Another Viper bites the dust....

[01 RT SNAKE]

My sister called me today to tell me she saw a wrecked red gen II GTS at 51st Ave / Happy Valley here in north Phoenix. I jumped in my car to see if the guy needed any help. When I arrived, the police/fire had the road blocked off and I spoke with the owner briefly, asked him if he needed anything and he replied he and his passenger were ok. It looked as if he had been rear ended, however, he advised me that he accidentally shifted into second and lost it. The whole back of the car was smashed.

To the owner, if you're on this board, I hope you guys are ok and I'm sorry your Viper is totaled.

Mike
2001 Yellow RT/10

 

[AZMotorgod]

That *****!

Hope all occupants involved are okay.

What more can you say.

 

[RobZ]

Damn that's too bad but I'm glad nobody was seriously injured. Hopefully he'll get another to replace it.

 

[Fatboy 18]

Have to admit, the gearbox has nearly caught me out a couple of times Its a shame you dont get a gate like on the Ferraris so at a glance you know what gear you have engaged!

Mark

 

[plumcrazy]

glad nobody got hurt

 

[Phun70]

I wonder if one could build a gated shifter plate to place over the console?

 

[mike & juli]

Good of you to hop over to help out, ditto on being glad no one was hurt. ~juli

 

[Fatboy 18]

I wonder if one could build a gated shifter plate to place over the console?

Dont know, but it would be intresting to find out

Mark

 

[Martin]

I wonder if he had the stock shifter knob on the car. Before switching to an MGW knob, I missed a couple of shifts because that knob is just so darn tall - it's unusually easy to pull the shifter toward yourself too far when doing a 5-4 shift (and sometimes even a 3-4 upshift) and miss it. I really had to train myself to watch out for that in the beginning. Now it is just second nature, but I can see how someone would screw up.

 

[AZTVR]

Hopefully it didn't have brand new paintwork on it, like "someone" here just completed !

Wrong part of town though.

 

[JonB]

If you hold the shifter like a beer-can, with fingers pointed TOWARD you, it is more-likley that a mental error will cause you to pull the shifter TOWARD you and into a downshift.

If you "palm" the shifter, with your fingers parallel to the shaft, you are much less likley to make this error. You can even pronate your hand to point the fingers AWAY from you a bit, and minimize this chance even further.

GIve these techniques a look-see if you have a tendancy to downshift.....

 

[eucharistos]

good man for helping

 

[Fatboy 18]

If you hold the shifter like a beer-can, with fingers pointed TOWARD you, it is more-likley that a mental error will cause you to pull the shifter TOWARD you and into a downshift.

If you "palm" the shifter, with your fingers parallel to the shaft, you are much less likley to make this error. You can even pronate your hand to point the fingers AWAY from you a bit, and minimize this chance even further.

GIve these techniques a look-see if you have a tendancy to downshift.....

I shall give it a try

Mark

 

[Warfang]

If you hold the shifter like a beer-can, with fingers pointed TOWARD you, it is more-likley that a mental error will cause you to pull the shifter TOWARD you and into a downshift.

If you "palm" the shifter, with your fingers parallel to the shaft, you are much less likley to make this error. You can even pronate your hand to point the fingers AWAY from you a bit, and minimize this chance even further.

GIve these techniques a look-see if you have a tendancy to downshift.....

After hitting second a few times myself, I was told to shift to 4th "thumbs down". Never missed a shift since.

 

[EllowViper]

Been there...done that. Switch to a Hurst shifter and problem solved (mostly).

 

[dave6666]

I will cry into at least 12 ice cold long necks tonight in honor of the deceased (or injured) RED GTS.

In other news, Dave's car is now valued at $XX,***.XX + $100.

 

[01 RT SNAKE]

I don't have much more to relate about the incident and I hope that he's not mad that I reported on the board that he was involved in an accident. He looked busy trying to get stuff out of his car and the police were doing their thing. I didn't want to bother him, just offer my assistance if he needed anything. Nobody looked hurt.

I asked him if he got rear-ended (because that's what it looked like) and he replied, "no, I shifted into second and lost it". Judging from the skid marks, it looks like it could have been the dreaded 3-2 shift instead of a 3-4 shift. It's possible that once he lost it, the car behind him just whacked him in the rear. Anyone in north Phoenix here knows that cars going down Happy Valley are usually going 50+ mph. This is all speculation and I hope he or someone he knows posts on here to help us figure out what happened.

