1 52 11 Lap Vid in my GTS R from Las Vegas Motor Speedway Road Course

[FLATOUT]

Finally got around to tracking my GTS-R

I usually track my Vipers a few time a year along with AutoX, 1/4 mile, and roll race stuff to keep up to date with how my customers are using their cars but with the values going up on the Final Edition, and ACR's in general I haven't been doing much of that with this car. I was blown away at just how good the car was on track. Seriously felt like I was cheating the entire time the car was so good.

To put this in perspective, I have never tracked this car on any road course, and I got roughly 5 laps in on Friday starting at the back of the Red Group just to familiarize my self the course. Bernie, Mike G, and myself went out on Saturday morning during the drivers meeting to get a couple of quick hot laps in while the track was clear. I ran an easy on lap then 3 laps to see what I could get out of the car.

Cold tire pressures were 29 front and 31 rear and hot pressures came up to 34 front and 34 rear. Without any time to play with different pressures between sessions this was all I got to try. Car had a touch of under steer but for the most part was really well balanced, and it was really easy to put power down early coming out of the corners.

Brakes were incredible and I didn't experience anything un nerving under really heaving braking like I would get in my TA 1.0.

Chassis stayed very composed over the curbing and all in all was a really confidence inspiring car to track.

My Car has ARH Headers, no cats, ViperExchange Titanium Exhaust, Arrow controller, UD pulley, and Doug Shelby intake heat shield.

Car has more in it out there with a bit more time on that track but I was impressed with what it turned with so few laps on a new to me track.

To everyone that came by and said hi, and especially to the volunteers running the event; Thank You! What an incredible time doing what we love to do with these cars.

Andy Wheeler
ViperExchange
Performance Division Lead

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

[Murpowa]

Nice driving Andy and kudos for getting that GTS-R out on the track!

[FLATOUT]

Nice driving Andy and kudos for getting that GTS-R out on the track!

Thanks buddy, should have done it a long time ago.

[mikesax]

They don't call him FLATOUT for nothing! Missed the VIDS Amigo! FUN FUN FUN!

[FLATOUT]

They don't call him FLATOUT for nothing! Missed the VIDS Amigo! FUN FUN FUN!

Ha Thanks Mike! Hope you're enjoying your Vipers!

[Arizona Vipers]

Nice vid, thanks for sharing! Sucks I had to miss this one!

[FLATOUT]

Nice vid, thanks for sharing! Sucks I had to miss this one!

Yeah dude WTF? Just realized we didn't see you out there.

[texasram]

I loved when Pobst had the same reaction on the track after getting out of the acr-e. "its SHOCKING that a viper can be this good".

[Snakebit10]

Very cool vid. Thx for sharing. How does the 1:52 time compare to other times by cars in its class?

[FLATOUT]

I loved when Pobst had the same reaction on the track after getting out of the acr-e. "its SHOCKING that a viper can be this good".

LOL I agree Phillip, and that was the same way I felt.

[FLATOUT]

Very cool vid. Thx for sharing. How does the 1:52 time compare to other times by cars in its class?

Not sure, there are other videos out there but we ran a slightly abreviated course, so it's hard to compare times.

Andy

[Arizona Vipers]

Yeah dude WTF? Just realized we didn't see you out there.

I was in COTA, I had to make that event!

[catwood]

Rumor has it some of you guys didn't play nice in the morning session

[TrackAire]

Rumor has it some of you guys didn't play nice in the morning session

I'm not sure I witnessed anybody doing anything blatantly wrong..... but there was a major lack of instruction at the "drivers meeting" and correct communication/instruction to the corner workers which probably contributed to potential on track issues.

Regarding the first session, it was hard to play "nice" when there were yellow flags waving, standing yellow flags, flaggers looking into the sun, etc. There was a major miscommunication as to what the flags mean and when they should be waved. Ever seen a yellow and red flag waved at the same time by the same corner worker?? Yup, I witnessed it and was not sure what to do.

