*Bucketlist Colorado: 2800 Miles, 2 Heads & Cam cars, 1 MEDUSA, and a few rock chips*

[FLATOUT]

I have been meaning to get this thread started and written up for awhile now to document our journey driving from Houston to the Steamboat Bucketlist event, and back to Houston with a stop at Pikes Peak thrown in for good measure. I know some of you followed the trip via instagram and I am sure folks were active on Facebook, but I thought a few new shots and the overal impression of the cars performance would be an interesting read.

Monday morning Beth & Richard Sewell, and I met up about 60 miles North of Houston to get on the road to meet up with Wayne and Deannes crew outside of Dallas.

I was fortunate enough to have Richard Drive our second Heads and Cam Test car back to Colorado with us. This is the same care that Dick Winkles drove to altitude about a month prior to this. I thought it couldn't hurt to take my Heads & Cam car and our other one on the Journey to see how they faired for a second time. Both my car and Richards have our new Dynamic suspension package installed as well and we are running the Big Brake kit on the car Richard was driving as well. Beth also brought out MEDUSA #1. We really had an opportunity to put some preproduction and production products through their paces.

Getting started early just outside of Houston and headed to Dallas:

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

We arrived in Dallas a little ahead of schedule and decided to let the cars rest a bit before heading out again. It's always a car show when Vipers pull in.

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Cars were running great with the Heads and Cam cars averaging around 17mpg and the MEDUSA about 18mpg so we didn't see much of a difference at all during sustained cruising speeds:

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Day one ended up with the group staying the night in Amarillo. I picked up a small chip in the base of the windshield and was afraid that it might spread during the rest of the trip so I found a local shop that stayed open late to get a quick chip repair just in case.

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

We had dinner that night at the Big Texan Steak Ranch and met some Amarillo Viper Owners that were incredibly nice and one of the couple had us over to their home that evening for cigars. They just happened to be Texas A&M Aggies so I snagged a quick shot of our Aggie Rings.

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

From here it was off through New Mexico and into Colorado:

©AndyWheeler by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

From Amarillo on to Colorado we had nothing but 90 Octane fuel and eventually 91 octane. I was worried about the heads and cam cars having a problem on the 93 octane but a quick call to Dick Winkles and I was assured they would be fine so off we went and in deed the cars ran without issue.

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

We just started to get into the mountains toward the end of the second day staying in Canon City that evening. The cars on the trip did well with the exception of one Gen 3 that boild the stock clutch fluid with headers on the car. We let the car cool and then flushed the system that evening at a Dodge dealer right by thhe hotel. Car ended up performing great the rest of the trip.

I grabbed this photo while we waited on the side of the mountain for the other car to cool. Just happened to line up this way.

©AndyWheeler by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Next morning we hopped in the cars after giving them a bath the night before and hit Royal Gorge on our way to Vail:

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

©AndyWheeler by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

©AndyWheeler by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Our stop in Vail had a great parking structure to shoot in. I didn't bring a tripod so I did my best.

©AndyWheeler by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

©AndyWheeler by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

- - - Updated - - -

hold

[FLATOUT]

The Opening dinner featured My Blue car and MEDUSA1 along with Mrs. Rauhs new Pink Machine

The next three days were pretty special with tons of mountain roads thrown in and the autocross:

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr



From here we started heading back to Texas and it started off with a drive through Rocky Mountain State Park on our way to Colorado Springs:

Untitled by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

The next morning the Texas and Oklahoma crew got up early and headed up Pikes Peak! With Maurice in front shooting from MEDUSA1 the shots in the upcoming magazine should be pretty special. At the Summit Maurice got a nice shot while on top of a motor home of me takinga few pics.

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Untitled by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

Untitled by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

From here it was back to Amarillo and eventually home to Houston:

image by Andrew Wheeler, on Flickr

My final thoughts on the cars during and after the trip. The heads and cam cars performed without hiccup both at sea level and at altitude, on 90 octane through 93 octane. The cars were obviously a bit slower but I didn't notice any pinging, surging or idle issues. Coolant and oil temps also remained in line with what you would expect out of a factory car during both the mountain road drives, and the long flat drives through North Texas. I was most suprised to see the cars making 750hp getting only 1 mpg worse than the factory stock cars on the freeway.

