From Factory to Mosport Track Attack in 7 days...Bruce's new TA finally arrives

[Bruce H.]

I picked up my new black ’14 TA on April 23rd, having watched the Reliable Transport pull up, unload, and the Viper tech PDI it. I ordered it through Islington Chrysler, and Kris Rams made the transaction very easy over the phone, including pricing my XKR trade fairly. I hadn’t seen a Gen V when I ordered it, but the help received on the forums and media reviews were very effective at telling me everything I needed to know. Hopefully I can add to that wealth of knowledge here to help other prospective buyers.

The 500 mile break-in was finished quickly, as was the paint protection film and 6 point harness install, in preparation for today’s track day at Mosport (renamed Canadian Tire Motorsports Park). SRT will be running the #91 and 93 here in July in the Tudor Race Series. My very early impressions are based on having had other high performance sports cars, but never having even sat in a Viper, and the only previous experience having been chasing them around road courses for years! I’ll start with the positives…

The car is stunning visually, fit and finish inside and out looks very good, and the paint is spectacular. Everything about the car is purposeful, and if you appreciate a “form follows function” design then this is it. It has a simplicity that is refreshing, with little in the way of embellishment for its own sake. You get the sense that nothing is on the car that wasn’t needed to provide an engaging driving experience and world-class performance on the road and road course. The interior and controls is a model of simplicity, and the comprehensive U-connect infotainment system is a welcome nod to modern technology, as is the mandated and flexible Electronic Stability Control and Traction Control system. If you turn off the ESC then there’s no nannies between the driver and the car, well except for ABS.

The ballistic nylon seats in the TA are very comfortable, providing the good lower back support I require. I’m 5’10, 215 lbs, and have ample headroom even with a helmet on. These manual TA seats do lower more than the power seats in other models I understand, and if you’re much taller it would be smart to sit in one to confirm. The headliner forms a low windshield header that many complain about, but it’s just a non-issue for me, and not something I even notice after just 7 days. Pedals seem nicely positioned, and my fairly narrow driving shoes are perfect for this fairly tight area.

Performance is visceral, violent, scalpel sharp, immediate, intense…and addictive. Those are the qualities I was looking for, along with classic and timeless styling and exclusivity. Lots of great cars that offer other mixes of qualities, but not a single other car that offered this complete mix. They aren’t exactly popular goals either as exclusivity and performance generally cost beyond the financial reach of most. Just don’t be too surprised if all your car buds aren’t racing out to buy one! No excuses required.

I dropped by the track a couple of days ago and an aero dynamist I know looked over the car with great interest. He explained that the design of the 6 vent hood would be very effective at reducing drag and lift by allowing more engine compartment airflow to be released over the hood rather that under the car, and that the lowered middle section of the rear aero spoiler was designed to create air vortices rather than turbulence behind the car, and in doing so reduce drag while optimizing down-force. And I thought it was lower so you could see out the back!

The car is just a blast to drive, and it was an easy switch from the long and low Supra TT and XKR. The attention it draws is unreal, and you do have to watch that others around you don’t get distracted and cause an accident. Rear quarter vision is non-existent, but the back-up camera is excellent for showing what is directly behind you. I park in such a way that I can drive forward wherever possible. Ride quality is surprising good, and I was prepared for it to be much less compliant. It’s quite similar to the hi-po/luxury XKR grand tourer on 20” wheels we traded.

Now for the negatives…I’m going to have to get back to you on that one since after just 7 days I haven’t discovered any yet, with the possible exception of the exhaust if I find it gets annoying on a longer trip. Otherwise I love that too, and have earplugs in the glove box just in case! If you were to do a spread sheet of all the features that various super cars have you would likely find several that the TA or other Vipers don’t have. Most buyers would trade the unique points of the Viper for heated and cooled seats, or E-diff, or AWD, or an auto/DCT, or CCB.s, or a vert, or the more modern creased-edge designs or whatever, and that’s all good. But I was happy to trade-in a car with some of those features for the simplicity and performance focus of the Viper…and couldn’t be happier.

Today I attended a 6th Gear Lapping day at Mosport. It was a rather cold, blustery and wet day, but one filled with great accomplishment. I started with some informal skid pad circles in an empty parking area, gently adding speed until tire grip was exceeded. The fronts gave good feedback well before they let go, and when they did a slight throttle lift shifted enough weight over them to regain grip, and resume the fixed radius circle. The rear remained glued unless enough power was suddenly added to provoke a shift from natural under-steer to throttle-on power over-steer.