The second session is where the real shit show happened and I witnessed all corner flags waving yellow, then one corner worker waving a black flag, and another waving a red flag. This happened on the back corner leading into the back straight away.....I'm seeing a red flag and getting ready to stop but at the same time the TKO Motorsports car and Flatout are coming up fast and pass me into the corner. It didn't get any better after that. After the second session I was pissed and went up to volunteer "Jerry" who conducted our drivers meeting to let him know that the flaggers were going to get someone killed or hurt. But there were already 5 or 6 other guys chewing Jerry out before I could even get to him, lol. Jerry did his best to assure us that they would take car of the flagging issue.

The third session was actually pretty good. The flaggers did much better and I was able to get laps in at speed without having an aneurysm caused by the cornerworkers. I did not see any incidents or issues regarding the other VOA drivers, kudos to them.

I do think that future VOA track events need to have numbers on the cars. If a Viper does something wrong and a corner worker calls out "black flag the red Viper"......well that could be half the field. I do know of another driver that was black flagged for spinning out and had to come in only to find it was another Viper of the same color. He never spun out or lost control of his car.

It was a very fun day at the track and it was a very nice facility. The members from the Las Vegas SCCA region running the autocross did a great job and had a great attitude. I haven't autocrossed in 9 years and had a blast.

I'm not sure who the cook was that did the Mexican lunch buffet at the track, but it was damn tasty!!

[RedTanRT/10]

Andy, thanks for posting and great to finally meet you! Mike from SoCal here, we spoke at the reception, my folks live off 290 & 6. Hope to see you at the store next time I'm in town.

Sponsorship sure has it's benefits! Looks like you and Bernie rented the track for yourselves!! I might have gotten a clean lap or two in each of the three sessions Friday afternoon. Your car looks great!!!!

TrackAire, the Friday afternoon session was better than what you described but still a little scary! I was real surprised at the lack of any guidance, or, a track map and maybe a walk through!!! I was there with Speed Ventures 2 weeks prior, I'd never been there and spent much time with a couple of guys next to me that knew the track well. They really helped me with the do's and don'ts. I walked a few of the SoCal guys through the track map, and a few new the track via SRT events. Also, based on a lack of that track knowledge and/or skill, probably 15% should have run in the middle group. An after session debrief life SV does would have been good.


Event organizers, thanks and please take this as constructive criticism, we had fun!!!

We also had fun with my wife driving our old RT/10 in the novice group. She was holding back as she hadn't driven this 24 year old car on the track, she would have been a lot faster in her C4S! Like the oval, she's fast in the turns but slow in the straights??? But she instituted we go out last and all was great!

But, real happy the road course event was set just like a regular open track event. Fun to run with a bunch of fast cars and most gave point by's, and gave point by's even outside of the two straights. Forgot to mount the go-pro, in the 3rd session we were 3 wide just before turn 1, would have made for a great video!!

[catwood]

We got a pretty good lecture in the afternoon session. The oval was fun and at least for the red group we were able to run a bit faster than the "limit" though the no passing in the corners was a bit hard as some cars were pretty slow. The road course was fun and running with some of the normal guys I run with I felt ok though there were a few I hadn't run with before. I didn't push it very hard on either track but it was still very fun.

I'm not sure I witnessed anybody doing anything blatantly wrong..... but there was a major lack of instruction at the "drivers meeting" and correct communication/instruction to the corner workers which probably contributed to potential on track issues.

Regarding the first session, it was hard to play "nice" when there were yellow flags waving, standing yellow flags, flaggers looking into the sun, etc. There was a major miscommunication as to what the flags mean and when they should be waved. Ever seen a yellow and red flag waved at the same time by the same corner worker?? Yup, I witnessed it and was not sure what to do.

[Toxic]

Again Andy, great to see the video. It was fun.

For the experienced track drivers on Friday morning thank you for the feedback. A track map was something I thought of for myself and had one. In the future maybe NVE organizers can email one out.

