Newbie question if I may

[stradman]

Hello everyone,

As you will see this is my first post, so greetings to all. I signed up to this forum because I have read a lot of useful information on it. My position is that I have become infatuated with the ACR E over the last few weeks and in fact and am about to press a button tomorrow to buy a lightly used 600 mile ACR-E. I'm buying the car because basically I have read how fantastic the car is on the track and as I would like to do more track days I thought this would be great fun to have.
To put this into context somewhat I live in the UK and ACR E's are a very rare beast anywhere here or Europe, where mainly Porsche's and Lotus's rule the roost on the track. So I thought this wonderful beast of a car could fly the American flag proudly over here across the Atlantic.

Anyway a couple of questions if I may:

1. I plan to use the car to drive to the track and back mainly and will not really use for any daily driving as I have a number of other cars to do that. However the question I have is if I adjust the height permanently to track height(so that I can corner balance the tires once as I know subsequent height adjustments can throw off the tire balance) and not put the rear diffuser attachments and the front aero splitter extentsion on, is the car reasonably driveable to and from the track without too many problems on the street?
2. How long does it realistically take to put the front spitter and rear diffusers on? And how difficult is it to do so without raising the car? Do I need to bring some sort of hydraulic jack to lift the car? Will the front splitter fit in the car with a passenger in?
3. From reading other posts it seems the front tires are the ones that suffer most compared to the rear. As a rough guideline would it be fair to say that you would need to change one set of back tires for every 2 or sets of front ones?

I would appreciate any feedback as these are really my pressing questions. Many thanks all!

[Bruce H.]

Welcome! It's already tomorrow evening in the UK and perhaps you've already made your purchase...if so, congrats!

Your general questions have been often answered. While I don't own an ACR, I'll offer the answers I've seen until an actual owner chimes in.

The aero pieces don't fit inside the car so if you have no other way of transporting them to the track then you either don't use them or leave them on and drive with an appropriate ride height for your driving conditions. Road and driving conditions can change quickly so it makes sense to allow a clearance safety margin. About an hour to install, not sure if jack required.

Some owners adjust ride height at the track in order to commute with aero installed, jack required. If that throws off the cornering balancing slightly it won't adversely affect you unless you're a pro going for a new track record! And if that's the case then let your crew worry about it

Front tires wear about twice a fast as rears, as a general guideline.

Good luck with your purchase and Viper ownership...my own just couldn't have been any better!

[38D]

You definitely need a jack to install the rear diffuser extensions; no way to reach all the bolts otherwise. Front splitter is easy and does not require a jack. Figure a hour to install both.

[commandomatt]

The aero pieces don't fit inside the car so if you have no other way of transporting them to the track then you either don't use them or leave them on and drive with an appropriate ride height for your driving conditions.

I thought that the aero parts were inside the car when delivered from the factory. Seems then like you would be able to put them back in there to take them to the track

[SSGNRDZ_28]

Welcome!

My approach would be if you know your roads to / from the track and there are no speed bumps, extreme angle elevations, roads are relatively smooth, etc. to just install the aero extensions and leave them on. I am at stock ride height with the extensions installed and have had no issues. The alternative requires quite a bit more effort...

Otherwise, yes, you'll need a low profile, long jack for the diffuser extensions or some other means to get the car in the air. You'll have to install the diffuser before the splitter because you can't jack the car up from the rear only very high with the splitter extension installed or it will hit the ground. If you have a power tool it would be easier to install the diffuser extensions, there are 28 bolts to tighten.

I think the extensions could fit in your passenger seat (haven't checked but I believe this is the case) but over time they'd collect dirt so you'd want them in a bag to keep your interior clean. The diffuser strakes will fit in the trunk. The other part to consider are the front brake ducts which do not come installed.

Lastly, it should be possible to set up the car and raise the ride height for the street and then lower once you get to the track. This may not be the most precice method if you do not have scales at the track but it an option if you can pay careful attention to the adjustments up/down.

Doug

[stradman]

Welcome!

My approach would be if you know your roads to / from the track and there are no speed bumps, extreme angle elevations, roads are relatively smooth, etc. to just install the aero extensions and leave them on. I am at stock ride height with the extensions installed and have had no issues. The alternative requires quite a bit more effort...

Otherwise, yes, you'll need a low profile, long jack for the diffuser extensions or some other means to get the car in the air. You'll have to install the diffuser before the splitter because you can't jack the car up from the rear only very high with the splitter extension installed or it will hit the ground. If you have a power tool it would be easier to install the diffuser extensions, there are 28 bolts to tighten.

I think the extensions could fit in your passenger seat (haven't checked but I believe this is the case) but over time they'd collect dirt so you'd want them in a bag to keep your interior clean. The diffuser strakes will fit in the trunk. The other part to consider are the front brake ducts which do not come installed.

Lastly, it should be possible to set up the car and raise the ride height for the street and then lower once you get to the track. This may not be the most precice method if you do not have scales at the track but it an option if you can pay careful attention to the adjustments up/down.

Doug

Thanks to this and all the other replies! Much appreciated!. If I went along the way of having the car at street height with all the aero extensions in place, I was wondering how much of a decreased effect the car would then display on the track if I drove there and didn't lower the car. The problem is that not every track has scales to adjust the car after changing its ride height. However installing the aero bits on track is a compromise I'm willing to do. So I have to decide do I have the car at street height with aero extensions in place and drive like that to the track do the track day and drive back home-still being aware of road inclinations/speed bumps or do I lower the car to track height without aero extensions and drive to track like that and just install the aero bits on site?
The other problem I seem to have in the UK is that the Kumho tires are not currently available. I have asked Kumho UK to check with the European HQ to find out if this will change. Otherwise I will be stuffed as car won't be of any use to me as a track toy seeing I will need front tires at least every couple of track days!...

[ViperJon]

I thought that the aero parts were inside the car when delivered from the factory. Seems then like you would be able to put them back in there to take them to the track

They are but really jammed in tight and bubble wrapped. Not in a way easily duplicated really.