JBenko
Enthusiast
Archers \"Problematic Viper\"
Wow, been a long time since I've posted here ! Anyhow, this last week I was at Brainerd Int'l. Raceway and was suprised by a Visit from John Archer and Russ Meyer. They were there to do some trackside magic on another MN Viper owners car. In their trailer they had brought along a suprise - their highly modified Blue & White GTS.
I was extremely honored when John asked if I would "mind" taking a couple of people for a ride in it around the track. With great arm twisting (NOT!) I agreed.
Driving this car around Brainerd I can only say that I found it to be "problematic"
Problem #1 - About 3/4 from the end of the main straight I looked down and noticed that we were going 164 mph. This was a problem since at the rate we were still accelerating we would easily hit 175 before turning in. The almighty himself wouldn't want to carry much more than a buck and a half through turn one on street tires. As my passenger did the holy cross maneuver I lifted and tapped the brakes. *NOTE* In my fairly modified 96 RT/10 (headers, flywheel, shocks, top, sway bars, smooth tubes, roll bar, etc.) I have seen a maximum of 161 at the end of this straight. Caldwell with the new Archer headers = MAJOR POWER !!!
Problem #2 - The brakes. I have been at this track a half dozen times and have fairly decent braking points established in my car. In this beast with its monster calipers and aftermarket ABS I constantly found myself braking, launching the teeth out of my head, and then coasting to the turn in. Problem - I need to establish a whole new set of braking points.
Problem #3 - It's too easy. The shock / spring / set up on this car are so spot on that its incredibly easy to drive incredibly fast. A friend of mine normally comes through turn 2 at 105 mph. As we went through it in the Blue beast he asked how fast we were going - we were at 132 ! Remember, we were on street tires !!!
Problem #4 - The distraction of the multitude of Corvette club drivers who are leaning over the wall at turn 10 to take pictures of us as we blow by. **** papparazzi ...
Problem #5 - I'm sure that my idea of selling the kids on ebay in order to buy this car will turn out to have some group of bleading heart liberals in a tizzy.
Problem #6 - I had to give the car back. Oh man, what a sweet ride...
I know there are several Viper Days regulars out there who have driven this car. All I can say is if you are serious about road racing you really need to check out the work they have done to this thing.
Wow, been a long time since I've posted here ! Anyhow, this last week I was at Brainerd Int'l. Raceway and was suprised by a Visit from John Archer and Russ Meyer. They were there to do some trackside magic on another MN Viper owners car. In their trailer they had brought along a suprise - their highly modified Blue & White GTS.
I was extremely honored when John asked if I would "mind" taking a couple of people for a ride in it around the track. With great arm twisting (NOT!) I agreed.
Driving this car around Brainerd I can only say that I found it to be "problematic"
Problem #1 - About 3/4 from the end of the main straight I looked down and noticed that we were going 164 mph. This was a problem since at the rate we were still accelerating we would easily hit 175 before turning in. The almighty himself wouldn't want to carry much more than a buck and a half through turn one on street tires. As my passenger did the holy cross maneuver I lifted and tapped the brakes. *NOTE* In my fairly modified 96 RT/10 (headers, flywheel, shocks, top, sway bars, smooth tubes, roll bar, etc.) I have seen a maximum of 161 at the end of this straight. Caldwell with the new Archer headers = MAJOR POWER !!!
Problem #2 - The brakes. I have been at this track a half dozen times and have fairly decent braking points established in my car. In this beast with its monster calipers and aftermarket ABS I constantly found myself braking, launching the teeth out of my head, and then coasting to the turn in. Problem - I need to establish a whole new set of braking points.
Problem #3 - It's too easy. The shock / spring / set up on this car are so spot on that its incredibly easy to drive incredibly fast. A friend of mine normally comes through turn 2 at 105 mph. As we went through it in the Blue beast he asked how fast we were going - we were at 132 ! Remember, we were on street tires !!!
Problem #4 - The distraction of the multitude of Corvette club drivers who are leaning over the wall at turn 10 to take pictures of us as we blow by. **** papparazzi ...
Problem #5 - I'm sure that my idea of selling the kids on ebay in order to buy this car will turn out to have some group of bleading heart liberals in a tizzy.
Problem #6 - I had to give the car back. Oh man, what a sweet ride...
I know there are several Viper Days regulars out there who have driven this car. All I can say is if you are serious about road racing you really need to check out the work they have done to this thing.
