Dang. I guess I'm the only simp in the group who can say I had a good time and really didn't have anything to complain about.
The closest complaint I guess I'd have is that there was no announcement about the new Viper. But I didn't really figure there would be (considering dealers still need to liquidate existing inventory and announcing a brand new Viper the same day people were picking up their VOI9 white/blue cars would be a slap in the face). So not hearing about the new Viper didn't really bother me all that much. That's not why I was there.
I look at it like this. I had an absolute blast and did tons of stuff I could never do here at home.
I thought the food was pretty darn good. Maybe I'm not as picky as some of you guys. I didn't eat one meal out after the event started. I thought every single meal was pretty good. There wasn't anything inedible. There was always plenty of different stuff on buffet nights. The food was fresh. The wait staff was really nice. And there was an open bar for those that wanted a cocktail or 10. I guess I must just be the easiest guy to please. I thought the meals ranged from pretty good to darn good.
I thought the track days were awesome. The day of scheduled events was fun. For those of us that didn't bring our cars, DC supplied a pretty healthy supply of brand new SRT-10s for use to use at no charge. We autocrossed, drove the road course/oval, and drag raced all with brand new Vipers. We went go-karting and we "road raced" virtually every SRT platform available. I was a little bored with the 1 hour "tech session" which was little more than a commercial for SRT, but that boredom faded very very quickly once they let us behind the wheel of the best SRT products they have to offer and let us push them to the limits. Heck, the SRT Track Experience was $500 by itself a couple months ago. Here, it was all part of the package and the road course for testing was MUCH nicer than what it was in our city.
The instructors were great. FREE Skip Barber instructors? Are you kidding me? I know it's not the exact same as a 3-day track school (for $4000), but I learned a TON about what these cars can do. The "open day" was incredible. I spent all morning on the roval. I had 3 different instructors. During the course of one afternoon, I had picked up more than 30 mph on my exit speeds on the oval and was getting faster, smoother and safer with every trip around the road course. I learned a LOT about car geometry, trail braking, trailing throttle oversteer, inertia, rotation, etc, etc. For a guy that has spent the last 10 years trying to stand cars on the rear bumper going as fast as humanly possible in a straight line, I had a blast and learned a boatload. I even grabbed a Skip Barber instructor when I went back to the autocross. Just having that guy with me shaved 4 seconds off my lap time in only 3 laps. I managed a 47.2 in the factory supplied car with a passenger. I know that doesn't make me Mario Andretti, but the point is, I got FREE instruction from some of the best guys in the industry and I got the FREE use of DC's cars.
Finally, I met some of the coolest people from all over the country. In 4 full days and nights, I didn't meet one ****, one rude person, one *******. Everyone was having fun, they were social and they were very enthusiastic. I felt like I made at least 20 new best friends.
Maybe I'm not as die hard about this stuff as some of you, and maybe it's just because it's my first VOI, but I had the time of my life. Not one complaint here. Loved the food, loved the cars, loved the track time, loved the karts, loved the instruction, and loved the people. I missed a full week of work for the event and I wouldn't trade it back for anything. Hell, if they had a VOI next month, I'd find a way to go again, regardless of the cost.