Viper vs Motorcycle

[Carleton]

Ok, How about this.

For you guys that have been up the Los Angeles Crest turns you know it's a road with alot of twists and turns. A brisk trek thru there and your doing anywhere from 30mph-70mph or more. My question is... driver skill being equal, can a Viper, stock or modified keep up with those sport bikes. I've been up there many times and I say no way. What say you?

 

[Scott_in_FL]

No way.

Scott
Florida CCS#700
1000cc Supersport
750cc Supersport

 

[twinturbo3150]

lets say you have 1 of the Hayden bother's, NO WAY!!!!!!

 

[Newport Viper]

BUTTON WILLOW RACEWAY
April 1 & 2, 2006

Unlimited Time Points
Michael Greenberg 2:05.134 301
Fred Kinder 2:17.738 281
Ed Robertson 2:22.709 269
Dan Everts 2:29.086 241
Super Modified Time Points
John Weigel 2:11.153 306
David Mc Nichol 2:25.264 282
David Andrews 2:26.390 265
Diane Mould 2:28.230 249
Steven Molnar 2:39.853 229
Modified Time Points
David Nagy 2:14.326 300
Paul Minor 2:17.314 282
Mark Alger 2:20.673 268
Michael von Quilich 2:22.443 243
Lee Walters 2:23.332 220
David Green 2:25.976 201
Scott Muzzy 2:33.900 190
Michael Dolan 2:40.591 180
Maricela Elizondo-Nagy 2:44.029 170
Laurie Bolard 2:48.092 160
Virginia Von Quilich 3:02.339 153




#17 - 750 SUPERBIKE
Pos Pts AFM # Lic Name Mk/Yr Best Lap
1 75 315 E RAPP, STEVE S04 1:47:546
2 68 1 E STANTON, DAVID S04 1:49:746
3 62 6 E BAWDEN, JON S03 1:50:028
4 57 394 E GULBRANSEN, ERIC D05 1:50:585
5 52 86 E CAMPBELL, ROBERT S05 1:51:727
6 47 807 E GRANT, JEREMIAH J. S05 1:53:943
7 43 122 E WIERMAN, CRAIG S03 1:55:696
8 40 142 E O'SULLIVAN, PETER S04 1:55:545
9 37 367 E KLATT, BOB S03 1:56:979
10 35 107 E PARIZI, BOBBY S02 1:56:488

 

[rcl4668]

Age old question . . . bike vs. car. A few years ago a British TV Show (Top Gear I think) pitted a superbike against a Porsche 911 (base model -- not the turbo). The course was fairly shorty and twisty; the bike was faster in the straights but because the car was better in the corners (four larger contact patches at four corners versus two smaller contact patches in a straight line), the 911 actually beat the superbike . . .but barely. Thge narrator said that the outcome would probably have been different if the course was straighter (more high speed sweepers etc).

/Rich

 

[SnakeBitten]

They did a test with the C5 z06 vs a superbike on some roadcourse awhile back in one of the mags...I believe the Z05 won if memory serves..All depends on track...But usually the bike will win..

 

[HOGDEALER]

Take a good sport bike rider and a good Viper driver (Bobby Archer) and if the Viper got ahead of the sport bike, the Viper would win. The sport bike would never be able to get around a good defensive driver. The sport bike acellerates off the corners faster than the car. If the bike got ahead the bike would win.

 

[RoadiJeff]

They did a test with the C5 z06 vs a superbike on some road course awhile back in one of the mags

I remember reading a motorcycle (I pedal a BIKE 34 miles round trip to work each day) vs a certain Chevy bowtie car shootout in Motorcyclist magazine about 10 years or so ago. They did 4-5 tests, including a road course - I think it was Willow Springs - and the only time the car came out on top was on the g-force skidpad.

These were not professional racers but it was a head-to-head contest against each other's magazine. I think Car & Driver was the car magazine. The only rule was that the selected driver or rider had to be a regular employee of the magazine.

