Viper GTS slams into the wall @ VMP tonight racing me =(

I'm tired so I'm not going to tell the best story. I'm happy w/ the results seeing as it was 95 degrees today and only cooled to 85 at night...

First, I accomplished two of my goals...
1. Wanted to run better than a 12.5 (ran a 12.37)
2. Wanted to get under a 2.0 60-ft (1.99 on the above run)

Here's my runs... I was super happy w/ the car, esp considering the weather.
1. 12.535 @ 115.79
2. 12.506 @ 116.31
3. 12.401 @ 116.25
4. 13.760 @ 77.55 (crazy run... more on this later)
5. 12.425 @ 114.38 (left AC on!)
6. 12.372 @ 115.82 (1st round of eliminations, I won)
7. 12.617 @ 115.81 (2nd round... I lost and the margin of victory was .0231 seconds!)

ApparentlyI have a C6! (I have c5-r headlights in) People at the strip were trying to figure out how the hell I got a C6 early. One guy came up to me as was super impressed that a C6 could run 12.4's... had to explain that it was a Z06!

I felt pround representing Z06s/C5 tonight (I was the only one) People kept comming up asking if I was spraying or what I had done to the motor. Not much just an air filter, headers, and catback. Very shocked people! I even had a kid and his dad come up to me telling me the were routing for me every run, father was stoked that he could hear me chirping the tires into fourth and the kid loved the car.

OK.... the crazy run. I had just run a 12.401 and came back to the staging lanes. Gee there was a beautiful GTS (black/silver) next to me. I egged him on, "I wanna piece of that!" He had been in line seeing me run a 12.4 (people were talking...) "That's no way near stock!" me, "Just a catback man" him, "Well I'm stock" me, "Dude you've got a V10". So we line up and he does no burnout at all. I did I nice smokey one to heat up the tires (have new one ready!) We staged and I launched at 2300 rpms. I smoked him off the tree and had him by a car through first. I nailed 2nd and put another 1/2 car. I was watching closely for him to start gaining, then I realized he wasn't. "where the hell did the viper go?" I glanced up in my rear view mirror only to see in horror that the GTS was spinning and SLAMMED in to the wall. I felt sick to my stomach and let off the gas (ran that 13.7). My buddy taped it all and after watching it was a great thing I was ahead of him or I could have easily been cought up in it all.

Here's the rundown...
Viper Z06
R/T .160 .067 (.000 scale now, like a .567 light)
60' 2.218 2.201
330 5.974 5.648
1/8 24.313 8.375 (he never made it =( )

People were in shock... My buddy is going to burn the vid for me and I'll post it as soon as I can ( a few days)

Back to my car... I'm confident I can drive the car to 11's w/ a 1.8 60-ft and some colder weather so I can trap 118+
:seeya

Holy $hit that sux to lose your car like that I hope he was alright, and glad you didnt get caught up. I wanna see the vid to see what could have caused a stock Viper to hit a wall drag racing?? Maybe tried to powershift second

Mike

Damn, that is sickening. Grats on your personal best. Hope that guy didn't sink his life savings into the car or somthing.

Probably a half shaft?

I saw 1 smack the wall @ veges in the vOI

Cobra4B.... What kind of tires are you running? Sad to see any car put into the wall much less a Viper.

Cudaman

I saw 1 smack the wall @ veges in the vOI

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I witnessed that too at VOI5. The Viper that crashed had been purchased only 2 weeks before the event. Apparently he ****** the steering a little to the left while power shifting and went smack into the opposite wall at 45 degrees or more. He had substantial front end damage and probably totalled it. Driver was stunned but ok.

Oh man, I feel sick.

Not good. How would you explain that to your insurance company?


Reminds me of the recent post about buying a used Viper sight unseen..


A close inspection for body and frame repairs (overspray etc) left over from fixing a wall nerf for example

Terrible thing to happen.

I hope the driver is OK

Total bummer.

