Track Rat Registry

[Bruce H.]

I suspect there may be a lot more Gen V owners who have tracked their cars than get mentioned on the forum...or who would like to. It may be that they live near to others, and newbies could benefit from meeting up with others at a track event to help get started in this passion. Let's see whose into autox, drag racing. and road course lapping days, time trials and road racing... along with a little background info.


I started with a Car Control School gift certificate from my wife for Xmas, then on to BMW and PCA HPDE's starting around 2002, and have been doing mostly open lapping days ever since at many different tracks in the eastern US and Canada. I got into high performance driving as a way to more fully enjoy the sports cars I had previously collected, but otherwise rarely used, and modified them as needed for track use durability and increased performance . Then I started specifically looking for cars that I liked that could be tracked without modifications, and that led me to the Gen V. I find the car perfect for this track use, and a pleasure to enjoy on the road for more daily and weekend use.

[FrankBarba]

they might not talk about it for insurance reasons...most do not want to purchase track insurance.

[VENOM V]

I'm a track rat as well, it's fair to say that I am addicted to road courses. I started tracking seriously a little over a year ago. Since then, I have over two dozen track days under my belt. I started out with a Ron Fellows Level I ZR1 School (to learn in a similar beast to the Viper). That was it, a switch was thrown. Obsessed. I went back to Ron Fellows for Level 2, then did a two-day private lesson in the Viper. I've tracked the Viper at Laguna Seca, Sonoma, Buttonwillow, Thunderhill and Spring Mountain.

I help organize several track events a year for the NorCal Viper Club. We have 13+ Vipers already signed up for an unlimited-dB Laguna Seca 9/21, everything from beginners to experts, driving all gens from stock to full Viper race cars of various flavors, Competition Coupes, a GTS-R, Etc. We have a lot of fun. We also have an event planned at Sonoma Raceway 10/9. We are organizing some big west coast events here in CA for 2014, stay tuned.

I also have a Camaro that's a dedicated track car (suspension, engine, aero, safety gear), and I plan on competing in a full season of NASA TT2 time trials next year. If all goes well, I'll do wheel-to-wheel racing the following year, but first things first. Gotta see how I do in the time trials. :car-smiley-003:

If anyone's in CA and likes to track, give me a shout!

Todd

[FLATOUT]

I do it all as often as I can afford it.

[allans]

I'm in. Have done done about 25 Days w/ the Viper over the last year+ Also have a Cup car and a GT3 which get used less. The Viper is a REAL driving experience. Love it. If anyone is in the Roswell Ga. area shoot me a PM. Also, I'm a Member of Atlanta Motorsports Park if you would like to check it out. Allan

[Bugeater]

Raced Gen 2 Vipers in SCCA, NASA and VRL on and off for 8 years. Participated in Grassroots motorsports ultimate track car challenge and took 3rd in the individual (non-sponsored) class the 1st year they had it. Now its waaay more popular and probably would end up 50th lol..

Interested in seeing how much different (easier?) a Gen V behaves at speed vs. the old tanks.

[V10LEE]

A track rat for 6 years. From tracking a Mitsubishi EVO X to tracking my current stable, Gen 2 GTS, Gen 4 ACR, Gen 5, and 2010 Z06..

The biggest contributor for me has been karting though.. I've been karting for 2+ years now, and it has made me a much better driver,and psychologically ..
Karting is the ONLY way to improve/sharpen( be a more safe driver) your driving skills on the track..IMO there is no substitute.. You won't learn a whole lot from those car driving schools.. Unless you're rich and can do it once every month,but there are a lot other things with karting that you will never get out from car or Viper. I run my kart once a month on the track to keep my driving skills, focus sharpened.. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to take, push their viper on the track to the next level..

