LW VIPER
Enthusiast
Quick run from the San Jose, California area to Lake Tahoe. Left Saturday morning about 6:50 a.m. and got in aroud 9:50. One tank of gas, to the fumes. Uphill on the 80 to the 267, down to the lake. Left the hard top and the windows in the garage, and put the golf clubs in the trunk, and an overnight bag in the passenger seat. Wore my Viper Sneaky Pete jacket, and instantly became a "movie star" on the highway. A day with some friends, a bit of gambling during the evening, a few hours of sleep, and back in the RT/10 at 5:45 a.m. with a fresh tank of gas. 42 degrees farenheit over Emigrant Gap with snow peaking the mountains. The heater is worthless. I'm freezing for a while. Can't hear anything from the stereo, so off it goes. Then I droppped into sunshine, no traffic, little enforcement. Let the car stretch its legs here and there, with the constant worry of being ticketed. I settled in behind a Ford 250 going around 85. Two C5 Vettes in red settled in behind me.
Just the sunshine, the sound of the exhaust, the wind (I have the rear window out as well) and some miles. Back in San Jose, having coffee at 9:00 a.m. Just under a quarter of a tank of gas left on the return trip. I figure most of the time was spent in 6th gear at around 1800 rpms with 3:55 rear gearing, and around 18 miles per gallon. Some of that got eaten on a few short stretches where I was able to go a bit faster safely.
The car stayed at 190 all the time that it spent in fifth or sixth gear on the open highway. Whenever I was in a town, or in 2nd or 3rd, the temperature headed toward the fourth marker (215 degrees?) but the recently installed larger fan would cut in, and drop it back to the marker just to the right of the 190 center marker. (207 degrees?).
Worked like a dream. Driver's seat was perfectly comfortable. I did put in ear plugs at one point when the wind noise started to hurt my ears, but the seating position, comfort of the driver's seat, overall comfort in the cockpit, and absolutely perfect engine and car performance made the trip to and from my destination even more fun than being there.
I'll still probably get an SRT-10 for those times when it would be nice to put the top and windows up, ( I doubt my wife would have taken the cold and the wind blast during the 42 degree part of the ride), but this past 460 miles have certainly been fun.
I figure I'm now averaging about 750 miles a month in my "second" car, and less than that in my Mercedes -- which was still my choice for last weekend's trip with family from San Jose to Long Beach and back with luggage.
Hmmm.....
Just the sunshine, the sound of the exhaust, the wind (I have the rear window out as well) and some miles. Back in San Jose, having coffee at 9:00 a.m. Just under a quarter of a tank of gas left on the return trip. I figure most of the time was spent in 6th gear at around 1800 rpms with 3:55 rear gearing, and around 18 miles per gallon. Some of that got eaten on a few short stretches where I was able to go a bit faster safely.
The car stayed at 190 all the time that it spent in fifth or sixth gear on the open highway. Whenever I was in a town, or in 2nd or 3rd, the temperature headed toward the fourth marker (215 degrees?) but the recently installed larger fan would cut in, and drop it back to the marker just to the right of the 190 center marker. (207 degrees?).
Worked like a dream. Driver's seat was perfectly comfortable. I did put in ear plugs at one point when the wind noise started to hurt my ears, but the seating position, comfort of the driver's seat, overall comfort in the cockpit, and absolutely perfect engine and car performance made the trip to and from my destination even more fun than being there.
I'll still probably get an SRT-10 for those times when it would be nice to put the top and windows up, ( I doubt my wife would have taken the cold and the wind blast during the 42 degree part of the ride), but this past 460 miles have certainly been fun.
I figure I'm now averaging about 750 miles a month in my "second" car, and less than that in my Mercedes -- which was still my choice for last weekend's trip with family from San Jose to Long Beach and back with luggage.
Hmmm.....