I sure do hate to see that happen, although, over many years of track days I've seen a number of cars go off and hit the wall - including the Viper right in front of me at Viper Days. The latest casualty was a totaled E46 M3.

Whenever I drive my Viper at the track, I recognize the financial risk, as many insurance companies are no longer covering these kinds of accidents.

Jim

Not good. How would you explain that to your insurance company?

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Haul it out privately....NOT WITH A TOW TRUCK.... to another location and the rest of the story is yours..... if you so desire.

Cudaman

I'm running Kumho Ecsta MX's 295's. They have a treadware of 220.

The viper owner said his car was stock so I think it was pretty new to him. He didn't brake a 1/2 shaft as he was on the stock tires. He simply got it all wacky on a hard shift and over corrected.

I went and talked to him and he was fine, but shocked. He works at a Dodge dealer so it'll get all fixed. I'm an auto damage adjuster for GEICO so I looked over the car w/ him. Everything is repairable... the rar bumper and rt 1/4 panel are suffed badly, but not cracked through. The 1/4 looks to be made of SMC (sheet molded composit, like plasitc fiberglass)like my Corvette and can be repaired w/ SMC repair. The front cam sheell is cracked on the FR conrer over the lamp (about this size of a dime)and can be repaired fine. The ft bumper will need to be pulled off, but again can be repaired. The oil cooler cracked or came loose b/c it was dripping.

He got a flatbet to come get it... I told him if he tells his story right he can get his insurance to cover it under comp =)

The guy w/ the vid is a firend of a friend... I'm pressuring him to burn it to CD for me but I can't give an ETA... I'll post it as soon as I can.

Thats for the tire reply...Cobra4B

Just for your information. I could take a stock Gen2 Viper with Kumho's a run a 11.7- 11.8. Traction is the key to good track times. I am not trying to take anything away from your times which are outstanding times. Do the 01 Z06 have the better heads than earlier ones. This is true on the regular Cameros, do not know about the ZO6's. I would like you to PM about the "correct" insurance story, thanks inadvance.

Cudaman:flag;

PM me as well with info from Cudaman's post.

why pm, tell us all.

The suspense is killing us!

Cudaman

gotta get that 60' down dude....that car has A LOT more in it....work on the launching....but other wise solid times!


Anthony

WOW, check this out, this is no JOKE….

This morning at Fallon, NV Top Gun Raceway, I was second in line behind what looked like 2003/2004 Z06 and an older 1950's style truck which were making the first run of the day at around 9:00am. I was in the left lane behind the truck and my friend was behind the Z06, we are both staging, getting ready to warm-up our tires when I look up and see about 200 yards down the track the Z06 has crossed over into the left hand lane and has just smacked the left side wall with his rear bumper, and then BAM the truck under a full skid smacks into his passenger side door. I was told the guy in the Z06 started to spin the tires a little, he taped the brakes, started to slide worse, taped the brakes again, the slide got worse, then he panicked and locked up the brakes and started doing 360's and spun into the left lane ahead of the truck, hit the wall and then got smacked by the truck. No one was hurt, but the Vet was beaten up pretty bad. It took about 45 minutes to get the vet towed off the track and everything cleaned up. The rear axel or suspension on the vet appeared to be broken, the rear tires were pointing in opposite directions.

Needless to say I was a little shaky on the first run after seeing what just happened to that guy, Hell I have spun the rear wheels up on the viper a bunch of times and had it do that little step out as I lightly get off the throttle to let it hook up again. I never really though that a little wheel spin like this would cause someone to hit the wall, and I never thought about someone spinning into my lane and taking me out. I have only been to the track a couple of times, call me naïve, It took a little nerve to do the first few runs and I was very careful today…

I think I will have to reconsider my temptation to drag race. I still have about 3 years of car payments remaining.

The Z06 owner should have put it in competition mode and that'd never happened; TC is off but Active Handling is on.... the car is only affected if it gets way out of line. You viper guys like to jok on the Vettes having AH and TC an the car being "easy" to drive, but had the Viper had an AH system the guy'd have driven home instead of on a flat bed.

