Bugeater
Enthusiast
Just got back from the Viper Days event at Virginia International Raceway. Was a rather hot and humid affair, with temps at 92 on Friday through Sunday. I brought my 96 GTS that I normally would run with the VRL guys, but had my entire family there so I decided to put my passenger seat in and give fun runs the whole weekend. For reference, my car is an older GT-1 prepped car that was run by John Grieco on the west coast many years ago. I have upgraded to Stryker heads to stay competitive with some of the newer cars coming off the lots these days!
On the very first session of test-n-tune Friday I noticed an ominous black SRT coupe in front of me with a wing. It was hauling. I normally don’t get blessed with a “rabbit”, so instead of taking it easy and testing out my new brake setup (Dave’s big brakes in the rear, and some larger piston stoptech in the front) I decide to play chase. The black mystery coupe was laying waste to everything it approached, and I had a hell of a time staying on-bumper. Whatever it was it definitely walked me on the front and back straights. For 8 or so laps we played touch and go, and on the checker I pulled up beside and saw the ACR sticker. I thought so. Unbelievable car and driver.
I heard a rumor in the morning that there were 2 ACR’s coming to the track and 1 was “special”. The “special” variant had Jeff Mory port match the heads and add some other minor tweaks (like 2009 drive by wire logic) to enhance the car’s already stunning performance characteristics. This was done for the very special driver. Ralph Gilles. The Vice President of design studio 3, and chief designer of the Viper ACR. He is one heck of a racecar pilot, as he ran an SRT in 1-lap (but quickly made note that he wasn’t the one driving when it was wrecked!). Prior to the ACR he raced a red GTS.
For reference, he got to the track late Friday (towed it on an open trailer from Michigan), took it off and ran with the stock (soft settings) and turned a 2:09. (we both did). He managed to drop his time over the weekend with some setting changes to a best of 2:04!!!
I managed a best of 2:06. Those ******** put him in the unlimited class so I came home with second place and Ralph in 1st.
It is proven that this car with Hoosiers would run a 2 flat, or maybe even a 1:59. That my friends would win, or contend for podium, in the VRL race with the comp coupes.
The Driver – Ralph Gilles for those that don’t know has been working for Chrysler since 1992 straight out of college. You can thank GOD he is the one designing our fast cars, especially the ACR. Speaking with him and listening to him talk about design decisions behind this beast its obvious decisions were heavily influenced by function on-track, and compromises didn’t come cheap. He and the 7 engineers that gave us this car had a lot of autonomy. It probably helped that Ralph penned the 2005 car of the year. Don’t mess with success I guess. Did I say were lucky as ****?
He mentioned that the 2009 will not come with much significant changes over the 08. The “major” change would be the programming of the drive-by-wire logic. 99.9% of the drivers out there would not notice the differences he said, but the racers will. Rev matching will be “more exact” as well as throttle tip-in etc. I expect they are programming for the feel of a very light flywheel/clutch and how cable linkage reacts instantaneously with this type of hardware. Another point I found interesting is that he said he prefers a setup “less grounded” or planted in the rear. He likes it loose. I noticed when I was following him Sunday that the ACR’s assend was a lot more “skittish” so he obviously dialed that in. It obviously worked for him as his times dropped 5 fricken seconds. This was setup improvement, and not unfamiliarity with the track, as VIR is his favorite track to frequent, he mentioned.
So there you go guys and gals. Its one damn fine piece of machinery. I am jealous of Ralph, SoCal, Rocman and any other SOBs that have seat time. Its probably my next Viper. Guys still waiting, its worth the wait.
On the very first session of test-n-tune Friday I noticed an ominous black SRT coupe in front of me with a wing. It was hauling. I normally don’t get blessed with a “rabbit”, so instead of taking it easy and testing out my new brake setup (Dave’s big brakes in the rear, and some larger piston stoptech in the front) I decide to play chase. The black mystery coupe was laying waste to everything it approached, and I had a hell of a time staying on-bumper. Whatever it was it definitely walked me on the front and back straights. For 8 or so laps we played touch and go, and on the checker I pulled up beside and saw the ACR sticker. I thought so. Unbelievable car and driver.
I heard a rumor in the morning that there were 2 ACR’s coming to the track and 1 was “special”. The “special” variant had Jeff Mory port match the heads and add some other minor tweaks (like 2009 drive by wire logic) to enhance the car’s already stunning performance characteristics. This was done for the very special driver. Ralph Gilles. The Vice President of design studio 3, and chief designer of the Viper ACR. He is one heck of a racecar pilot, as he ran an SRT in 1-lap (but quickly made note that he wasn’t the one driving when it was wrecked!). Prior to the ACR he raced a red GTS.
For reference, he got to the track late Friday (towed it on an open trailer from Michigan), took it off and ran with the stock (soft settings) and turned a 2:09. (we both did). He managed to drop his time over the weekend with some setting changes to a best of 2:04!!!
I managed a best of 2:06. Those ******** put him in the unlimited class so I came home with second place and Ralph in 1st.
It is proven that this car with Hoosiers would run a 2 flat, or maybe even a 1:59. That my friends would win, or contend for podium, in the VRL race with the comp coupes.
The Driver – Ralph Gilles for those that don’t know has been working for Chrysler since 1992 straight out of college. You can thank GOD he is the one designing our fast cars, especially the ACR. Speaking with him and listening to him talk about design decisions behind this beast its obvious decisions were heavily influenced by function on-track, and compromises didn’t come cheap. He and the 7 engineers that gave us this car had a lot of autonomy. It probably helped that Ralph penned the 2005 car of the year. Don’t mess with success I guess. Did I say were lucky as ****?
He mentioned that the 2009 will not come with much significant changes over the 08. The “major” change would be the programming of the drive-by-wire logic. 99.9% of the drivers out there would not notice the differences he said, but the racers will. Rev matching will be “more exact” as well as throttle tip-in etc. I expect they are programming for the feel of a very light flywheel/clutch and how cable linkage reacts instantaneously with this type of hardware. Another point I found interesting is that he said he prefers a setup “less grounded” or planted in the rear. He likes it loose. I noticed when I was following him Sunday that the ACR’s assend was a lot more “skittish” so he obviously dialed that in. It obviously worked for him as his times dropped 5 fricken seconds. This was setup improvement, and not unfamiliarity with the track, as VIR is his favorite track to frequent, he mentioned.
So there you go guys and gals. Its one damn fine piece of machinery. I am jealous of Ralph, SoCal, Rocman and any other SOBs that have seat time. Its probably my next Viper. Guys still waiting, its worth the wait.
we drove a 45 minute race and when it was all said and done, I lost 4 #'s of h2O and thought that I had been cooked like a turkey. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. It was great having Ralph and Tom Francis attending the event, what a great group of guys.
. As I got to know the track better on Sunday it seemed conditions were deteriorating due to the heat and all the junk put down by the mis-haps. It was really great having Ralph there, he is so easy to approch and talk to. We truly are a bunch of lucky SOB's, to have guys like Ralph out and hanging with us. Ralph is out promoting his passion and his company. BTW the 2009 RAM truck is awsome. I think it is time to say good-bye to my 175000 mile 2000 Durango.
