Pseudo-Intrepids, LMP Reynards. LETS RACE VIPERS!

[JonB]

Tommy Archer made a great point at dinner Saturday:

"We might not be racing real Vipers, but the public thinks of them as Vipers. We're not beating "real" Jaguars, out there, for that matter." Pseudo-Vettes are out there as well. Pseudo Intrepids, Tauruses, MonteCarlos, etc, fly the manufacturer flag, rebodied in the flavor of the day.

Viper's next FLAVOR is GEN-III (VGX.) Why not rebody a WINNING TRANS AM TEAM now, for the 2002 season, with a VGX-bodied racer? Kick butt BEFORE the Gen-III even hits the streets??

 

[JBenko]

Jon,

AWESOME IDEA !!! Not a huge cost to DC yet it gets the VGX out there in front of us CBS & Speedvision junkies. Trans Am is an excellent way to put forth the Viper image. Short of LeMans and F1 its probably the most watched road racing venue in the US. With the support that Panoz has put into the league ($$$$) it's definitely an up and coming venue. How about it DC ???

 

[JBenko]

Team Cinjo / Archer have finished in the top 5 In 6 of the 7 races this season. They just won the Portland race 2 days ago. If not for an injury, a broken axle, and a clogged fuel filter they very well might have had 3 more wins. All this from a 1st year team. Pretty spectacular start for any team !

 

[Nadine UK GTS]

I was only just wondering when is the new GenIII GTS-R going to make it's racing debut, anyone know? Will we see it at Le Mans...next year??

 

[Steve Ferguson]

The Viper racing program is about to make a major announcement within the next few weeks. Everything posted on this thread will be addressed.

 

[Frank 03SRT]

Steve, I can only imagine, and can't wait to hear the news. You sure are injecting some excitement here. Maybe I won't have to watch GM waiting near the end of a race to insure they don't break.

 

[Guyver1]

Pleeeez oh pleeeeeez, let it be something big involving the Gen III racing Proggie.

 

[JonB]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nadine UK GTS:
I was only just wondering when is the new GenIII GTS-R going to make it's racing debut, anyone know? Will we see it at Le Mans...next year??

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nadine........... I will bet that the GTS-R will survive in limited numbers, as it has.....with 35+ built to date. Expensive, bonafide race teams. etc. But in WHAT body? I hope the new GTS-R is based on the concept / Gen III Viper.

Would be kinda dumb to race the old body.

 

[Guyver1]

Well, I would think that they would use the Gen III body for the new GTS/R (or GTS R/T as they're calling it now). It has much better aero (which was a shortfall of the old GTS/R's) and my guess would be it would also be a much improved high-speed handler. If a full race, hardtop version is used, I'd be willing to bet it would be more worried about the speed of the Saleen's than the C5R's.

 

[Jim Hodel]

Sorry, while I think Trans Am is fun racing to watch. I just can't get excited about a V8 powered tube frame Viper look alike race car.

I'm much more interested in SCCA T1 Viper racing then I am in the Trans Am 'Viper'. If Dodge/ORECA doesn't make a new ALMS GTS entry out of the new Viper it will be a shame.

Jim