Dave6666, thank you for your response; a lot of rich people complain about the price of gas too. Your point about driving a Viper as an act of arrogance is interesting; it's the ugly truth and something I personally would rather hide from. I'm not interested in showing off but the machine is far too interesting to walk away from (as in ownership).
Flyin'Low: When I wrote that response I was still hot under the collar from getting snakebit recently. I was turning left from a stoplight to an on-ramp to the freeway. I decided to put a little more energy to the pedal than normal and continued to press gradually a little more but I didn't mash the pedal to the floor but hey - we want to fly a little here sometimes right? Well, the fishtailing started rather violently just as I straightened and there wasn't a dam thing I could do because the normal steering and pedal corrections don't work with this car. So I did this in front of traffic that was right behind me and I was lucky they backed off and let me finish my act. I hit the brakes when I was clear of the traffic and ended up 180 over the side which was facing the opposite direction of the on-ramp. I was embarrassed, relieved (nobody got hit), and angry. It was a two lane on-ramp but I was ahead enough so that I could solo in front of everybody. So the white Viper with the blue stripes has a notorious rep in Vegas. I was puzzled as to why a performance vehicle like this doesn't hold straight under strong acceleration. Yes, the rear end oil has been changed. I'm looking into a Quaife setup.