As one of the late coming volunteers I can say as a group we agree the first Friday group flag situation was unacceptable. It took radioing in to track control for them to become aware of the flag situation out at turn 9 in particular because that station couldn't be seen from control. The corner workers were hired by Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Clearly our meetings with them had a communication issue that took about an hour to rectify. Even though I was low on the totum pole I think the organizers would approve me apologizing for it. First lap was supposed to be under yellow then go green per track control as stated in every meeting. They had no questions when your VOA volunteers met with them. Remember, we were told this was an experienced crew. A very detailed discussion was held with the head of that crew after the first group ran to fix the problem. It's an action item list for the next NVE.

Having said that, the multiple offs in red placing at least two wheels in the rocks spraying corner stations had nothing to do with corner workers and their failure to follow procedure. That was drivers either not warming themselves or their cars up or not playing nice. Other than breakdowns, the only issues we had with drivers collectively were a few red drivers that thought a trophy was on the line.


We put over 100 more cars on a track with one day less to work with than in New Orleans. Having said that, our after action meeting had a long list for Miami. Over the two days the volunteers admittedly learned and improved and we got to interact with a lot of helpful people that had a good time.

[Bruce H.]

Thanks for posting the video Andy, and wow, having an open track in front of you is something many of us could only dream of I'll be sharing various photos and your video with local track friends so they can see what the VOA and NVE is all about!

It was great to see you again and others that we've met at previous NVE's...and to make some new friendships!

[FLATOUT]

What car were you driving?

There’s a reason I ran early on Saturday prior to the groups running.

And yes I witnessed the flag issues as well lol. It became clear pretty quick that they were confused and didn’t know what they were doing. They seem to get it corrected by the 3rd run group on Friday.

I'm not sure I witnessed anybody doing anything blatantly wrong..... but there was a major lack of instruction at the "drivers meeting" and correct communication/instruction to the corner workers which probably contributed to potential on track issues.

Regarding the first session, it was hard to play "nice" when there were yellow flags waving, standing yellow flags, flaggers looking into the sun, etc. There was a major miscommunication as to what the flags mean and when they should be waved. Ever seen a yellow and red flag waved at the same time by the same corner worker?? Yup, I witnessed it and was not sure what to do.

The second session is where the real shit show happened and I witnessed all corner flags waving yellow, then one corner worker waving a black flag, and another waving a red flag. This happened on the back corner leading into the back straight away.....I'm seeing a red flag and getting ready to stop but at the same time the TKO Motorsports car and Flatout are coming up fast and pass me into the corner. It didn't get any better after that. After the second session I was pissed and went up to volunteer "Jerry" who conducted our drivers meeting to let him know that the flaggers were going to get someone killed or hurt. But there were already 5 or 6 other guys chewing Jerry out before I could even get to him, lol. Jerry did his best to assure us that they would take car of the flagging issue.

The third session was actually pretty good. The flaggers did much better and I was able to get laps in at speed without having an aneurysm caused by the cornerworkers. I did not see any incidents or issues regarding the other VOA drivers, kudos to them.

I do think that future VOA track events need to have numbers on the cars. If a Viper does something wrong and a corner worker calls out "black flag the red Viper"......well that could be half the field. I do know of another driver that was black flagged for spinning out and had to come in only to find it was another Viper of the same color. He never spun out or lost control of his car.

It was a very fun day at the track and it was a very nice facility. The members from the Las Vegas SCCA region running the autocross did a great job and had a great attitude. I haven't autocrossed in 9 years and had a blast.

I'm not sure who the cook was that did the Mexican lunch buffet at the track, but it was damn tasty!!

[FLATOUT]

Great meeting you too buddy👊🏻 Looking forward to taking you to lunch next time you’re in Houston.

Andy, thanks for posting and great to finally meet you! Mike from SoCal here, we spoke at the reception, my folks live off 290 & 6. Hope to see you at the store next time I'm in town.

