Track Reliability

[CFRA7]

Hi,

I’m interested in purchasing a Viper GTS as a street / track car. It will replace my NSX and Formula Mazda. Given that I’ve raced for 13 years, I expect to push the car. What mods are necessary to have a reliable street track car? Would mods are recommended even if not considered necessary?

Are their any things that are a good return on investment as far as reducing lap times are concern besides practice and sticky tires?

Thanks

 

[0260in3]

I would say the easiest mods for improving lap times would be upgrading the braking system. There are systems out there that allow you to use the much improved SRT-10 front brakes on the GTS. Of course anything that improves acceleration will also help but that's probably not specific enough for what your asking. You can look at the Viperdays website under class matrices to see what modifications will push you up into a higher performance class too. Good Luck

 

[SoCal Rebell]

Hi,

I’m interested in purchasing a Viper GTS as a street / track car. It will replace my NSX and Formula Mazda. Given that I’ve raced for 13 years, I expect to push the car. What mods are necessary to have a reliable street track car? Would mods are recommended even if not considered necessary?

Are their any things that are a good return on investment as far as reducing lap times are concern besides practice and sticky tires?

Thanks

In this order this is what I did to my 2000 for road racing:

lightweight flywheel
3.55 gears
Castrol SRF brake fluid flush
Street/track alignment, camber= -1.9 front, -1.3 rear
5 point harness
Fire extiguisher
MGW short shift knob
Full Belanger exhaust system with Randomtech 3" in/out cats
Full all fluid change with high performance fluids
CCW 17x13 rear rims, 18x12 front rims
Hoosier Dot R3S06 tires 335/17 rear, 305/18 front
Stoptech Big Brake package 14.2" front, 13" rear, Brakeman 3 pads
Brake ducting
New windage tray and trap door system for the 10 quart oil system

And a bunch of little things

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

"Necessary" Nothing.

"Preferred" (within a budget)
1. Steering rack factory recall work.
2. large radiator.
3. Roe radiator hose with bleeder valve
4. 5 or 6 points.
5. Cone brake duct kit (Partsrack)
6. March aluminum power steering pulley
7. Doug Levin power steering bracket
8. Penske 3-way adjustable
9. Scale the car (corner weight)
10. Tom's rear brake upgrade
11. Two-piece performance rotors.

Those mods there will whoop up on 98% of the competition as long the competition isn't a bunch of SRT Vipers or Ray Moore.

 

[Boxer12]

Do it, you won't regret it! I asked the same questions about reliability, etc, and here is the car that I ended up with...

http://classifieds.viperclub.org/showproduct.php?product=193&cat=19&limit=recent&date=1179283482.

It has been extremely reliable, although I have only been on a half dozen courses with it. Be prepared to spend at least $20K if you buy stock and do the upgrades yourself. Ya, that price is parts (incl. wheels) alone. Add another $10-20k+ if you want to mod the drivetrain. It adds up quick. Save yourself time and money by getting a car with mods done, and which has a clean history and less than 10k miles added since the mods done. (Hey, sounds like the car I have FOR SALE!) LOL

Why is my car for sale? Because I am planning to go crazy and buy an 08 and spend rediculous sums of money to make it the best track car on the circuit. Its the Viper bite! Makes you do crazy things.

 

[Boxer12]

Oh yea, my neighbor has been tracking his 98 for nearly ten years now, and it has been extremely reliable. I don't think he has ever missed a track day due to a breakdown. There are some things you need to do, however, peculiar to Vipers to ensure reliability. Vent the valve covers to prevent blowback, secure the power steering cap, install a windage tray on the oil pan, etc. Archer Racing is more than happy to give you all the details of what they do to make cars trackworthy and reliable. Good guys. They also provide all the track support on Viper Days events. If you don't know about Viper Days, go to www.viperdays.com and check it out.

 

[jrkermode]

Comparted to your FM, everything will be happening in slow motion!

I presume you are talking about a GenII GTS?

The Gen II has a tendency to overwork the front brakes. You'll want cooling; Cone's kit and Porsche air deflectors; more if you can get it! And, you'll want bigger front brakes for better heat dissipation. You can get by with stock front brakes, but to make them last a day at the track you'll need really hard pads (BM3's). The really hard pads eat rotors when they're cold and squeal like crazy on the street.

You don't mention how unstreetable you're willing to tolerate during street use.

The most economical mod for improving lap times is an alignment. Just removing the sport shims can help a lot, but isn't very streetable.

Penske shocks would be next, although the stock shocks are adjustable in rebound. The ACRs came with stiffer springs and double adjustable Moton shocks. So, if you buy an ACR you'll be most of the way there.

 

[SoCal Rebell]

Comparted to your FM, everything will be happening in slow motion!

I presume you are talking about a GenII GTS?

The Gen II has a tendency to overwork the front brakes. You'll want cooling; Cone's kit and Porsche air deflectors; more if you can get it! And, you'll want bigger front brakes for better heat dissipation. You can get by with stock front brakes, but to make them last a day at the track you'll need really hard pads (BM3's). The really hard pads eat rotors when they're cold and squeal like crazy on the street.

You don't mention how unstreetable you're willing to tolerate during street use.

The most economical mod for improving lap times is an alignment. Just removing the sport shims can help a lot, but isn't very streetable.

Penske shocks would be next, although the stock shocks are adjustable in rebound. The ACRs came with stiffer springs and double adjustable Moton shocks. So, if you buy an ACR you'll be most of the way there.

I'm pretty sure if you remove and put back the shims you change the toe. I spent $140 for a great street/track 4 wheel camera alignment. Caster +6, toe neutral-1/8th, front 1-9 camber, rear -1.3. The car gets "darty" on the street but you get used to it, the tires wear OK and it is great on the track. I believe max on a Gen 2 is front -2.3, rear -1.5 but the insides wear alot.