Because it was my first time on the track since it was significantly changed last year, and my first track day in the TA, 6th Gear offered to send me out with a professional coach. I had him do the skid pad routine as well to familiarize himself with the car before I took it out on the track. He helped guide me to the best wet line, and made some helpful suggestions regarding driving smoothness that seemed rather essential in today’s conditions. He’s instructed in a number of Viper’s in the past and said this was the first one he wasn’t scared to be in! Not sure if that was because the car felt better to him, but I’m going to go with the driver’s confidence-inspiring high level of skill being the reason! He didn’t have any students for the morning so ended up being out with me for about two hours. A fellow was also there with his ACR-X but it was too wet to drive, and he came out with me for maybe 25 minutes after lunch during the only brief time it stopped raining. We also spent a long while talking Viper’s and the differences on the Gen V.

The car handled like a champ. I got it a bit loose twice, once going into T5a with a slightly abrupt downshift, and once going into T8 with a bit too much trail-braking. Rear just stepped out a little and was easy to gather up. I had the full ESC on of course, and I never noticed it intervening, although I would think it had been. Nothing like the XKR where it would kill the throttle on corner exit if it had sensed any loss of grip what-so-ever. Rear grip under throttle was better than I had expected, but there was just a hint that I was accelerating at the tire’s limit, and the coach sensed it also. A slight bump in the back straight caused a bit of slip for an instant. I saw 181 kph during one glance, and that felt plenty fast in the rain through the slight kink of T7 and cresting the hill right before T8. Great gearing, and nice close ratios where you want them. My unusual heel and toe technique doesn’t work in this car, but a wider pair of driving shoes should fix that. The car is quite sensitive to slight steering and brake inputs, and I recall Randy Pobst commenting that you have to slow down your hands on the wheel a little. A couple of other drivers commented on how much spray the car kicked up with the wide tires. Those damn mmmassive tires...I just hate that, and the thunderous exhaust that shook the tower and drew universal praise Btw, I’ve been meaning to ask...is ringing in the ears normal?

Looking forward to peeling back the next layer of performance with a dry day there on May 14th, and feel lucky my first day was focused on being smooth on a slippery track!
My 7 day ownership focus was getting it ready for a successful day at the track, and it came together well. I have 5 more track days booked before the end of next month and will be sure to share hightlights of those. I’ll post some track photos tomorrow here.

Bruce

[Bruce H.]

Reliable Transport delivery 4/23/14

Islington Chrysler PDI with Viper Tech, Shawn

Mosport 6th Gear Track Day 4/30/14

[Boba Fett]

Great write up. What is your unusual heel/toe method?

[Bruce H.]

Great write up. What is your unusual heel/toe method?

Ball of foot on brake pedal with foot rotated so toe can blip throttle. I'll be buying a wider driving shoe so I can get enough of my foot on the brake pedal normally, and reach the throttle by rolling my ankle to blip. At the moment my shoe is too narrow to reach unless I barely get my foot on the edge of the brake.

[Bruce]

I love this picture Bruce, the rear tires are sooooo widdddddddeeeeeee. If I didn't have a Black ACR before, I would have picked Black for my TA. But black is really an awesome color for the TA, and that orange badge standout so nicely.
Great write-up btw, and could you elaborate more on heel-and-toe issue? I personally find the brake pedal a little too high compared to my Gen 4 ACR's, and thus more difficult to heel-and-toe, but maybe the pedal will grow a little softer under load but haven't had a chance to push the brakes to those limits yet.

[Nine Ball]

Excellent write-up, Bruce. You have a knack for writing.

Those Corsas are excellent in the rain, one of the best I've run on. Weather like that, and the Sport Cups would have kept you benched. The heel-toe is different in the Viper, for sure. I have to roll my ankle over and blip it with the side of my shoe. Racing shoes do make it harder, regular sneakers work better. I would think adding a billet cover to the throttle pedal might fix this, someone should make such. Like the extension on this one:

[J TNT]

That would be a great option to have ! ^^^^^^

[BlknBlu]

your observation of the performance of the car is spot on. THe problem with reviews and articles that hold the car back is the Violent portion. Most Viper owners do not mind and embrace it.

Great read

Bruce

[Dusty1]

Try these though the company indicates they are good up through 02. http://www.srpracing.com/pd_viper_92...ing_pedals.cfm Used them in my Boss 302 and were very nice.

Richard

[ViperSmith]

I see you are enjoying your new ride

[VoodooRob]

Great write up, thanks for posting!

[Boba Fett]

Ball of foot on brake pedal with foot rotated so toe can blip throttle. I'll be buying a wider driving shoe so I can get enough of my foot on the brake pedal normally, and reach the throttle by rolling my ankle to blip. At the moment my shoe is too narrow to reach unless I barely get my foot on the edge of the brake.