Mike

 

[Vic]

I usd to have trouble getting into third, during hard acceleration. I didnt go into 1st or 5th, just would sorta hit a blunt area, and not go into any gear. (I know, its not the exact same thing as trying to go from 3 to 4, and ending up in 2) But when I switched to Woodhouse motor mounts, the problem went away. One of my old motor mounts was cracked. I think the whole engine/tranny were rotating just enough for me to miss the "gate"

 

[Martin]

If you hold the shifter like a beer-can, with fingers pointed TOWARD you, it is more-likley that a mental error will cause you to pull the shifter TOWARD you and into a downshift.

If you "palm" the shifter, with your fingers parallel to the shaft, you are much less likley to make this error. You can even pronate your hand to point the fingers AWAY from you a bit, and minimize this chance even further.

GIve these techniques a look-see if you have a tendancy to downshift.....

Very true - when your hand is curled to the side like that, the natural tendency is to pull toward yourself when the muscles contract (beer can style - and I have even more experience pulling those toward myself than a shifter). I found the stock shifter to encourage holding it like a beer can - I'm used to reaching straight forward to grab the shifter, and the top of the stocker is so high that it was a little distracting to have to raise my hand to get on top of it. Just switching to one of the original MGW knobs did the trick - never screwed up after installing it.

Just as some trivia, the loader joystick on my backhoe is almost the exact same form factor as the stock shifter on my GTS. Not sure if the tractor company did better engineering than the Viper team, but for a front loader joystick, that form factor is ideal - something to grip onto when pulling back (raising) and easy to disengage from when lowering (pushing forward). As a shifter, I think it kind of bites a bit...

 

[AZViper08]

What a small world this is. I too was traveling westbound on Happy Valley and saw the aftermath of the accident. I think I know the person that owns the car and really hopes he's ok. If it is the person I'm thinking of, he had/has a Gen III as well and seemed to be a really nice guy. I thought about stopping, but it appeared everyone was out safely and it looked as if an off-duty or undercover officer was on-scene. Was glad to see everyone around the accident looked to be ok.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

If you hold the shifter like a beer-can, with fingers pointed TOWARD you, it is more-likley that a mental error will cause you to pull the shifter TOWARD you and into a downshift.

If you "palm" the shifter, with your fingers parallel to the shaft, you are much less likley to make this error. You can even pronate your hand to point the fingers AWAY from you a bit, and minimize this chance even further.

GIve these techniques a look-see if you have a tendancy to downshift.....

+1.

I love mastering the Viper shift because it gives me an advantage over those who don't know how.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Point your thumb down, elbow kicks out to the right and you'll never find 2nd when shifting to 4th.

 

[Newport Viper]

If you hold the shifter like a beer-can, with fingers pointed TOWARD you, it is more-likley that a mental error will cause you to pull the shifter TOWARD you and into a downshift.

If you "palm" the shifter, with your fingers parallel to the shaft, you are much less likley to make this error. You can even pronate your hand to point the fingers AWAY from you a bit, and minimize this chance even further.

GIve these techniques a look-see if you have a tendancy to downshift.....

Should be taped to the steering wheel of every Viper purchase......

 

[Scratch]

A friend drove by and took this shot of it (sorry, didn't re-size pic)

You must be registered for see images

 

[01 RT SNAKE]

Your friend is driivng a C6 Z06 isnt' he? I saw him coming the other way. Look in the mirror, see the yellow car at the light? That's me....

 

[Scratch]

That's him...I actually saw that car in the mirror and wondered if it was a Viper.

 

[Warfang]

A friend drove by and took this shot of it (sorry, didn't re-size pic)

You must be registered for see images

Is that gal far off there with him?

 

[MattInNC]

Is that gal far off there with him?

That's the 2nd thing I noticed after the wrecked car as well...

 

[Vipuronr]

Sorry about the Viper wreck, but as long as driver/passenger were okay...cars (difficult as it may seem) can be replaced.

Interesting discussion about hitting 2nd, as I too have done that. I do like the thumb down approach, palm facing to passenger side, as body will automatically press towards the passenger side, avoiding pulling it towards 2nd.

I'll have to try that next time I take it out for a spin.

Thanks.

 

[Nitro187]

A friend drove by and took this shot of it (sorry, didn't re-size pic)

You must be registered for see images

Judging by the pics, I wouldn't say it's written off... Probably about 10-15 grand damage, but not written off. And if he wasn't rear ended (shifted to 2nd like the driver claimed) what did he hit? I did this once, and was very lucky to press the clutch back in and regain control before I almost hit a curb... sooooo close!