The IL VCA meeting had started before I had arrived. I found my terrific friends, the Very Cool Scotty TOOOFST, his daughter, and Dennis aka ZX1100 at a table in the crowded room of Fudruckers restaurant and grabbed a seat. Its like a congregation at these meetings led by the VERY capable Bill Sampognaro who preaches to the quire of the latest happenings that involve events like Road Racing, Drag Racing and a Car show to name a few events. There was easily over a 100 to 200 people at this meeting that ranged from the ******** owners to entire families in attendance. When I sat down at the table I met our own local Version of a Viper owner with the name of Chuck aka Chuck 97 GTS. Our Chuck is VERY cool.(just like TVC) Our Chuck owns a pristine 97 Blue N White GTS that looked terrific out in the parking lot. The parking lot at last night’s meeting was mostly dominated by Blue N White GTSs. (Did I mention that I’m somewhat partial to Blue N Whites?) 
I also had the pleasure of meeting Paul Hedgel(sp?) who usually has the inside info on miniature scale Viper collectibles and is very knowledgeable about the Viper and other high performance cars as well. So the meeting continued on with updates and happenings of events that were to take place every two weeks. (NOTE: Check out www.illinoisvipers.com for the latest happenings of the IL/Wisc VCA outings). One of the pleasant surprises of last nights get together was meeting Ted Valaya who was in town visiting and decided to drop in on the IL VCA get together. He’s currently moving in / finishing his move into his new place / almost there. We spoke at great length his excellent work on that charcoal 2000 GTS with the Gen III brakes on it and he also has some other surprises up his sleeve that I’ll gladly let him elaborate on. I also got to meet a REAL track racer, Rob T/A 97 GTS (Also owns a 97 Blue N White GTS that was surgically clean!. Hmmm I think there’s a theme here..) who we both realized that we knew other racers and had that in common. His GTS had Belangers headers with 3” RandomTech Cats and a Corsa exhaust that sounded particularly sweet! No drone and all music to the ears. A great car!
THE SVS Surprise…
The other highlight of the evening besides running into all of those great people; was running into Ron Sr. and Ron Jr. of SVS. http://www.svspower.com/ I was at the meeting initially to write up a review of the rear mounted turbo Silver GTS that Jr. said would be at the meeting and wound up in the 2K3 Gen III 900+ RWHP/ 1000+ RWTP TT Silver SRT-10!! (WOW!) that belonged to their customer on the East Coast in NY. This opportunity was completely unexpected and greatly appreciated. Jr. asked me if I had ever been in a 900+ RWHP/ 1000+RWTQ car before and I told him that the closest thing I had ever been in was a small plane! This car was so refined that at idel the car sounded like a quiet burbling boat in a harbor or marina. When we went out for a test drive in the car on a private track near the restaurant, Jr. unexpectedly hammered the accelerator to barely over half throttle. Instantly I felt my legs rush off the floor in a hurry as I felt like I was going to get Violently Thrown out the sport window behind me!! I can’t even begin to explain as the backend got really squirrelly and I was having the TIME OF MY LIFE!! In attempting to describe the sensation I won’t be doing the car any justice. Just get a ride in this car! Its always been my belief that if the back end gets squirrelly the only way to snap it back in line is to Get On it! But What Do You Do when the Power just keeps coming and coming and your running out of room faster and faster?? and the back end is STILL Not Getting back in line!!?? The answer?… Get on those Big (stock) Gen III brakes that shut the car down Hard and brought it under control quickly! The car was so quiet on the inside that we were enjoying a conversation about the car’s statistics and capabilities (TRY THAT IN A SUPERCHARGED CAR!) We then came back in and met several others who were still in the parking lot and I explained that at 900+/1000+ RWHP/RWTQ the stock seatbelts were no more capable than a pair of shoestrings! GET SOME 5 PT. SIMPSON BELTS IN THAT CAR!!
I want to personally Thank Ron Jr. of SVS for the ride of a lifetime in that Very Civil Beast with the Monstrous TT under the hood.
