Silverstate in May

Steve-Indy

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It's been a while, bad viper!

I believe that your Silverstate co-pilot told me that you crossed the finish line off the ground...near 190 mph.

Am I close to the truth?
 

Steve-Indy

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A 2002 quote from bad viper that stuck in my mind all of these years:

Re: Nitrous Option
"I USED A 200 nx SYTEM ..wot AND RPM WINDOW SWITCH.
I USED 123-15# BOTTLES WITH THIS METHOD IT WORKS!
3000 ON 5800 OFF."

 
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bad viper

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Re: Nitrous Option
"I USED A 200 nx SYTEM ..wot AND RPM WINDOW SWITCH.
I USED 123-15# BOTTLES WITH THIS METHOD IT WORKS!
3000 ON 5800 OFF."





I remember saying that and IT WAS THE TRUTH!

That car was bullet proof!
 

Steve-Indy

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Yes, it was Jim !!

He had great things to say about your Viper and your driving abilities. I haven't spoken with Jim in over 10 years...don't know if he's still hanging out here or not.

UPDATE: Read Jim Peffers' post about all of this in the thread linked below:

http://forums.viperclub.org/threads/537084-How-fast-have-you-driven?highlight=silverstate
 
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bad viper

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Yes, it was Jim !!

He had great things to say about your Viper and your driving abilities. I haven't spoken with Jim in over 10 years...don't know if he's still hanging out here or not.

UPDATE: Read Jim Peffers' post about all of this in the thread linked below:

http://forums.viperclub.org/threads/537084-How-fast-have-you-driven?highlight=silverstate

Yes peffers couldn't remember spelling. I heard from him for a couple years after race but not again.He was a die hard Viper guy. We communicated on this site then I asked him
if he wanted to be my co pilot
for Silverstate. He flew to ca. we drove up there
and did the run.
 
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bad viper

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Only concern is 19 gal fuel tank on the McLaren. Would be embarrassing to DNF if I
ran out of fuel!

Going to McLaren factory nexr month..will find out from them
 

Paul Hawker

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Been there several times. It is an event well suited to our Vipers.

From what I remember of the first time I ran it.

Drove to Vegas with my navigator. We talked strategy most of the way, and had great anticipation for the event.

Checked into the host hotel, and registered. Took the registration package to the room, and went over every word of it. Had already watched the video they give everybody of running the course, but there was still a lot to take in.

We chose our initial target speed. We needed to average 125 mph over the length of the 90 mile course, beginning from a standing start and needing to slow considerably going into the Narrows portion of the course.

We set a time we needed to be at every mile marker, and navigator's job was to tell me when to slow down and when to speed up. He also instructed me which way the next curve was going to be so I could set up properly on the road to apex. You got to use both lanes, and often drove right down the middle for miles.

The next day, since we were newbies we needed to qualify on the local Las Vegas tight road course. This got us up to speed, and we needed to show the marshals that we could handle our cars at speed, and had sufficient driving skills to be let out on the road course. This was great fun, as it is always super enjoyable to take your Viper on a closed course.

Went back to the hotel, and got up early to drive with all the other course participants up the road to Ely. This also allowed us to bring our minds up to speed, driving on the open highway and we drove at a pretty open clip. We had radio contact with other VCA members so they could tell us the situation for safe passing of trucks, as well as warning us of police presence.

Spent the night in a casino in Ely. Really cool little town, where the residents super support the racers. We joined others for a parade through town. Next morning the contestants assembled at the High School parking lot where we got the chance to check out the other racers. Everything from blown VW's to V-8 powered Corvairs. Saw some older NASCAR racers, Panteras, Vettes, BMW, and assorted Asian road runners. Everything from old USA Muscle to european exotic.

They teched our cars there. Made sure our tires were not over 6 years old, had the proper safety equipment for the speeds we selected, and had o-ring equipped tire valve stem caps. Seems that the higher speeds allow air to escape from the valves and the caps prevent your tire pressure from lowering on the course.

Next morning we lined up at the starting line with full fuel tanks. At intervals they launched us down the course, one at a time. My first instruction from my Navigator was to begin breathing. He did not believe I could make it the full 90 miles holding my breath : >). We began to slowly put some time "in the bank" as we knew that we needed to slow for the narrows area. Corvette guys had me pretty freaked out about the dreaded Narrows area where you were to drive through a canyon with high walls and lots of curves. Turned out that I was being overly cautious as the Viper made easy work of the curves, and we were able to maintain pretty good speed all the way through.

Before I knew it, we were at the end of the race. The organizers had set up a chicane made of hay bales to get us to slow down. After running at 140 MPH, slowing to only 90 felt like we were crawling.

We were handed some cold beers by the local (working) girls, and everybody just wanted to run it again right away.

A unique experience compared to any other competitive event. Great fun, pretty exciting, and memories to last forever.

Maybe time to give it another go.
 

Paul Hawker

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The first time they limited my tech speed to 125mph as a newbie, however later I ran in the 145 class.

The Viper actually made the run pretty easy. I had a 3:54 rear gear, so could pull speed in 5th or 6th. Some guys were running low on fuel at the end, but for me, less than 1/2 tank.

I remember having the windows **** out at 140mph. Thought I had blown a tire, but it was just the sudden rush of air that startled me. I also remember having the passenger side mirror (just the glass mirror, not the housing) get sucked out and watched it shatter into a thousand tiny pieces along the side of the road.

125 was pretty much a non event, aside from trying to maintain that average speed for the full 90 miles.

Faster is funner.

You still in the coin business?
 
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bad viper

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The first time they limited my tech speed to 125mph as a newbie, however later I ran in the 145 class.

The Viper actually made the run pretty easy. I had a 3:54 rear gear, so could pull speed in 5th or 6th. Some guys were running low on fuel at the end, but for me, less than 1/2 tank.

I remember having the windows **** out at 140mph. Thought I had blown a tire, but it was just the sudden rush of air that startled me. I also remember having the passenger side mirror (just the glass mirror, not the housing) get sucked out and watched it shatter into a thousand tiny pieces along the side of the road.

125 was pretty much a non event, aside from trying to maintain that average speed for the full 90 miles.

Faster is funner.

You still in the coin business?


Still am in the coin business..beats working!
 

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