SSSSE YA
Enthusiast
Yesterday, my wife, Cathy, and I had one of the BEST experiences in our Viper ever. Thanks to Dan Cragin, Kim, Tony and Chris at DC Performance, we were referred to the Sound Team at Ascent Media (Bruce, Paul, Peter, and George) to record the sound recordings for the Viper race scene in the upcoming movie The Fast and the Furious 3. The Sound Team and movie producers were specifically looking for a Viper with a Borla exhaust. Again, thanks to Dan Cragin our Viper was fitted with a prototype Borla long tube stepped header with a Borla cat back exhaust a couple of years ago. Dan’s work was incredible and we have always been very pleased with the sound of the car, but it was an honor to be selected from the 100’s of Vipers at Dan’s disposal for this once in a lifetime opportunity.
The day was great! We woke up at 4am and headed north 115 miles and ¼ tank of gas (approx 28 MPG) to the California City Municipal airport in the beautiful California high desert. We watched a gorgeous sunrise on the way and arrived at the small airport around 7am. For those of you that have never been to California City (neither had we until yesterday) it is anything but. However, it was amazing to see such a quiet small town less than 100 miles from the City of Los Angeles. Everyone was extremely friendly, especially Moose and Bruce (no relation to Bruce from the Sound Team)!!
After spending nearly 2 hours performing a “casting call” as the Sound Team referred to it, for countless microphones and struggling with how to attach them to the car (under the hood and attached off the rear of the car near the exhaust) we were off for our first “sound check”. On the first pass at 110 mph (The Wife Driving) down the airport taxiway we lost one of the microphone covers and set a on fire a couple of bungee cords and a strategically placed protective towel near the exhaust. The Sound Team did not miss a beat and they rearranged the set-up and we were off for the final recordings.
My wife and I shared the driving responsibility and had to perform a series of methodical passes by certain stationary microphones ranging in 5 mph increments from 5 mph up to 120 mph, in a straight line and in a series of 180 degree turns. These guys were pretty brave, as 3 of them were standing right next to the taxiway not more than 5 feet from the car during the high speed passes. They thought of everything, including recording how the door opened and closed and the emergency brake. We also made a few mean takes “pretending” to intimidate another car at an intersection. 40 miles and ¾ of a tank of gas later (or 4 MPG), we were almost finished.
The highlight of the day came at the very end. The Sound Team wanted to record some tire noise. At first, my wife was more than willing to let me complete this task, but then she decided to try her first burn out on her own. I must say, for a “chick” she did a great job, making about 8 passes back and forth across the designated “burn out area”, especially in front of such a large crowd that had gathered at the airport restaurant. However, at the end the Sound Team wanted some real mean, smoke generating stuff and I was happy to oblige. Needless to say I needed to scrape the rubber off the back of the car and inside fender wells. Definitely worth it!!
The movie should be coming out this summer. As we understand it, the Viper scene is one of the opening scenes in the movie. Please remember to watch, we know we will!! Thanks again to everyone at DC Performance and to the gentlemen at Ascent Media for a day that we will never forget!!
The day was great! We woke up at 4am and headed north 115 miles and ¼ tank of gas (approx 28 MPG) to the California City Municipal airport in the beautiful California high desert. We watched a gorgeous sunrise on the way and arrived at the small airport around 7am. For those of you that have never been to California City (neither had we until yesterday) it is anything but. However, it was amazing to see such a quiet small town less than 100 miles from the City of Los Angeles. Everyone was extremely friendly, especially Moose and Bruce (no relation to Bruce from the Sound Team)!!
After spending nearly 2 hours performing a “casting call” as the Sound Team referred to it, for countless microphones and struggling with how to attach them to the car (under the hood and attached off the rear of the car near the exhaust) we were off for our first “sound check”. On the first pass at 110 mph (The Wife Driving) down the airport taxiway we lost one of the microphone covers and set a on fire a couple of bungee cords and a strategically placed protective towel near the exhaust. The Sound Team did not miss a beat and they rearranged the set-up and we were off for the final recordings.
My wife and I shared the driving responsibility and had to perform a series of methodical passes by certain stationary microphones ranging in 5 mph increments from 5 mph up to 120 mph, in a straight line and in a series of 180 degree turns. These guys were pretty brave, as 3 of them were standing right next to the taxiway not more than 5 feet from the car during the high speed passes. They thought of everything, including recording how the door opened and closed and the emergency brake. We also made a few mean takes “pretending” to intimidate another car at an intersection. 40 miles and ¾ of a tank of gas later (or 4 MPG), we were almost finished.
The highlight of the day came at the very end. The Sound Team wanted to record some tire noise. At first, my wife was more than willing to let me complete this task, but then she decided to try her first burn out on her own. I must say, for a “chick” she did a great job, making about 8 passes back and forth across the designated “burn out area”, especially in front of such a large crowd that had gathered at the airport restaurant. However, at the end the Sound Team wanted some real mean, smoke generating stuff and I was happy to oblige. Needless to say I needed to scrape the rubber off the back of the car and inside fender wells. Definitely worth it!!
The movie should be coming out this summer. As we understand it, the Viper scene is one of the opening scenes in the movie. Please remember to watch, we know we will!! Thanks again to everyone at DC Performance and to the gentlemen at Ascent Media for a day that we will never forget!!
This means I have to buy my car before this stupid movie comes out! Idiots will drive the prices up.
I can't imagine a movie worse than 2f2f, but Im sure the third one will change that.
The Viper races a Monte Carlo in this one(3), without giving to much information.... 
