2016 ACR vs. Porsche GT3 at Thunderhill 5-mile

[VENOM V]

Hi guys,

I had the time of my life yesterday at Thunderhill Raceway, my fourth track in the ACR. Thunderhill is beautiful this time of year, green rolling hills with wildflowers sprinkled about. Quite a contrast to the aggressive tracking that we were doing. I was the sole Viper in a sea of Corvettes and Porsches. My friend Joe Kou and about a dozen GT3s and GT4s and a cup car or two were there, along with a group of Corvettes.

Thunderhill has their famous 3-mile course that the 25 Hours of Thunderhill is run on, along with the new "west track." They are separated by a hill. Once in a while, you can run the two tracks connected together for the Thunderhill 5-mile layout. It is unbelievably fun, you literally fly over a blind hill and drop into the west track from the other side. This happens at 1:40 in the video below.

There was one Corvette driven by Rich of Abel Chevrolet that was particularly fast. It's a C7 Z06 with Hoosier R7s. He is running in the Optima Street Car Challenge. We were both able to dip into the 3:05s. I was able to pass him on the session that we ran together, but he had a passenger (he ran a 3:08 to my 3:05). It would have been a good race otherwise.

The day was not without issues. About mid-session on most sessions, my car went into limp mode. "Cylinder misfire" was the error code, or something to that effect. Not sure why, perhaps it didn't like the RPM at the main straight (looks like about 6300). I've seen limp mode if you bounce off of the rev limiter before, but I wasn't doing that. When I turned it off and on, the error code would clear and I was good to go. However after it happened several times, the check engine light stays lit. Time for a dealer visit. I'll keep you guys posted. Still I had an absolute blast at this track layout that I've only been on once before.

Of the Porsches, there was one particularly talented driver of a GT3 that I had a bout with. Below is a video of our spirited session. Also a few shots from the day.



IMG_1367 by solomontodd, on Flickr

IMG_1370 by solomontodd, on Flickr

IMG_1369 by solomontodd, on Flickr

GBMA8862 by solomontodd, on Flickr

GBMA7861 by solomontodd, on Flickr

GBMA8042 by solomontodd, on Flickr

IMG_1368 by solomontodd, on Flickr

Cheers,

Todd

[Darius]

Both my TA and ACR did that missfire limp mode when they were new. My ACR hasn't had a problem since I swapped out the pcm for the arrow unit.

[Rapidrezults]

Love the pics at T-Hill in the spring! I've been seeing quite a bit of the misfire stuff going on with the stock PCMs also. Arrow PCM is in your future!

[ViperJon]

Fantastic pics looks like a great day!

[VENOM V]

Both my TA and ACR did that missfire limp mode when they were new. My ACR hasn't had a problem since I swapped out the pcm for the arrow unit.

Any idea what triggered it in your case? I'm not hitting the rev limiter but am getting close to it. I'd hate to shift into 5th on the main straight. Tried it once and it seemed like a bad idea. You shift to 5th, losing some time, then immediately shift down to 3rd for turn 1.

[VENOM V]

Love the pics at T-Hill in the spring! I've been seeing quite a bit of the misfire stuff going on with the stock PCMs also. Arrow PCM is in your future!

Won't be long before we return, cannot wait. With my extended warranty I'd like to leave it 100% stock. My GTS doesn't have this problem.

- - - Updated - - -

Fantastic pics looks like a great day!

Thanks Jon

[J TNT]

Nice runs and looks like a Fun Track !
Thanks for sharing !

[VENOM V]

Nice runs and looks like a Fun Track !
Thanks for sharing !

Thanks Jay

[Junkie]

Man that looks really fun!

[1ststrike]

Nice job driving. Looks like a really fun track. Did you wrap your windshield? With the front fender vents out I heard of stones hitting the windshield.

[VENOM V]

Nice job driving. Looks like a really fun track. Did you wrap your windshield? With the front fender vents out I heard of stones hitting the windshield.

Thanks. Yes I did. I made the mistake of not wrapping my GTS's windshield, it is so pock-marked that I'm thinking about replacing it.

The ACR is especially bad, as you point out. I also need to clear wrap to the roof and wing. Most of the rest is covered already.

[VENOM V]

Man that looks really fun!

Just wait until you get yours out on the track. Amazing. Easiest car to drive at the limit, and soooo fast.

[esm_viper]

That was fun to watch! Looks like an amazing track and 5 miles of fun!!! Thanks, I'm starting to think I need an ACR now....

[w00tw00t]

Fantastic! Wish I could have been there but my TA is at the shop with a broken wheel stud

[w00tw00t]

BTW the driver of that silver GT3 is a good friend of mine... here's his video chasing you..

[TrackAire]

What a great day to be out. On the fifth photo down with the red Porsche behind you, it looks like you have at least an inch of daylight under the right front tire! Nicely done.

Rich from Abel is a good guy, he is aligning and corner weighting my Vette on Tuesday. They just installed some new alignment rack that is suppose to be the bomb diggity bomb.

[XSTAR]

Car looks amazing and that track looks like a blast!

[Dfunk]

Amazing videos!! Thank you for sharing.

[str5010]

Wow that track looks amazing. Love your car and thanks for posting the video. Nice driving!

[Bruce H.]

Hey Todd,

What a great looking track, fine driving, and glorious weather! Oh man, it was 15 degrees earlier today up here as I looked at a stack of new Corsa's in the basement... with snow coming tomorrow. Thanks for the lift buddy.

Car looks great, and those stripes are perfect! Thanks for sharing.

Bruce

[TrackAire]

Wow that track looks amazing. Love your car and thanks for posting the video. Nice driving!

The 5 mile Thunderhill is by far my favorite track, period. And I believe Todd ran the newer bypass configuration that gets rid of a couple super slow hairpins on the new West addition and makes this track world class IMO. The elevation changes are incredible.

[SinasViperTA]

What an awesome post! Looks like it was a blast for sure. Way to represent!

[VENOM V]

That was fun to watch! Looks like an amazing track and 5 miles of fun!!! Thanks, I'm starting to think I need an ACR now....

LOL, when the ACR came out, I began joking around with myself, thinking how absurd it would be to buy another Gen V. Next thing you know, I'm placing an order. I'm more obsessed with tracking than most so I wouldn't recommend the ACR to everyone. But if you really dig tracking, man this beast is nirvana

[VENOM V]

BTW the driver of that silver GT3 is a good friend of mine... here's his video chasing you..

He is a good driver, excellent line. He flew past me on lap two when my car mysteriously went into limp mode

Fantastic! Wish I could have been there but my TA is at the shop with a broken wheel stud

We are joining the NorCal Shelby Club on April 23-24 for another track day. About 6 or 7 Vipers signed up so far. Get that stud fixed and join us!

http://www.norcal-saac.org/springsprint/

We're also doing dinner at Casa Ramos Mexican Restaurant, Saturday:

https://events.r20.constantcontact.c...6-d4ae527b8053

[dkarg]

Thanks. Yes I did. I made the mistake of not wrapping my GTS's windshield, it is so pock-marked that I'm thinking about replacing it.

The ACR is especially bad, as you point out. I also need to clear wrap to the roof and wing. Most of the rest is covered already.

Where do you do the wrapping Todd? Pretty sure it's going to be one of the first things I do once I get my ACR delivered.