Gen1 Le Mans Viper at Dutch Event.

[Heysie]

Last Sunday there was a Time Attack event on the racetrack of Zandvoort. One of the contenders was driving a Viper, witch was the first Viper ever driven on Le Mans. He was driving the car in the Pro Non Street, but his time in Warm-up and wasn't that good, 2:00.222 min. Average speed 128.971 KM/h. He even spun in the qualifying lap and hit the wall with his rear bumper. No finals for him.

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I was drivig there as well, not in my Viper, but prepped BMW M3, Semi Pro Street (street legal cars, amateur drivers). I did reach the finals and even won.
Best time 2:05.414

Me driving the finals

 

[got one]

rent car...seriously? And what is going on with the back rims offset?

 

[VardaMan]

This is a major find. There were two 1992 Vipers in the 1994 LeMans Race. The other orange Rent A Car is in Switzerland. Please PM me with any additional information or pictures of the car.
Pat

 

[Topawam]

I was 24 and drooling before those two cars at Le Mans Thursday Test Drive...94
Never thought at the time, I will be on this great board sharing this story...
Nice Pics, please, put some more...
Thx

 

[Heysie]

The owner told me it was a "barn find". He wasn't for sure if it was the real LM car, but he gather more info and it was a real LM Viper.
The things I most remembered from seeing it in person:
*Only the hood and front fasia are made from lightweight material, all other body parts are OEM.
*It had originaly a rear antenna.
*Huge 6 *** Tarox brake calipers, front and rear
*3 Masterbrake cilinders
*Dry sump
*Front and rear tires same size, the car was easier to drive that way.

And some links for more pictures.
http://www.janvanbroekhoven.nl/Diversen/ATA/pages/PICT6433.htm
http://www.janvanbroekhoven.nl/Diversen/ATA/pages/PICT6432.htm
http://www.janvanbroekhoven.nl/Diversen/ATA/pages/PICT6431.htm
http://www.janvanbroekhoven.nl/Diversen/ATA/pages/PICT6430.htm
http://www.autofotografie.nl/v/race...Time+Attack+093.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1
http://www.autofotografie.nl/v/race/timeattackfred/IMG_8996+copy.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1
http://www.karikatuning.nl/TimeAttack/slides/IMG_5744.html
http://img23.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=54297_P6031480_COPY_122_829lo.jpg
http://www.karikatuning.nl/TimeAttack/slides/IMG_5245.html
http://www.karikatuning.nl/TimeAttack/slides/IMG_5229.html
http://www.karikatuning.nl/TimeAttack/slides/IMG_5219.html
http://www.karikatuning.nl/TimeAttack/slides/IMG_5272.html
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/index.php?m=albumview&a=1&key=ZFC6F4QE&album=C77QZXVB (click on picture for large image)
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/index.php?m=albumview&a=1&key=OV8TNIEW&album=C77QZXVB (click on picture for large image)
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/index.php?m=albumview&a=1&key=YQFFYDGK&album=C77QZXVB (click on picture for large image)
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/index.php?m=albumview&a=1&key=O4KKD6UC&album=C77QZXVB (click on picture for large image)
http://www.gummen.org/images/album/TimeAttack20072.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.com/20veetee/AutovisieTimeAttack2007

 

[ViperArry]

Wwo, I knew this car was in the netherlands, but I didn't knew it was beeing raced again.

Heysie,
Please send me a PM..... love to find out more.

 

[mike & juli]

Heysie, congrats on your reaching the finals and WINNING in your M3!!! That certainly is an unusual-looking Viper--do they really rent this one out??? Is it even street-legal?
Looks like it has had LOTS of racing days! Thanx for sharing and glad you were able to be in the street cars race AND to win--totally awesome--good for you!! ~juli~

 

[ViperArry]

Mike & Juli,

This is one of the two original Le Mans Vipers from the 1994 Le Mans race.
The start of the Viper-era in Le Mans.

One of the Vipers got a podiumfinish in GT1, without training!
So..... this is a truly special car (only Viper GT1 there ever was!)

The car is tracked now, but has been used for parades.
If I look at the pictures it is still owned by the same person since, so no Rental.

 

[mike & juli]

VERY cool, ViperArry...thanx for the information....it's just that the car has "Rent A Car" on it? Maybe just some sort of sponsor? That is amazing that this car has been around since '94 and is still tracked!!! Thanx for filling me in! ~juli~

 

[Heysie]

Rent a Car was the official sponsor for the Viper at Le Mans in "94. The car is still in it's original paint, so it looks a bit fuzzy.

ViperArry, you can visit the car in Soest.

 

[mike & juli]

That's what I figured, thank you Heysie...still think it's awesome you entered the street competition and WON!!! How great is that??!! ~juli~

 

[Heysie]

It was great to win the race, it was even my first real race.
After 3 years of doing trackdays with my RT/10 ('94 with Eibach, Stoptech en Kumho's) , I bought a standard BMW M3, for trackdays only, to preserve the Viper. The standard M3 was a horrible car on the track, understeer all the way and a lot of body-roll. After preparing it with special suspension, Big brakes, role-cage, no interior, Sparco seats and sticky tires, it almost gave me the feeling (handling wise) like the Viper. It went the way I want it to. I also used Kumho's on the first trackdays, but there was almost no thread left and on the event it was to run street legal tires with a minimum thread depth of 2 mm. I still had a set of new Yokohama Advan 032 tires and drove the event with them. Sadly it was a hard compound and no sticky at all. The car had understeer, oversteer, so I had to change my driving style. Still 3rd time in warm-up, 2nd in qualifying and was the fastest in the finals.

 

[George Farris]

Amoung my favorite models are the #41 yellow and #40 orange Rent a Car LeMans Vipers.

Justin Bell was a pilot on #40 along with Rene Arnoux and Bertrand Balas. I believe it finished 10th or 12th overall.

That car brings back many great memories of extremely exciting Viper racing.

Heysie - Thankx so much for the photos.

Did you try to buy the car?

 

[mike & juli]

Wow--that's alot of work Heysie...considering all you had to do, and running with harder tires, changing how you drove and all, you done did good!!! You should be proud!
~juli~

 

[PittsburghRT]

Glad to see a part of Gen 1 history. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Paul S Lacey]

From memory the other car was not really orange but painted in Day Glow red like some European and American Fire Departments.

I have both the original 1:43 models when they came out loved the look of the GEN1 in race trim but the Gen II tore up the track better.

Great find and great photo's

 

[Heysie]

The cars were bright red and bright yellow. The paint is faded in the years.

Heysie - Thankx so much for the photos.

Did you try to buy the car?

The problem would be the money...I've asked the new owner how much he paid for it, but he wouldn't tell me, except it was cheap (for a racecar driven on Le Mans).

I would like to have a GTS as trackcar, like Chuck 98RT/10. Hope to have that in a couple of years.

 

[Paul S Lacey]

No Day glow green and dayglow red would be a better description.

 

[ViperGTS]

The other car is for sale in Switzerland

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[GTS Dean]

So..... this is a truly special car (only Viper GT1 there ever was!)

I believe this is an incorrect statement. The first year the GTS-R was homologated and raced was in GT-1 trim. Their last race in GT-1 was Daytona '97. Your comment is right if you modify it to say they were the first and only Gen 1 RT-10s raced in GT-1.

 

[ViperArry]

Dean,

OK...... It was just using my memory. Thanks for adding this information.

I made an appointment with the owner of the car to visit their shop, so expect some pictures here!

 

[InjectTheVenom]

I made an appointment with the owner of the car to visit their shop, so expect some pictures here!

Well ?