As for insurance... if you ever wreck on a tack get a tow home! Never call the company and say hey "I wrecked racing" Your butt won't be covered and you'll be dropped. Instead... get it towed home, clean out the rubber etc, and the time slips. Then call the company and fiel a collision claim. Say a deer ran in front of you and you swerved and missed then hit a wall. Say there was a piece of something in the road and you swerved and lost it. Say it was raining etc! These would all be collision claims. If you can "proove" it was an animal or a deer that hit you it can go under a comprehensive claim and won't count against you at all.

Cyall...

Could have been a missed shift too. Happened at VOI6 in St. Louis. Missed 2-3 shift and went back into 1st. He spun and backed into the wall. Everone was ok, just banged car and pride. How about a first gear lockout above 30 or so mph?

The Z06 owner should have put it in competition mode and that'd never happened; TC is off but Active Handling is on.... the car is only affected if it gets way out of line. You viper guys like to jok on the Vettes having AH and TC an the car being "easy" to drive, but had the Viper had an AH system the guy'd have driven home instead of on a flat bed.

As for insurance... if you ever wreck on a tack get a tow home! Never call the company and say hey "I wrecked racing" Your butt won't be covered and you'll be dropped. Instead... get it towed home, clean out the rubber etc, and the time slips. Then call the company and fiel a collision claim. Say a deer ran in front of you and you swerved and missed then hit a wall. Say there was a piece of something in the road and you swerved and lost it. Say it was raining etc! These would all be collision claims. If you can "proove" it was an animal or a deer that hit you it can go under a comprehensive claim and won't count against you at all.

Cyall...

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That is just plain wrong. Why not sleep with other women and then tell your wife that the virus you contracted came from a toilet seat? Come on, man. If you are going to drag race, do not make the insurance company pay for your error. Be a man and tell the truth.

Why do you have insurance? Is for accidents? If you are going to drive on the street, do not make the insurance company pay for your error. It is still an accident.

Not I am not say truth or not the truth, Just that it was an accident.

Have you ever drove over the posted speed limit? That is wrong. Where you draw the line in the sand. What you did was wrong, breaking the law? Correct? Be a man.


Cudaman

Why do you have insurance? Is for accidents? If you are going to drive on the street, do not make the insurance company pay for your error. It is still an accident.

Not I am not say truth or not the truth, Just that it was an accident.

Have you ever drove over the posted speed limit? That is wrong. Where you draw the line in the sand. What you did was wrong, breaking the law? Correct? Be a man.


Cudaman

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I am assumcing that his insurance policy does not cover damage from drag racing. If he has an "accident" while drag racing then he should not recieve any insurance payment. No matter what spin you try to put on his strategy, it is still based on lies.

garolittle.... You are trying to question everyone else ethics, I am sure they would like to know yours. You avoided the question .... Have ever drove over the posted speed limit? Yes or No. It is not a personal attack..... just curious.

Cudaman

He didn't brake a 1/2 shaft as he was on the stock tires.

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Wrong assumption. I broke a 1/2 shaft with stock tires on a 1-2 shift. Wheel hop is a *****.

Look I'm an auto damage adjuster and I get f'uckers lying to me very damn day. Unless I can proove them to be lying I can't call them out. Not good for business to be calling customers liars if you can't absolutly proove it.

I'm just giving you a tip... I agree that if it's minor then don't bother filing a claim, but if you've got a $10,000 bill on your hands then you can "make things work"

Watching the video... I don't think the broke a 1/2 shaft. The track was hooking well and it was warm so I wasn't getting any hop. My car hops like a bunny when its cold and the tires are hard.

Your Vette might hop like a bunny, but I saw Moundir's old Viper hop like a Kangaroo at the V-10 Nationals. LOL It was the funniest thing I ever saw at a drag race.

Cudaman