VIPERSPEED ENJOYS A BIG WEEKEND AS ARCHER CLINCHES DIVISION

[Rich Wesorick]

Bobby Archer won the T1 race at the inaugural SCCA Grand Prix of Texas at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in Ft. Worth this past weekend, and in doing so clinched the Southwest Division Championship for the second straight year. The victory was Bobby’s sixth win in 2002 in his No. 32 ViperSpeed Racing/Bobby Archer Motorsports Dodge Viper GTS, which is sponsored by SuperClubs Resorts and The Lodge. By winning his Division and winning the T1 race at the SCCA June Sprints last month, Archer is the only T1 driver who can claim the prestigious SCCA Triple Crown with a victory in the T1 National Championship race at the SCCA Valvoline Run-Offs at Mid-Ohio in September.

Not surprisingly, Archer started from the pole in Sunday’s National T1 race after setting a track record qualifying time that was over two seconds faster than the nearest T1 competitor. The 23 lap race on the 2.3 mile road course at TMS was by no means easy for Archer though. As usual, a large field (46 cars) of multiple classes of cars (GT1, GT2, GT3, AS, T1 and T2) made for a challenging race. Further, chicanes at the beginning and the end of the infield straight-aways caused a lot of bunching up. Despite being knocked sideways by a GT3 car in one of the chicanes midway through the race, Archer was able to negotiate his way through the bottlenecks at the chicanes and hold off the rest of the T1 field to claim the victory.

Archer was not the only ViperSpeed driver who had a good weekend though, as Dr. Deborah Loth and Dan Knox also both faired quite well at the Grand Prix of Texas. Dr. Loth entered and won the Regional race on Saturday, and finished second behind Archer in the National race on Sunday. Meanwhile, Knox was third in the Regional race on Saturday, and finished fourth in his very first National race on Sunday. All in all, it was a terrific weekend for the ViperSpeed team, especially since TMS is just minutes from Archer’s race shop and the drivers had lots of fans come out to watch them race. With an estimated 40,000 people in attendance over the course of the weekend, the Grand Prix of Texas was itself a huge success.

Having clinched his Division title, Archer is likely done racing until the Run-Offs. With her second place finish on Sunday, Dr. Loth stretched her lead in the Midwest Division and need only run one or two more races between now and the Run-Offs, assuming she does well in those races. Dan Knox will also be taking a shot at getting qualified for the Run-Offs by competing in several T1 races in July and August. More information on all of the ViperSpeed drivers can be found at www.bobbyarchermotorsports.com and www.viperspeed.com.

 

[Toronto_ACR]

Can you please tell me what other cars are the vipers competing in with.what are the qualification rules that the vipers have to adhere to. what is the difference from T1 and the GT classes

thanks

 

[Rich Wesorick]

Toronto:

In T1, the Vipers (and there are few of them at that this year) are racing mostly against Corvette's (Z06's). Other cars legal for T1 include the Ferrari 355C, Porsche 911 (not sure what particular model though), Mustang Cobra (at least it was last year), and GM F-body cars. I don't know about cars like the M3, the Audi S4, and the NSX...

To list the rules the Viper has to adhere to would take way too long, but the GCR is available from SCCA in print. The bottom line though is that T1 cars are supposed to be fairly stock, but with the required safety equipment plus DOT racing tires. The motors must be built to stock specs with OEM parts. The Viper is required to run with 55mm inlet restrictors and, depending on how much stuff has been stripped off the car, may require that ballast be added to meet the minimum weight.

Not sure which GT class you're referring to, but the GT cars in SCCA Club Racing are basically Trans-Am cars (tube frame, purpose built race cars). In SPEED World Challenge, the GT cars started as production vehicles, but have been modified quite a bit and are significantly faster (and more expensive to prepare and maintain) than a T1 car. In ALMS, the GT cars are mostly factory built race cars. Finally, the GT1 class in Viper Days is very similar to WCGT, but with a few more mods allowed (like aero), while GT2 is for Vipers built to T1 specs.

Hope this helps,
Rich

 

[GTS Bruce]

Sure hope the Vipers have some kind of decent rain tires for the run offs this year.Last year they were getting lapped by corvetts.Had my car out in the rain 2 weeks ago.First time in heavy rain not just a sprinkle.The michelins were so bad in standing and puddled water I said never again.Better to walk or pull off and have dinner and a drink than to fight that thing in the rain.I am surprised Archer didn't say scrxw this and pull off last year.Being slow and trying to keep up with an evil handling car is for guys and girls a lot more skilful and dedicated than I. Bruce