A couple of videos of last weekend track day..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibzV9o1SRdg&list=UUi0T6wqTizrh_9YiFZzFKqg

pushing my friend. I got him into karting. Hes been doing it for about a year now. His driving has improved a lot . He owns and tracks a 997 GT3RS,and wouldn't been able to push that car hard if it hadn't been for karting..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZfRdS3T3yM&list=UUi0T6wqTizrh_9YiFZzFKqg

[SilveRT8]

I've been drag racing on and off for over 25 years, but since I got my first Viper in 2008 I started doing Track days with our local Viper Club.
I simply love it, our next lapping event will be this coming Sunday at Circuit Icar in Quebec, cant wait !

[Ohiotj]

I have been doing road courses for the last three years and have had a blast with it. This year I've had a lot of troubles trying to get onto a road course so I tried my hand at dragracing for the first time. It was an absolute blast I had more fun doing dragracing even though it's not as much track time. I have grown to appreciate what the Viper was with a 21-year-old technology however I was a little disappointed on track days with the performance compared to the modern vehicles. at the dragstrip it doesn't seem to be that big of a difference. I got so addicted to the dragstrip I went on my first three weeks in a row driving two hours each way. On a sidenote if you ever get a chance to go jeeping that is something that I think many people would appreciate. Being able to take a four-wheel-drive vehicle and dance on rocks is an amazing thing to do with three wheels on the ground spinning and people yelling at you which way to go. It gives you a different take on car control.

[allans]

Bump.

[Shooter]

I do it all as often as I can afford it.

My problem is finding the time. :). I've tracked all my Vipers, and if I buy a Gen V, I'll track the shit out of it too.

[Nine Ball]

I started out my racing experience on the drag strip, back in high school, in 1989. I must have spent every other weekend there, with my 5.0 Mustang buddies. In 1999-2002, I was competing at least twice a week at area bracket racing events. With a mid-10 second manual car. I was typically the only manual car in my Sportsman class, yet I won numerous events. I was addicted to the challenge of launching and shifting a car with precision and consistency, and that showed in my dial-ins. I logged over 2,000 timeslips in that single car. Even today, I figure out a car in only a couple passes, and can put down some consistent passes. I've also drag raced all over the country, for national events. When I owned LS1Tech.com, we started up the LSX drag racing series, which still thrives today. GM was always our primary sponsor, they understood the importance of grass-roots organized racing.

My first time driving on a road course was in 2003, which happened to be Road Atlanta, in a pro-touring 1969 Camaro that I had built. That car had too much power, and pretty bad understeer. But, I was hooked. When I bought my first C6 in 2005, I enrolled in a few 2-day driver weekends and moved up quickly into solo group. After that, I've tracked just about every car I've owned since then. Just to see what they are like. I've never done any competitive road course racing, I only do it to improve my own driving, and to feel that 20-30 min of adrenaline.

So, coming from a guy that was a hard core drag racer, and never thought I'd like something better.... I was wrong. I absolutely prefer road course racing. I wish I had more time to do it, more often. I still do the standing mile, half mile, roll racing, and drag strip stuff, we have a blast doing any sort of racing.

Tony

[TrackratViper]

I started racing in SCCA events in 1985 mostly in the Midwest at tracks like Road America, Gateway, Heartland Park etc. I did a few professional events although it was pretty much out of my league. In recent years, I have switched to HPDE events primarily with Chin Motorsports (who I highly recommend). We generally do Sebring, Barber, and Road Atlanta although we have done events at Daytona and Roebling. I live in the Florida panhandle and those are the closest venues for us.

I had a 2006 Corvette Z06 with a Katech engine until late last year. It was highly modified and was no longer streetable. I decided I wanted to do something different so I sold the Corvette and purchased a 2014 TA last January. It is stock except for headers, belts and a tow hook. I have an extra set of wheels with Hoosiers and some Carbotech pads that will go on the car before the next event. Love the Viper and hope to see some of you at track events in the Southeast.

[Magnus]

Should this be in the Track section, or is this Gen 5 track rats only?

