargain car in the group.
I think that their skewed judgement comes from the fact that they spend most of their time these days testing econocars, trucks and minivans.
So they get scared driving a car like the Viper. The Viper deserves to be compared to other high performance cars, where actual performance (with a skilled driver) matters more than luggage space, or fuel economy, and where the Viper is the bargain car in the group.
DB/Paxton SRT-10
Viper Owner
In defense of Road & Track, I personally know several of the editors since their offices are a few blocks from mine. They are all very nice guys. I was chatting with the Editor-in-Chief the other day and mentioned that I had a Paxton supercharger installed on my SRT-10. He was very interested and thought it would be fun to have the car road-tested, which I hope to do in a few weeks. (They test their cars at the former El Toro Air Base.) He thought the readers would be interested in seeing how a 750 hp Viper performs.
SnakeEye
Viper Owner
Darel, hope they get to testing your 750hp beast real soon as it'd sure should make for a good read.
PS: Nice mods you got there too.
DB/Paxton SRT-10
Viper Owner
Thanks Marc. It does have a close resemblance to your beast. Obviously, the challenge will be to getting some traction. We talked about using some different tires, but I decided to see how it would do with the stock run-flats. As you know, it takes a light touch in 1st and 2nd, and then you can nail it in 3rd. When the adrenaline is flowing, that is a challenge. It will be interesting to see how their driver does, since there have been some comments about that by some others above. I will also give it a go myself.
JBenko
Enthusiast
2 statistics stood out - the base C6 had a faster lap time, the base C6 outbraked the SRT. Look at the segment times. Looks like the new Z06 is going to walk on the SRT in a road course.
BobK898
Enthusiast
The C6 outbrakes the SRT? If true, that is quite an accomplishment.
SnakeEye
Viper Owner
Hmmm...seems rather hard to fathom as it's 60-0mph in a scant 97ft for the SRT-10, that's Enzo turf and doubtful C6 base material based on the car's specs. More than likely it was just Rag game/manipulation as you proabably won't find corroborative evidence from another source verifying such a claim. As for the C6 Z06, we’ll just have to wait and see when a production model is available for some real world testing.
Braking, 0-60mph
Numbers from the article:
Corvette C6 Coupe 110ft 29.2 pts out of 600
SRT-10 112ft 28.7 pts out of 600
Porsche Boxster 107 ft 30.0 pts out of 600
With numbers that close, it makes me wonder if driver reaction time is factored in(2ft= 0.023 sec at 60mph)
Is 97 ft the quoted numbers from Dodge? Quite a bit better than what the editors got.
I would love to see DB's ride with a Paxton featured. If it was me, I'd put on the tires that gave it the best traction and therefore the best numbers.
Numbers from the article:
Corvette C6 Coupe 110ft 29.2 pts out of 600
SRT-10 112ft 28.7 pts out of 600
Porsche Boxster 107 ft 30.0 pts out of 600
With numbers that close, it makes me wonder if driver reaction time is factored in(2ft= 0.023 sec at 60mph)
Is 97 ft the quoted numbers from Dodge? Quite a bit better than what the editors got.
I would love to see DB's ride with a Paxton featured. If it was me, I'd put on the tires that gave it the best traction and therefore the best numbers.
Viperfreak2
Enthusiast
We all know cooler weather makes the run-flats slickery. Wonder if the new ones on the Vette are improved from the earlier tires?
I have measured 100 ft or thereabouts on several occasions using a GTech Competition Pro. In comparison to Gen I/II at around 125 ft.
The only characteristic that I can think of that would impact braking on a road course is the unsettling feeling you get as the ABS system reacts. It is definitely not smooth. If the vette has a true 4 channel system it could be smoother, thus providing more confidence.
The only characteristic that I can think of that would impact braking on a road course is the unsettling feeling you get as the ABS system reacts. It is definitely not smooth. If the vette has a true 4 channel system it could be smoother, thus providing more confidence.
GTS Dean
Enthusiast
Don't forget about Porsches. When I began to regularly beat up on tube frame racecars on slicks by driving under them in the corners with my stock-motored, licensed, inspected, air-conditioned 'just a Dodge' - they stopped inviting me to their parties.
When I began to regularly beat up on tube frame racecars on slicks by driving under them in the corners with my stock-motored, licensed, inspected, air-conditioned 'just a Dodge' - they stopped inviting me to their parties.
Like the nice-looking girl whose girlfriends are bow-wows-she's not about to have a girlfriend who's prettier than she is. It's high school all over again.
Like the nice-looking girl whose girlfriends are bow-wows-she's not about to have a girlfriend who's prettier than she is. It's high school all over again.
Well, the editor that put it on the cover of Viper Quarterly Magazine seemed to like it. So did Popular Hot Rodding, but they wound up giving the cover to Jesse James. Maybe they saw something at the photo shoot they didn't like.
ACELLR8
Enthusiast
I remembered your car from the Summer 01 (I believe) Viper Quarterly. Very Sharp Car!!
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