Viper vs WRX STi (surprising outcome)

treynor

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 8, 2000
Posts
1,983
Reaction score
0
Location
Redwood City, CA
I was up at Sacramento Raceway last night for the Sep11 Grudge Night drags, driving my wife's '03 SRT/10 Viper on drag radials, and while there ran into a very clean white WRX STi and got to chatting with its owner. He turned out to have a turbo conversion, engine management system, upgraded fuel system, and some other odds & ends. We decided to do a couple runs. Little did I know that the STi would be my closest races all evening, and my only losses out of 20 passes!

Our first race was in the 95F heat of the afternoon. When the lights turned green, the STi leapt out to a quick 2-carlength lead (jumping the gun slightly, as it turned out), and I was in the unfamiliar position of having to play catch up all the way down the track. I finally reeled him in on the big end, but the race was waaaay closer than I had expected, and I knew that there would be trouble when the temps dropped and the boosted STi picked up power

You must be registered for see images


The next race was a nail-biter! The STi got an incredible holeshot and leapt to an early lead, while with the cooler temps the Viper just spun when I launched, and I had to pedal the throttle. Once again playing catch-up, I started reeling the STi in by half track and we were neck and neck as we approached the timing lights. In the end the STi was a few hundredths ahead of the SRT, and the timeslip reflected the win.

You must be registered for see images


We were both so pumped by this race that we immediately lined up to go again. This race my launch was better but my R/T was worse, and the STi combined an incredible .011 R/T with a great launch to run his best pass of the evening and beat me (again!!) by a clear 0.1 secs at the timing lights despite my faster pass. Arrrgh!!

You must be registered for see images


Video: http://www.treynor.com/SRT-WRX.wmv

OK, now I wanted revenge Before our final run I practiced my launch a bit while the STi cooled off, and when we lined up for the final pass I was ready. My pass had a great RT and a good 60', and the STi made it easy on me by jumping the gun; by half-track the STi had missed a shift and given up. I don't mind saying I felt good that I was leaving the field of battle with a 2-2 score.

You must be registered for see images


If no one buys it before next Grudge night, I'll have to pay him a visit in the Yellow DLM beastie and see how an extra 650HP affects the outcomes :laugh:
 

Viper23

Viper Owner
Joined
Feb 10, 2004
Posts
389
Reaction score
0
I see a lot of those STIs here. They are really quick off the line and will get the jump almost all the time because they are AWD. At a roll, I am sure they will be no problem.
 

AviP

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 7, 2000
Posts
2,288
Reaction score
6
Location
New Canaan, CT
I don't mind saying I felt good that I was leaving the field of battle with a 2-2 score.
Looks like 4-0 in favor of the Viper in terms of E.T. So why didn't you win? :confused:
 

Custom Builder

Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Posts
136
Reaction score
0
Location
Nebraska
Same question here. Looks like the viper won all races. I've raced a couple of those things with bov, intercooler, turbo mods and destroyed them with pilots. The fastest one had about 400hp. You did some good driving by the look of your times.
 

Jerome Sparich

Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 16, 2001
Posts
1,183
Reaction score
0
RT + ET = Winner (lowest combined without going red)

Real racing, not racing timeslips or dyno numbers
 
OP
OP
T

treynor

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 8, 2000
Posts
1,983
Reaction score
0
Location
Redwood City, CA
Look at the reaction time. While the SRT was a bit quicker on all the runs, the STi won on RT twice and red-lighted twice.

The car I was racing was making 500HP at the crank (according to the owner) and given his MPH in the 1/4, I believe it was close to that.
 

Bonkers

VCA Venom Member
Venom Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2002
Posts
5,326
Reaction score
75
Location
DelaWhere? USA
RT + ET = Winner (lowest combined without going red)

With all due respect it sounds to me like a case of slow driver, not slow car.

Still, terms of scoring aside, looks like you had a fun night.
 
OP
OP
T

treynor

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 8, 2000
Posts
1,983
Reaction score
0
Location
Redwood City, CA
:p It was a case of "need some practice with the current setup". The STi redlighted half his runs; I was consistently .20 - .25 until I got some runs under my belt, at which point I started running .01 - .15.

What I -really- need is a line lock. And maybe a supercharger...
 

Snakester

Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Posts
1,775
Reaction score
0
Location
Morgan Hill
Actually, they were good runs Ben, it's just that he was cutting the light closer (with mixed results). Were you running with the drag radials?
 
Top