I track my Gen 4 converted Gen 3 (2006 with a Gen4 motor) pretty aggressively. I have lots of videos here:
http://vimeo.com/keithprociuk

If you're looking to learn a track before you go, chances are I have it up on my vimeo in good quality.

The viper really matches my driving style well.

The viper can be a real handful on the edge if you don't have the built in muscle memory. For most, its probably a very difficult car to drive which is probably the reason there are so many viper incidents. However, I like the challenge. :)

- Keith

[XSnake]

I started racing in SCCA events in 1985 mostly in the Midwest at tracks like Road America, Gateway, Heartland Park etc. I did a few professional events although it was pretty much out of my league. In recent years, I have switched to HPDE events primarily with Chin Motorsports (who I highly recommend). We generally do Sebring, Barber, and Road Atlanta although we have done events at Daytona and Roebling. I live in the Florida panhandle and those are the closest venues for us.

I had a 2006 Corvette Z06 with a Katech engine until late last year. It was highly modified and was no longer streetable. I decided I wanted to do something different so I sold the Corvette and purchased a 2014 TA last January. It is stock except for headers, belts and a tow hook. I have an extra set of wheels with Hoosiers and some Carbotech pads that will go on the car before the next event. Love the Viper and hope to see some of you at track events in the Southeast.

Hope you make it out to Sebring in Nov. with everyone for the NARRA event. Let me know if you didn't get the email

[Bruce H.]

Should this be in the Track section, or is this Gen 5 track rats only?

The viper can be a real handful on the edge if you don't have the built in muscle memory. For most, its probably a very difficult car to drive which is probably the reason there are so many viper incidents. However, I like the challenge. :)

It was originally intended to survey Gen V track rats...but happy to hear from other Gen track rats who should buy one also ...hahaha :) I know it's a real handful just trying to find the edge, but otherwise seems pretty easy to drive fast if you're smooth on the controls. Terrific balance and unreal grip. I started data-logging at the track today and early impressions are encouraging.

[Jack B]

I bought my G1 in 2000, the G2 in 2002 and now have the G5. The G2 was a great project car. I was the only one that touched the engine or driveline, the car turned a 10.90 with a DA of 2500-3000. In the right air and launch it was a 10.5 car and all the work was done in my garage. I also have a 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP, that car went from 200rw to over 300rw with a bigger wheel and HP Tuners tune, again all done in the back yard. As a side note, our jet ski is a 2012 Yamaha that is supercharged with multiple mods, it does 80 mph on the gps. Our tender is a 25' center console with twin E-tec 225's, it is capable of 65 mph in good water.

As far as where we race, we autox with the Porsche club, the Corvette Club and the local SCCA chapter. We drag race race at Thompson Raceway, National Trails and Summit Raceway. In 2011 thru 2012, I probably had 25 time slips between 11.0 and 11.1, that is pretty good consistency. We don't do a lot of road course racing, however, I have been on at least a half dozen tracks. The problem with the car is the time, boating sort of takes precedence in the summer.

[Fursty]

If you are looking for your track fix with only Vipers allowed, come join us next June at the MPH track in Hastings, Nebraska. Here is link to the website.

Viper Rendezvous (http://www.viperrendezvous.com)

Ryan

[allans]

My TA. Maybe someone can make it bigger. Allan

[bayviper]

Had my TA out at Laguna Seca two weeks ago. Tremendous fund and awesome car out of the box!!! Unfortunately it was a 90.7 db day, so keeping it easy up hill :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIQlllFwHgs

[Bugeater]

[QUOTE=bayviper;74654]Had my TA out at Laguna Seca two weeks ago. Tremendous fund and awesome car out of the box!!! Unfortunately it was a 90.7 db day, so keeping it easy up hill :)

What the hell was in front of you? Looked like an NSX but I haven't seen one pull like that before...

[bayviper]

Good eyes! Turbo charged NSX, gutted, track modified with cage, hoosier R6's and race suspension. This guy knew the track in and out!