In summary, I had a great Wed. evening, met Great People, spent time with the most ACTIVE VCA CHAPTER (Chris aka Y2K5SRT10 are you listening? ) that is always welcoming new members and enthusiasts ( Different events every two weeks now through Sept.) and hitched a ride on a Silver Twin Tornado piloted by one of the Midwest’s Best TT Drivers Ron Jr. of SVS and had a Great evening doing so.
Thanks to everyone in the IL-VCA for a Great Evening,
Jay K.
PS. Attached below is a pic of the Accomplished USAF Pilot and his fighterjet.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Paul Hedgel(sp?) who usually has the inside info on miniature scale Viper collectibles and is very knowledgeable about the Viper and other high performance cars as well. So the meeting continued on with updates and happenings of events that were to take place every two weeks. (NOTE: Check out www.illinoisvipers.com for the latest happenings of the IL/Wisc VCA outings). One of the pleasant surprises of last nights get together was meeting Ted Valaya who was in town visiting and decided to drop in on the IL VCA get together. He’s currently moving in / finishing his move into his new place / almost there. We spoke at great length his excellent work on that charcoal 2000 GTS with the Gen III brakes on it and he also has some other surprises up his sleeve that I’ll gladly let him elaborate on. I also got to meet a REAL track racer, Rob T/A 97 GTS (Also owns a 97 Blue N White GTS that was surgically clean!. Hmmm I think there’s a theme here..) who we both realized that we knew other racers and had that in common. His GTS had Belangers headers with 3” RandomTech Cats and a Corsa exhaust that sounded particularly sweet! No drone and all music to the ears. A great car! THE SVS Surprise…
The other highlight of the evening besides running into all of those great people; was running into Ron Sr. and Ron Jr. of SVS. http://www.svspower.com/ I was at the meeting initially to write up a review of the rear mounted turbo Silver GTS that Jr. said would be at the meeting and wound up in the 2K3 Gen III 900+ RWHP/ 1000+ RWTP TT Silver SRT-10!! (WOW!) that belonged to their customer on the East Coast in NY. This opportunity was completely unexpected and greatly appreciated. Jr. asked me if I had ever been in a 900+ RWHP/ 1000+RWTQ car before and I told him that the closest thing I had ever been in was a small plane! This car was so refined that at idel the car sounded like a quiet burbling boat in a harbor or marina. When we went out for a test drive in the car on a private track near the restaurant, Jr. unexpectedly hammered the accelerator to barely over half throttle. Instantly I felt my legs rush off the floor in a hurry as I felt like I was going to get Violently Thrown out the sport window behind me!!
I can’t even begin to explain as the backend got really squirrelly and I was having the TIME OF MY LIFE!! In attempting to describe the sensation I won’t be doing the car any justice. Just get a ride in this car! Its always been my belief that if the back end gets squirrelly the only way to snap it back in line is to Get On it! But What Do You Do when the Power just keeps coming and coming and your running out of room faster and faster?? and the back end is STILL Not Getting back in line!!?? The answer?… Get on those Big (stock) Gen III brakes that shut the car down Hard and brought it under control quickly! The car was so quiet on the inside that we were enjoying a conversation about the car’s statistics and capabilities (TRY THAT IN A SUPERCHARGED CAR!) We then came back in and met several others who were still in the parking lot and I explained that at 900+/1000+ RWHP/RWTQ the stock seatbelts were no more capable than a pair of shoestrings! GET SOME 5 PT. SIMPSON BELTS IN THAT CAR!! I want to personally Thank Ron Jr. of SVS for the ride of a lifetime in that Very Civil Beast with the Monstrous TT under the hood.
In summary, I had a great Wed. evening, met Great People, spent time with the most ACTIVE VCA CHAPTER (Chris aka Y2K5SRT10 are you listening?
) that is always welcoming new members and enthusiasts ( Different events every two weeks now through Sept.) and hitched a ride on a Silver Twin Tornado piloted by one of the Midwest’s Best TT Drivers Ron Jr. of SVS and had a Great evening doing so.Thanks to everyone in the IL-VCA for a Great Evening,
Jay K.
PS. Attached below is a pic of the Accomplished USAF Pilot and his fighterjet.
