Went autocrossing this morning...

[adg44]

I was debating whether to take the S5, or have some fun with the Viper. I figured I needed to see just how bad these tires are so I could compare them with the PS2's on the '08 Viper I drove a day earlier.

So I went with a friend to the BMW-CCA autocross in Maryland, and entered in their "Stock - other models" group.

As we all know, the Viper isn't the ideal car for autocross. Best lap time around the course was 52.xx seconds, and my best run was 54.xx seconds. That was also when I went through an extra set of cones and it most likely added 2-3 seconds to my run. On the right tires, on that particular course (it was relatively high speed - I made up all my time in the straights), the Viper would have done pretty damn good.

However, this car, on these runflats, is almost uncontrolable. The first lap I ended up backwards and then just did a big 360 degree burnout to amuse the crowd. Second lap was the best lap time, and third and fourth were pretty much the same. The front tires are what's really bad, as they just slid constantly and had almost no grip. The car goes from understeer to oversteer in a split second. Granted my tires only have 3,800 miles on them now, but they are also over 5 years old. I wonder how much better the tires were when the tread was still somewhat sticky.

I will say it was the most fun I've had autocrossing, as it was just completely ridiculous. If you haven't done it yet, I highly recommend getting out there and doing a session. There should still be some more autocrosses happening in October before the end of the season.

I figure I'll do a few more so I can completely cook my tires and then have an excuse to buy new ones!

- Anthony

 

[Warfang]

Could be the tires, but most likely you just need more practice on that course. Vipers are harder to get good times at the beginning, but once you get used to it, you have a much higher ceiling than most with other cars.

 

[adg44]

Yes, unfortunately 4 laps isn't enough to really get the course down. But the tires were the biggest set back here, as I just drove an '08 with the PS2's and that would have been a drastic improvement in the grip department.

I love the Viper, but a smaller, more nimble and lighter car would be a better autox vehicle for sure. The Viper would be much better on a road course.

 

[kcobean]

We had a REALLY good time auto-Xing at VOI-10, but I can totally see how a smaller RWD car would do much better on small, tight, lower-speed courses. You're right though, it is a hoot horsing these cars around the cones.

 

[j-rho]

The Viper isn't that bad of an autocross car, on legitimate SCCA-sized courses anyway. On equal-compound tires, it can be competitive against some cars you'd think would be a lot better, like the GT3 or Elise. Z06 (C5 version especially) are competitive as well. It does help the American cars to have some power sections though.

The car becomes a lot more fun to drive on R-compound tires like the Hoosier A6. You can use more throttle, and start to really work the chassis. Running the car on old runflats requires a patience and smoothness with the throttle that beginners generally don't possess.

 

[adg44]

Yes, it definitely takes a lot of smoothness with the old runflats. One of my friends was there and he wanted a ride, so I told him to hop in! All the other guys didn't want any more weight, but when you have 510hp, it really doesn't matter.

Just got some of the pics:

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And this was on the first lap when the tires were cold.

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