Toronto_ACR
Enthusiast
I see lots of corvettes and porches and sleens and acuras, but not one Viper. can someone tell me why
thanks
thanks
Whay are there no Vipers in the Speed World Challenge
- Thread starter Toronto_ACR
- Start date
Frank Parise
VCA Venom Member
Because the Viper was so dominating in prior years that the sanctioning body has "dumbed" it down enough with restrictions to make it non-competitive. Ask Bobby Archer, previously the World Challenge Series champion in his Viper.
This is why the Viper Racing League has become so popular with Viper road racers.
This is why the Viper Racing League has become so popular with Viper road racers.
Rich Wesorick
Enthusiast
Toronto ACR:
There were six Vipers that competed in WCGT in '99-'00 (2 from Bobby Archer/ViperSpeed, 2 from Wild Dog Racing, Sean Roe, and Phil Lasko). Vipers have been absent for the last 2 years for two primary reasons - tires and sponsorship money.
In '01, WCGT chose Toyo Proxes as the spec tire for the series. This tire is a street tire (nowhere near as good as the Hoosiers or even the G-Force tire) and the biggest size made is 295. The Viper is simply not competitive with that small of a contact patch. The car even looks rediculous on a tire that small... Further, the tire does not last very long, requiring the teams to double their tire budgets for the year.
Speaking of budgets, a WCGT Viper is a $150k car, figure in $15k per race weekend, now another $50k or more for spare parts, and you'll need a transporter too. Bottom line - it's VERY expensive, and the more competitive you want to be, the more money you'll have to spend. It's professional racing, and the drivers and teams all have a lot of talent. A major sponsor (six figures...) is a must for any team wishing to run competitively. The payout for winning a Championship is nowhere near enough to cover the costs.
You may have noticed that the GT fields have dropped substantially over the last 2 years. It is not just the Vipers that are absent in GT. Bill Cooper, Scotty White, Reese Cox, Terry Lackey, Eric Curran, Peter Kitchak, George Biskup, Dave Schardt are just a few of the Corvette and Porsche drivers who have also bowed out of WCGT (at least for now).
As far as the comment about the Viper being "dumbed down", well we pretty much always had to run on 315 rubber and with inlet restrictors, but these items were never that big of a deal. SCCA tries to level the playing field between the different cars and in doing so had sped up the other makes quite a bit. I do believe that, if the right tire existed for the Viper, SCCA would make sure the car was competitive. Hopefully that will happen next year because Bobby misses racing WCGT.
Rich Wesorick
ViperSpeed Racing
There were six Vipers that competed in WCGT in '99-'00 (2 from Bobby Archer/ViperSpeed, 2 from Wild Dog Racing, Sean Roe, and Phil Lasko). Vipers have been absent for the last 2 years for two primary reasons - tires and sponsorship money.
In '01, WCGT chose Toyo Proxes as the spec tire for the series. This tire is a street tire (nowhere near as good as the Hoosiers or even the G-Force tire) and the biggest size made is 295. The Viper is simply not competitive with that small of a contact patch. The car even looks rediculous on a tire that small... Further, the tire does not last very long, requiring the teams to double their tire budgets for the year.
Speaking of budgets, a WCGT Viper is a $150k car, figure in $15k per race weekend, now another $50k or more for spare parts, and you'll need a transporter too. Bottom line - it's VERY expensive, and the more competitive you want to be, the more money you'll have to spend. It's professional racing, and the drivers and teams all have a lot of talent. A major sponsor (six figures...) is a must for any team wishing to run competitively. The payout for winning a Championship is nowhere near enough to cover the costs.
You may have noticed that the GT fields have dropped substantially over the last 2 years. It is not just the Vipers that are absent in GT. Bill Cooper, Scotty White, Reese Cox, Terry Lackey, Eric Curran, Peter Kitchak, George Biskup, Dave Schardt are just a few of the Corvette and Porsche drivers who have also bowed out of WCGT (at least for now).
As far as the comment about the Viper being "dumbed down", well we pretty much always had to run on 315 rubber and with inlet restrictors, but these items were never that big of a deal. SCCA tries to level the playing field between the different cars and in doing so had sped up the other makes quite a bit. I do believe that, if the right tire existed for the Viper, SCCA would make sure the car was competitive. Hopefully that will happen next year because Bobby misses racing WCGT.
Rich Wesorick
ViperSpeed Racing
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