The new suspension on the cars were incredibly nice on a trip like this. The cars road so much nicer and also perfomed great in the mountain roads. The factory switchs and dash worked just like always and the cars were a blast on the autocross. Beth's MEDUSA didn't kip a beat the whole trip weather it was in the rain, in traffic, or a 500 mile drive from city to city.

Overall I was really pleased to see the cars do this well on such a demanding trip in the middle of the summer. I feel very confident our customers that buy the ViperExchange/Arrow Heads and Cam package are going to love it and the OEM type reliability and testing that has been done really shows.

Andy Wheeler
awheeler@viperexchange.com

[ViperDC]

Great pics, looks like a fun time

[KB Viper]

awesome thread and pics.

[FLATOUT]

Great pics, looks like a fun time

awesome thread and pics.

Thanks Guys, and thanks to everyone that bought parts whether it was suspension, headers, ECU's or brakes from me while I was on the trip. I know I had a hard time getting back to everyone right away but your patience was greatly appreciated.

Andy

[serpent]

Stunning

[FrgMstr]

You guys aren't driving hard enough. Averaged 75 between NYC and Dallas last week!

Good write up Andy. Good to see those heads and cam packages doing some muling over the long haul.

[Loud]

Threads like this make me hate IL even more. Awesome scenery and beautiful cars. Thanks for sharing.

[Torquemonster06]

Very cool. Looks like everybody had good times. Thanks for sharing.

[FLATOUT]

You guys aren't driving hard enough. Averaged 75 between NYC and Dallas last week!

Good write up Andy. Good to see those heads and cam packages doing some muling over the long haul.

Some of the mountain drives were really slow due to RV's and or just being stuck in traffic in general. The other sections were plenty fast.

[VENOM V]

Andy, just awesome! Wish this trip were a little closer, would have loved to have joined you. Also great to hear the heads/cam cars were well mannered. Clearly Mr. Winkles did a masterful job on the driveability tuning. I hope to get a chance to experience a ride in one. We are holding Viper Tracks 2016 most likely Feb 20-21 2016, with about 100 Vipers tearing it up on two Willow Springs tracks- Big Willow and Streets of Willow. Maybe you guys can join us and show us first hand how the heads/cam cars and the active suspension perform. I will have my 2016 ACR there, along with Darius, Chris, V10Lee and I'm sure others.

One suggestion on that beautiful GT of yours - black out the Viper badges and fuel door. Those details would just complete the look.

Todd

[FLATOUT]

I'll see what I can do about the suspension on track by you guys. And I agree the badging powder coated gloss black might look good I am trying to wait on the badges until we are done with the badge design contest just incase I change it all together.

Andy, just awesome! Wish this trip were a little closer, would have loved to have joined you. Also great to hear the heads/cam cars were well mannered. Clearly Mr. Winkles did a masterful job on the driveability tuning. I hope to get a chance to experience a ride in one. We are holding Viper Tracks 2016 most likely Feb 20-21 2016, with about 100 Vipers tearing it up on two Willow Springs tracks- Big Willow and Streets of Willow. Maybe you guys can join us and show us first hand how the heads/cam cars and the active suspension perform. I will have my 2016 ACR there, along with Darius, Chris, V10Lee and I'm sure others.

One suggestion on that beautiful GT of yours - black out the Viper badges and fuel door. Those details would just complete the look.

Todd

[timberwolf]

Great writeup! Man that heads cam setup is juicy! Much want.

My favorite line in this whole thing is:
I was worried about the heads and cam cars having a problem on the 93 octane but a quick call to Dick Winkles and I was assured they would be fine so off we went and in deed the cars ran without issue.

So cool that you have him on speed dial.

[FLATOUT]

We're both Nerds so it works lol. Honestly he's such a gearhead and really likes the feedback. I went two days during the trip without texting or calling him and I got a text from him that said "Well I guess they blew up " HAHA

Great writeup! Man that heads cam setup is juicy! Much want.

