VOI12: My final thoughts

[viper GTS-R]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Well...It's over. My first, maybe my last VOI till I get my own Viper, assuming the next one doesn't end up on the east coast, is over. It's been a hell of a trip. 600 or so Vipers, spent 6 days, roughly 1200 miles in a Gen II GTS, drove the 2013 SRT Viper, beat the crap out of a 300 SRT at SRT's expense for a little bit, did a 300 mi cruise, met Ralph, Dick, Herb, Lyle, Graham, Lee, Marv, Chris, Mary, Dominik, Kuno, Jay, Nadine, Maurice, Mike, Willem, Robert, Tateshi, and anyone else I might have missed. Thank you Mike so much for helping me find a ride, to which I thank Mark for allowing me to come with to go to VOI12. Today, we all got an unexpected surprise. We got the chance to sit in both SRT Viper GTS-R's, tour the haulers and check everything out up close and personal, thank you Riley Technologies for allowing us all to come in and hang out. We toured in buses down to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for dinner and had fun. ZMax Dragway, Charlotte Motor Speedway were amazing hosts for racing. The Richard Petty ride alongs were great! I did some autocross in Mark's car, had amazing food, heard great stories and saw amazing things not seen before. It truely was an experience of a lifetime.

I won my first dinner centerpiece, ( No, for the millionth time, it's not for sale lol) got autographs, bought things in the merch area. The goodie bag is amazing, love all of it! Thanks Ralph for signing my poster I dragged all the way from home and Herb for signing my VCA forum badge. Robert, great job with setting up alot of things. It was great to see Bobby, Bob Carrol and Chuck Tator once again. Thanks Kuno and Dom for signing my ring shirt, Ben Keating for letting me try out that kickass simulator. That was awesome.
[/FONT][FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
I would also like to send my get well soon wishes to those that unfortunately had contact with these annoying things called walls. I hope both cars are fixed, good as new and on the road again. Kevan sorry you couldn't stay and had to leave but it was great to finally meet you in person. At least Jason was bidding on your behalf. Chad, if you read this, ******* misses you.

So I'm going to finish like this since I could go on and on forever.

[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Two things, one...if there's anything I've learned about Viper nation is that nothing about life should be taken slow. Especially if you have to be at the track by 7 AM. (I don't think I've ever ate breakfast so fast in my life!)[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI] Live life fast, live it loud. I saw something similar to that on someone's shirt. You don't always want to take things slow but do not let things hold you back. You don't know how much time we truely have but always keep your focus, achive your goals, always ALWAYS, be a 'solider of passion'.[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Two, the people you meet in life that share that same passion as you do are probably going to rank among the greatest memories you'll ever make. Well. This is the greatest road I've ever been on. I've been telling most of you all week that my first experience in a viper was a 1996 blue and white GTS. I was a 11 year old passenger on a small section of emergency lane of Englishtown Raceway Park during the Zone Rendevous and the car rocketed up to 95 mph in a tiny distance. I could hardly see over the dash. Finally, after all these years, hours I spent learning to drive stick, I finally drove my first Viper.[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]A 2013 SRT Viper GTS. In GTS Blue with white stripes. [/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Thank you all, it was an amazing trip. I have 2300+ photos to edit, who knows how many hours of video to go through and will post them up as the days go by.

--RS

You must be registered for see images

[/FONT]

 

[mattdillon]

RS, thats AWESOME! A TRIP of A LIFETIME & can you imagine what it'll be like when you DO get your OWN VIPER! Hopefully me & my son will be able to make the next one. We both knew this one was going to be so Awesome, but we got the chance to have a surgery that he really needed to have so we couldn't put it off! Glad everybody had a GREAT TIME & if you can show us some more of your pics!

 

[Fatboy 18]

Like the photo of you and Nadine

 

[InjectTheVenom]

The taker of that GTS-R picture who did not take many himself (the ones that were taken are on the cellphone instead of my regular camera) likes your story and will start writing one of his own later in the day Because I like to write with the heart it might take a while but hopefully people will like it.

 

[uvbnbit]

So, what you're saying is... you were kinda bored?
Enjoyed meeting you at the forum get together. We'll see you in 2 yrs WITH your own Viper!

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Chip hows life dude

 

[VYPR BYT 94]

... Thank you Mike so much for helping me find a ride, to which I thank Mark for allowing me to come with to go to VOI12.

My pleasure... glad it worked out for ya Ron!

 

[uvbnbit]

Chip hows life dude

Had a good ride back home. We enjoyed our "business meeting" Friday eve. Lots of laughs. See ya in 2 yrs if not sooner.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

Had a good ride back home. We enjoyed our "business meeting" Friday eve. Lots of laughs. See ya in 2 yrs if not sooner.

Stop it when you still can my stomach starts getting cramps again I will make sure to look up any bluegrass festivals that can be found in my country.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Great read and it was fantastic that SRT brought so many of the folks that had a hand in developing the new Viper. There have always folks from the home office, but I don't ever remember quite as many as this go around. I think they really got a feel for the folks they are building and designing these cars for, and we all got to meet them in a fun environment. Thanks to the powers that be at SRT and please make sure they get to interact with all the VCA members at the next VOI!!!!!!!

 

[GTLaser]

It was nice meeting you and even though I didn't know you weren't a Viper owner I treated you no different as I hope all members did. I hope you liked the photos I took with your fancy camera yesterday @ Riley of you going in and out of the SRT. Hope to see you soon!

 

[viper GTS-R]

It was nice meeting you and even though I didn't know you weren't a Viper owner I treated you no different as I hope all members did. I hope you liked the photos I took with your fancy camera yesterday @ Riley of you going in and out of the SRT. Hope to see you soon!

No doubt, love em'! I've got a ton of work to go through. Everyone was great, it's a good feeling to be around a group of enthusiastic car people that share the same passion as you do, if you own one or not. Just an amazing event!

--RS