My First Close Call...

At about a 5 month old Viper owner I have managed to keep the "snake" under control. However, I as grow experience I grow... well.. bigger things that go with other snakes. Anyway, I'm taking a friend out for his first Viper experience. There is a short (maybe 1.5 mile) four lane near my house (speed limit 45mph... WHATEVER). So, I take him to the road, no traffic, slow down to a stop. I tend to do a 0-100 quick trip to show folks what makes the Viper great. First gear was no problem, but then there's that dread second gear. As I begin the shift I notice the road is not completely straight. There is a slight and I mean slight curve in the road. As I shift into second and throw the hammer back down the back does what I would call a dramatic fish tail. Fortunately, no spin. The Pilots stuck and we continued to our goal of 100+ with no problems. I wish I could say the same for my bloodpreasure. I of course acted like I knew exactly what I was doing but holy cow! I about crapped my pants. The moral of the story... If you had to read this to understand the moral then you're a lost cause. Be carefull all.

two words...

Track Time!

You'll still crap your pants but what the hell....you'll learn more.

Glad to hear you, your passenger and your car survived the experience. It seems 9 times out of 10 something bad happens when a person is showing off or in your case "demonstrating" Viper acceleration.

We call it the "Snake bite."

Atually, I have tracked it. I had a close call there too but that was with breaking

Demonstrating... I like that.

It wasn't a bite. More like the rattle just before the strike. Hopefully, I have heard the rattle and will STAY AWAY.

I almost screwed up my 1st day owning a Viper (like so many before me have). I had just left a ******* (seemed like a great 1st stop to make after picking up my Snake). I left and got on this straight away, saw some people on the sidewalk staring so I decided to "demonstrate" the power a little bit and nailed it in 1st and snatched 2nd. The rearend got loose on me and almost put me sideways. I kept control of it, but I was REALLY glad noone was in the lane beside me, b/c for a couple of seconds I was taking up both lanes. Scary as hell....rest of the ride home was done without any showing off.

Concur. Even more track time. This is where you learn to get your eyes down the road which makes everything slow down. With some more track time, when you get it a little sideways you'll feel it coming on earlier and you will be confident in your ability to recover.

Saves wear and tear on the skivvies.

Not really sure how track time would help this directly as most tracks do not include 1-2 shifts at WOT while in a small bend. Track time would help in understanding how to correct it (maybe), but I fail to see the connection. This condition happens most on the street with less than fully heated tires. Hot track tires and my car plants fairly well.

What makes the car great is that it has the ability to scare us.

Jeff

Dump the Pilots.

I've had a Viper for 3 weeks. Every time I drive it I have a close call. With the women.

Not really sure how track time would help this directly as most tracks do not include 1-2 shifts at WOT while in a small bend. Track time would help in understanding how to correct it (maybe), but I fail to see the connection. This condition happens most on the street with less than fully heated tires. Hot track tires and my car plants fairly well.

Click to expand...

Ron, Agree -

But what it might do is make the show off street manuever less impressive when you have a set of high speed esses to take right at about 120 MPH... after tracking, being a street racer really becomes less of a thrill all the way around. No one to impress better than yourself by "getting it right" on the track.

Track time is just a stock answer for any driving problem. And so it seems is going to ******* with your Viper. LOL.

same thing happened to me but i was sitting in the passenger seat and my brother in law at the. the dip [******] was driving around a circle and gave it full gas speed shifting 2nd. we spun in a half circle. thank god no one was near us, and oh yeah, he is never driving it again. he that he could handle a viper after owning a 500 pony mustang cobra. WRONG. and i have kuhmos so it can happen with stickies too boys.

Put Kuhmos on --you'll feel safe for the first time. Unbelievable difference.

read closer, i had kuhmos on

I think he was talking to Batboy , he had Pilots.........

gotcha

Ron and Janni

Let me amplify why I suggest more track time (even though I know it's seen as the cure-all to all problems.) Batboy's basic problem was Power Induced Oversteer, otherwise known as the ass end gets away from you.

Now let's take a corner at a well used track-I'll pick Moss Corner at Mosport since it's one of my favorite tracks. 150 degree right hander that feeds onto the longest straight on the track, so it's important to get a good launch off of it.

So what's the most common problem you see with cars coming off that corner-Power Induced Oversteer. Driver pounds on the throttle in hopes of getting a good launch-ass end comes out from under him/her with the result being an embarrassing loop in front of all your friends. The same thing can happen on the next shift if you've got enough HP/torque. Not a whole lot different from what Batboy saw when he nailed it going into 2nd gear.

What the track time will give you is the repetitive feedback as you go through that corner time after time. You get a much better feel for when the ass end is beginning to break loose and learn how to modulate the throttle to keep things going straight. That's a driving lesson you can take anywhere, including hotrodding on the street.

Just MHO, but I've certainly looped enough race cars to understand how to play a throttle to keep things going in the right direction.

And the best part is that Batboy didn't loose it and had enough experience/smarts to keep it out of the puckerbrush.

Agree, but one does not have to do a shift when inducing power oversteer. I thought the concern was shifting related and most do not shift right at a corner exit. If shifting in a corner or during an exit the shift needs to be very smooth to prevent unsettling the car and becoming a whirly top. Power induced oversteer is generally alot slower and more predictable, at least for me.

But I too must admit to oversteer related gyroscopic activity (read as 360 degree city).

I think you all have excellent points here. My situation was not one of *cough* precision. I did do a shift in a corner (bad) albeit a light one. I did a real hard shift almost begging the tires to break loose (bad, but great for impressing someone in a straight line). Did I mention I did this in a corner (bad). My point to everyone, if not evident by now, is that no corner is too small. So, when people say keep it straight they mean KEEP IT STRAIGHT.

I do plan on getting Khumos next after these Pilots are shot. Shouldn't be too much longer now.