The Arizona Viper Club just had it's first Autocross. And from the looks of it, it was the first autocross experience for nearly all of the Viper owners there, too. This was held at the Tucson raceway complete with SCCA instructors and timing equipment. Thanks go to Frank Parise and Phil De La O for organizing the autocross and to Eddie Martin and Bill Luke Dodge for their continued excellent tech support of the Viper and club..
While the course was not "high speed" it developed skills of maneuvering a Viper in a most technical way. It's a great opportunity for the wives to let their husbands finally test out the brakes in the right seat floorboard. No matter how hard you press, they don't work at all. Like I told Susan as I rode with her, "This car is REALLY fast & a bit unnerving when you're a passenger on a track." Times dropped dramatically and steadily as the drivers gained confidence in threshold braking and even some power-on steering with the rear tires. Sure, there were lots of slides, but no harm done. You get a great feel of weight shift and other handling characteristics "at the limit" you could seldom try on the street without concern of hitting something other than an orange cone. You also do not need new brakes, etc., at the end of the day as the stresses on the car are far less than road racing. The day was topped off with a club dinner/social event.
It's a great time to be out Viper driving in AZ and the club has several fun events planned over the next few months like the family picnic next weekend, Team Viper Tech session at Bill Luke, & Christmas Dinner. See you there.
Marv S.
While the course was not "high speed" it developed skills of maneuvering a Viper in a most technical way. It's a great opportunity for the wives to let their husbands finally test out the brakes in the right seat floorboard. No matter how hard you press, they don't work at all. Like I told Susan as I rode with her, "This car is REALLY fast & a bit unnerving when you're a passenger on a track." Times dropped dramatically and steadily as the drivers gained confidence in threshold braking and even some power-on steering with the rear tires. Sure, there were lots of slides, but no harm done. You get a great feel of weight shift and other handling characteristics "at the limit" you could seldom try on the street without concern of hitting something other than an orange cone. You also do not need new brakes, etc., at the end of the day as the stresses on the car are far less than road racing. The day was topped off with a club dinner/social event.
It's a great time to be out Viper driving in AZ and the club has several fun events planned over the next few months like the family picnic next weekend, Team Viper Tech session at Bill Luke, & Christmas Dinner. See you there.
Marv S.
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