 

[DEADEYE]

I remember a motordycle mag did that test. They put race tires on the bike but the Z06 tires were so so. The bike won. Then the vette magazine got pissed because they used the bike bike driver to pilot the car too. The vette mag came back and used thier driver on better tires. They never beat the bikes time but the vette did take the turns faster. I'd safely assume that a C6 Z would turn the tide.

 

[Scott_in_FL]

Guys, it ain't gonna happen. I suppose the quality of rider and driver may swing it if you took two opposite extremes (poor bike rider, great driver). However, if they are both excellent at their skill, a Viper is not going to win on the road that you described. It might end up in a tree, but it ain't gonna win. Cars do have an advantage mid-corner with better traction and higher speeds, but the bike will accelerate harder, brake faster, and be more flickable through esses or other sweepers. The car has the best chance at very high speeds.

But, I will also agree that it is unlikely either would be able to stick a pass on the other a twisty road unless both lanes were closed to oncoming traffic. Hell, I sometime find it tough to pass a pickup truck on a tight road like that, becuase your passing zones are all leading into blind turns (typically because these are mountain roads).

We go to Deals Gap and Two Wheels Only in GA and NC with the bikes quite often (2-3 times/yr for nearly 15 years now) and it is not uncommon to see cars that end up going off the turns because they were trying to keep up with bikes (of course, plenty of bikes eat it too).

I still would take that challenge on a closed course. If anyone can set it up for Homestead, Moroso, or JenningsGP, in the FL, I'll bring a few well-prepped racebikes and we can test the theory. We could set up bike cams and car cams to get some great video. Hell, we could get some other supercars out and really have a ball.

 

[DEADEYE]

B-b-but F1 cars are faster than superbikes. lol.

 

[Daddy Long Stroke]

A Formula 1 car is CRAZY fast. So fast, that it will LAP a Moto GP bike (The baddest of the bad) every 4 to 5 laps.

-Thats fast.

A motorcycle magazine tested a Z06 against a GSXR 1000 a few years back, both driven by Kevin Schwantz, who had switched to racing cars at that point. It wasn't even close. The GSXR 1000 was faster in every single place on the track- even the slow, tight corners.

 

[Topawam]

I do not want to hijack the thread, but I feel the driving of the Viper very similar to a sportbike. The Viper was my first car, and after 15 years of riding bikes, I feel very confortable at the wheel of the Viper.
As far as racing one against the other, there is, in my opinion, way to many criteria to give the advantage one way.

 

[Shelby3]

I've always wondered how much of a head start you would have to give a quarter horse running against a Viper in the quarter mile to make it a good race.

 

[Scott_in_FL]

1 horsepower motor compared to 510 hp motor? Is that even close to fair?

And yes, an F1 car will flat out decimate anything else on wheels around a roadcourse. There's nothing even close.

 

[Daddy Long Stroke]

I've always wondered how much of a head start you would have to give a quarter horse running against a Viper in the quarter mile to make it a good race.

5 Seconds.

 

[SweetRed04]

The bike will win.

Modern 600cc and larger Sportbikes offer virtual racebike performance.

On virtually ANY street (or track setting) the bike is limited by the rider. But even a fair rider can use the bike's extreme performance capability to stay ahead of nearly any factory produced street legal car.

2001 Yamaha R6
1993 Kawasaki ZX-6 (stationed in NH for when I vacation there)

 

[RoadiJeff]

Guys, it mostly comes down to the power-to-weight ratio. A sub 400 lb sport motorcycle with 150-160 hp has a huge power-to-weight advantage over a 3,400 lb car with 500 hp.

 

[Racer Robbie]

Back in the 70's we did a test with the superbikes of the time against my enduro kart, that had 2 engines on it, at the old Loudon road course which is now New Hampshire International Speedway. It wasw a real tight 1.6 mile course. I beat them every time and it was believed that it was because of my 4 wide racing slicks on the kart. We were both about the same weight. It would be interesting to have a rematch between the new super bikes and a new shifter kart.