Sponsorship sure has it's benefits! Looks like you and Bernie rented the track for yourselves!! I might have gotten a clean lap or two in each of the three sessions Friday afternoon. Your car looks great!!!!

TrackAire, the Friday afternoon session was better than what you described but still a little scary! I was real surprised at the lack of any guidance, or, a track map and maybe a walk through!!! I was there with Speed Ventures 2 weeks prior, I'd never been there and spent much time with a couple of guys next to me that knew the track well. They really helped me with the do's and don'ts. I walked a few of the SoCal guys through the track map, and a few new the track via SRT events. Also, based on a lack of that track knowledge and/or skill, probably 15% should have run in the middle group. An after session debrief life SV does would have been good.


Event organizers, thanks and please take this as constructive criticism, we had fun!!!

We also had fun with my wife driving our old RT/10 in the novice group. She was holding back as she hadn't driven this 24 year old car on the track, she would have been a lot faster in her C4S! Like the oval, she's fast in the turns but slow in the straights??? But she instituted we go out last and all was great!

But, real happy the road course event was set just like a regular open track event. Fun to run with a bunch of fast cars and most gave point by's, and gave point by's even outside of the two straights. Forgot to mount the go-pro, in the 3rd session we were 3 wide just before turn 1, would have made for a great video!!

[FLATOUT]

I didn’t recognize you at first this year Bruce lol. Always great catching up with you as well, always enjoy the conversation.

Andy

Thanks for posting the video Andy, and wow, having an open track in front of you is something many of us could only dream of I'll be sharing various photos and your video with local track friends so they can see what the VOA and NVE is all about!

It was great to see you again and others that we've met at previous NVE's...and to make some new friendships!

[Bruce H.]

I didn’t recognize you at first this year Bruce lol. Always great catching up with you as well, always enjoy the conversation.

Andy

Nobody, and I mean nobody, recognized me with the beard and longer hair

[TrackAire]

What car were you driving?

There’s a reason I ran early on Saturday prior to the groups running.

And yes I witnessed the flag issues as well lol. It became clear pretty quick that they were confused and didn’t know what they were doing. They seem to get it corrected by the 3rd run group on Friday.

I was in the red Gen 4 SRT-10......I had a bright yellow HOV looking sticker on the lower right of the rear bumper. I only ran Friday in the red group. I only remember you passing me in the second session (I assume it was you since the car had a "FLATOUT" license plate). The TKO Motorsports car passed me on the back straight and you followed. The passes were not the issue, but I was concerned that I was letting off and about to stick my hand out the window to check up because of the red flag. We were coming into the end of the straight approaching 120 mph.....that was a very tight track with not a lot of room for error.

It would be a shame if a miscommunication in flagging or lack of flagging protocol caused a wreck. I think for Miami we can better prepare not only the pit lane crew, but also put out information about the track, etc. Also there should be some way to check the actual drivers credentials. A lot of people that were in the red group probably didn't belong there.....especially when everyone is running cars with a minimum of 500-700 hp.

[Bruce H.]

Also there should be some way to check the actual drivers credentials. A lot of people that were in the red group probably didn't belong there.....especially when everyone is running cars with a minimum of 500-700 hp.

I found this at NOLA for NVE2 as well. Pretty tough to get the run groups right with such a diverse group, but any effort to do so would be good for all. No fun for slow cars with others filling their mirrors. It was still nice to experience a new track, but probably wise to have low expectations as far as running at your normal pace.

[Driven]

Very cool vid. Thx for sharing. How does the 1:52 time compare to other times by cars in its class?

Redline Time Attack ran there in 2010.
Unlimited cars in the mid 30s.
Modified cars run in the low-mid 40s.
Street classed cars high 40s.

Optima runs there every year, but they change it up every year. The one time they ran the same config, Danny Popp got a 1:44-1:45 in his C5 on street tires.