My favorite line in this whole thing is:
I was worried about the heads and cam cars having a problem on the 93 octane but a quick call to Dick Winkles and I was assured they would be fine so off we went and in deed the cars ran without issue.

So cool that you have him on speed dial.

[Dossey]

Awesome writeup and killer shots!

[ViperDog]

Great writeup! Man that heads cam setup is juicy! Much want.

My favorite line in this whole thing is:
I was worried about the heads and cam cars having a problem on the 93 octane but a quick call to Dick Winkles and I was assured they would be fine so off we went and in deed the cars ran without issue.

So cool that you have him on speed dial.

This shouldn't be a surprise; it's pretty common and not so new engine technology for hi-po engines to pull timing whenever there's substandard gasoline (in octane). I take it you guys got out in some lightly traveled areas where the major gas retailers don't have a presence?

[FLATOUT]

This shouldn't be a surprise; it's pretty common and not so new engine technology for hi-po engines to pull timing whenever there's substandard gasoline (in octane). I take it you guys got out in some lightly traveled areas where the major gas retailers don't have a presence?

It's not that it was a surprise, but that he has the calibration set more aggressive similar to the standard Arrow Venom 1 calibration. It's a 93 octane tune and does pull timing but pulls less than the factory PCM. I wasn't concerned with the 91 but started to get a little worried with the 90 octane from junk gas stations in the middle of nowhere in 95+ degree heat. It was good to know and understand though what some of my customers are dealing with out in more rural areas, or customers at alititude with 91 octane. He did a wonderful job though on the tune and the cars worked very well.

[ViperJon]

GREAT stuff!

[SSGNRDZ_28]

Thanks for sharing for those of us who couldn't make it. Great photos.

[Herrsss]

Thanks for the write up and as always your pictures are stellar - you pretty much hit every nail on the head!

We had an incredibly fun time with everyone with lots of "spirited" driving - road trips are where you get to really know folks and in spite of spending 9 days with Andy, Richard and I still like him

We enjoyed spending time with Wayne and D'Ann and their daughter, son in law and grandkids on this trip. I have to say the granddaughters were great troopers - if my daughter was with us she would have been asking for a "rest stop" every half hour!!!

p.s. you forgot to mention when we set off the carbon monoxide sensors on that garage photo shoot!!!!! Really love the pic with my brake lights reflecting off the back wall - Norma Jean is just stunning!

[Carbon GTS]

Great Pics, thanks for the write up!

[Scott Mannny]

Great Job Andy!!! Thanks for sharing this great event and your photos are over the TOP!!

[FLATOUT]

Thanks for the write up and as always your pictures are stellar - you pretty much hit every nail on the head!

We had an incredibly fun time with everyone with lots of "spirited" driving - road trips are where you get to really know folks and in spite of spending 9 days with Andy, Richard and I still like him

We enjoyed spending time with Wayne and D'Ann and their daughter, son in law and grandkids on this trip. I have to say the granddaughters were great troopers - if my daughter was with us she would have been asking for a "rest stop" every half hour!!!

p.s. you forgot to mention when we set off the carbon monoxide sensors on that garage photo shoot!!!!! Really love the pic with my brake lights reflecting off the back wall - Norma Jean is just stunning!

HAHA I agree that is a lot of time to get to know people for sure. I'm still laughing at Richard for having me take the small bottles of Crown back for the regular sized bottle in Vail LMAO.

Great Pics, thanks for the write up!

Thanks Patrick would have been fun with you and your wife on the trip.

Great Job Andy!!! Thanks for sharing this great event and your photos are over the TOP!!

Thanks Scott, John from from your club was a riot! He made an entrance one evening that had us all rolling on the floor. Him and his wife are great people.

[Herrsss]

[QUOTE=FLATOUT;157755]HAHA I agree that is a lot of time to get to know people for sure. I'm still laughing at Richard for having me take the small bottles of Crown back for the regular sized bottle in Vail LMAO.

yeah and you drank just about all of that regular size bottle too!

[swexlin]

Thanks for the writeup Andy. I saw your tweets, but the photo documentation is gorgeous. That one bridge you were one....holy Hell, I don't think I could have handled that.

Nice to see, once again, how robust these cars are in all conditions, including altitude.