Bob Woodhouse
Enthusiast
"So Howdjyalikeit?" That was the most common way people introduced themselves to the Comp Coupe owners over the week-end at Thunderhill last Saturday and Sunday.
First I must tell you how fortunate I feel for being the owner of one of these beasts. Eric Petersen, Tommy Archer, John Fernandez and the other couple hundred people that developed this car-you did good! To bring us this car anywhere under 150 grand (actually much less than that) and give us the performance and safety it commands, is no less than a high water mark on the wall of racing history-thank you.
The PVO team was there to make sure the inaugeral outing of the first few Coupes went well. We needed them, no question, but it did go smooth for the most part. One issue that is now behind most of us was the potential to lose some oil pressure in high G-load situations. They recently devised and installed a swing oil pick-up tube along with a modified pan to correct the situation and our Motec data acquisition proved that they have this completely fixed. They brought the parts out to the track with them and did the installs all during the week-end.
I am still adapting to this car, after spending 3 years with a GT-1 spec Viper, and being an old guy that learns slow, well you get it. In comparison, the Coupe has a little more corner speed, a little more power, a lot more brakes and a much higher spring rate. A well driven GT-1 and a well driven Comp Coupe will lap from 1.5 to 4 seconds apart. No you don't need to ask, of course the coupe is faster. The coupe gives you the feeling you could thread the proverbial needle at speed, a very deliberate, go where you "want" feeling.
Brakes, "oh my god" brakes, I repeated that statement several times through the week-end. When in trouble, ie. in too deep, hold your foot steady, and let the ABS do its job of saving your skinny [******] from offing the corner. If you are Rob Foster you calmly drive an outside line and give all that watch one of those "I did that on purpose looks". If you know Rob, that chances to be true.
Our GT-1's had small clutches and light flywheels which gave them an instant power feeling, the coupe does not share that feeling. This makes you think the coupe is equal or slower but the end of the straight-away speeds indicate that is not the case. Cornering power is amazing, hmm, I need to get my neck in shape. One uphill turn at Thunder was giving us 1.7 G-load readings, do remember we have gravity on our side in that corner.
The car is near neutral and one can rotate the platform with throttle modulation. A slight oversteer at mid to corner exit had us playing with shock settings, rake, wing load and it was satisfying that we could effect it.
I hope those of you who aren't getting Coupes will come out and watch them, as anyone who owns a Viper will be very proud. Surprisingly, these cars carry nearly stock power train and suspension pieces, a testament to the potential Dodge PVO has put in all Vipers.
Keep your eyes on the fast guys as they bring these cars up to speed; Rob Foster, the McCann brothers, Paul Mumford, Phil Delao, Rich Bontempi, Erik Messley, and others have been hustling Vipers around tracks for a number of years and I expect they will continue to pull speed out of these cars as they get more familiar. Previous years proved that as Viper GT-1 and GT-2 track records kept falling each consecutive year.
An interesting side bar: I think the year was 1997 when Neil Hennemann drove the first Le-Mans destined GTS-R at a Viper outing at Gingerman Race track (goaded into it by Steve Ferguson, of coarse)and the lap time was 1min 22seconds. Tommy drove the Comp Coupe at that track during the development process last year, and you guessed it, he ran 1 min 22 seconds, granted the two cars are different, but these are both exceptional drivers and it was interestingly coincidental that the times matched.
First I must tell you how fortunate I feel for being the owner of one of these beasts. Eric Petersen, Tommy Archer, John Fernandez and the other couple hundred people that developed this car-you did good! To bring us this car anywhere under 150 grand (actually much less than that) and give us the performance and safety it commands, is no less than a high water mark on the wall of racing history-thank you.
The PVO team was there to make sure the inaugeral outing of the first few Coupes went well. We needed them, no question, but it did go smooth for the most part. One issue that is now behind most of us was the potential to lose some oil pressure in high G-load situations. They recently devised and installed a swing oil pick-up tube along with a modified pan to correct the situation and our Motec data acquisition proved that they have this completely fixed. They brought the parts out to the track with them and did the installs all during the week-end.
I am still adapting to this car, after spending 3 years with a GT-1 spec Viper, and being an old guy that learns slow, well you get it. In comparison, the Coupe has a little more corner speed, a little more power, a lot more brakes and a much higher spring rate. A well driven GT-1 and a well driven Comp Coupe will lap from 1.5 to 4 seconds apart. No you don't need to ask, of course the coupe is faster. The coupe gives you the feeling you could thread the proverbial needle at speed, a very deliberate, go where you "want" feeling.
Brakes, "oh my god" brakes, I repeated that statement several times through the week-end. When in trouble, ie. in too deep, hold your foot steady, and let the ABS do its job of saving your skinny [******] from offing the corner. If you are Rob Foster you calmly drive an outside line and give all that watch one of those "I did that on purpose looks". If you know Rob, that chances to be true.
Our GT-1's had small clutches and light flywheels which gave them an instant power feeling, the coupe does not share that feeling. This makes you think the coupe is equal or slower but the end of the straight-away speeds indicate that is not the case. Cornering power is amazing, hmm, I need to get my neck in shape. One uphill turn at Thunder was giving us 1.7 G-load readings, do remember we have gravity on our side in that corner.
The car is near neutral and one can rotate the platform with throttle modulation. A slight oversteer at mid to corner exit had us playing with shock settings, rake, wing load and it was satisfying that we could effect it.
I hope those of you who aren't getting Coupes will come out and watch them, as anyone who owns a Viper will be very proud. Surprisingly, these cars carry nearly stock power train and suspension pieces, a testament to the potential Dodge PVO has put in all Vipers.
Keep your eyes on the fast guys as they bring these cars up to speed; Rob Foster, the McCann brothers, Paul Mumford, Phil Delao, Rich Bontempi, Erik Messley, and others have been hustling Vipers around tracks for a number of years and I expect they will continue to pull speed out of these cars as they get more familiar. Previous years proved that as Viper GT-1 and GT-2 track records kept falling each consecutive year.
An interesting side bar: I think the year was 1997 when Neil Hennemann drove the first Le-Mans destined GTS-R at a Viper outing at Gingerman Race track (goaded into it by Steve Ferguson, of coarse)and the lap time was 1min 22seconds. Tommy drove the Comp Coupe at that track during the development process last year, and you guessed it, he ran 1 min 22 seconds, granted the two cars are different, but these are both exceptional drivers and it was interestingly coincidental that the times matched.