Gotcha. Again great write up, thanks for sharing!



Awesome shot!!!

[MtnBiker]

Yes, ringing in the ears is normal. Actually it seems to go away as you either get used to it or progressively become more deaf . Great writeup, thanks.

[Nine Ball]

Try these though the company indicates they are good up through 02. http://www.srpracing.com/pd_viper_92...ing_pedals.cfm Used them in my Boss 302 and were very nice.

Richard

Not the same pedal shape for Gen 3-5, and the throttle pedal isn't flat either.

[cmilviper]

Unbelievable pictures Bruce, and congrats!!!

Are you able to share/post the higher resolution versions of your last 4 track day pictures?

Thanks!

[Policy Limits]

Shot of that rear angle is spectacular. That thing says Darth Vader!!! Enjoy.

[VENOM V]

Bruce,

Glad you're having fun with your new bad ass track dominator! Holy crap, that thing looks downright viscious at every angle. It will be intimidating for the other drivers to see that beast close on them in their rear view mirror. Your black TA has a very different look than my Stryker Red Halle Berry- she's sexy but not nearly as barbaric looking as yours! That is, until she hustles around the track

Interesting about heel-toe shifting, it seems different styles prefer different pedal set ups. It feels natural and easy in the Viper, however I've ordered a pedal kit like Nine Ball shows for my Camaro because that car's pedal layout is more tricky for me. Regarding shoes: I started with ultra-narrow Pumas, and recently purchased Sparcos that work much better for me.

Good to know the dip in the spoiler is fuctional aerodynamically as well as helps visability (a little, LOL). I just finished installing my front splitters with the help of Normandin Chrysler and will be putting the complete aero package to the test at Thunderhill Raceway in June. I'm curious if the aerodynamicist said anything about the shape of the front splitters. It's not a traditional splitter that spans the width of the nose, I'm curious if they chose the mini-splitters more for clearance or if it too is desirable aerodynamically. I'm sure they help but I've never seen splitters of this shape before. Our Vipers with the carbon aero package have nearly double the downforce of the new Z/28 despite it's humungoid splitter.

You know I'm a big fan of familiarizing yourself to the Viper's character on the skid pad, and with a coach no less. That exercise was very confidence inspiring for me as well. And with your 5 track days planned within the next month (lucky bastard!!!), I hope you have the opportunity to repeat the exercise in the dry.

Congrats brother, looking forward to hearing about your next adventure!

Todd

[Bruce H.]

Thanks for all the positive comments!

I love this picture Bruce, the rear tires are sooooo widdddddddeeeeeee. If I didn't have a Black ACR before, I would have picked Black for my TA. But black is really an awesome color for the TA, and that orange badge standout so nicely.
Great write-up btw, and could you elaborate more on heel-and-toe issue? I personally find the brake pedal a little too high compared to my Gen 4 ACR's, and thus more difficult to heel-and-toe, but maybe the pedal will grow a little softer under load but haven't had a chance to push the brakes to those limits yet.

I think I'd have been equally happy to have any of the 3 colors, they all look great! The pedal is higher, and it's brake force is all at the top of the pedal, with the pedal not going down much. It might feel a bit different in the dry, but lots of downshifts are required under modest pedal pressure, so I don't think that will address the situation. The other aspect I have is the sensitivity of the throttle. You have to be very careful not to press it too much or the rev rise too high, and this is why the toe tap method I've used on other cars doesn't work for me here...I over-rev it frequently. I thought the better pedal feel with a thin soled driving show would help but it didn't as I still ended up blipping it too hard. I see the solution being to use a wide enough shoe so that you can safely fit enough of it over the brake and still reach the throttle with the right edge of it, and thin soled enough that you can feel the brake pedal under foot. You can then either roll your ankle if you find you can be precise enough on the throttle, but for those of us who have sprained out ankle so many times that we aren't comfortable rolling it, I plan to keep my ankle fixed on the brake pedal and swing my right knee over to provide the throttle press as my foot tilts. This is merely one of the challenges to be enjoyed and mastered with an exotic supercar, along with learning how to get in and out of it gracefully! GM offers electronic rev-matching for those not up to the challenge.

Excellent write-up, Bruce. You have a knack for writing.

Those Corsas are excellent in the rain, one of the best I've run on. Weather like that, and the Sport Cups would have kept you benched. The heel-toe is different in the Viper, for sure. I have to roll my ankle over and blip it with the side of my shoe. Racing shoes do make it harder, regular sneakers work better. I would think adding a billet cover to the throttle pedal might fix this, someone should make such. Like the extension on this one:

Thanks, Tony, and I will try the sneekers again, and would only consider pedal covers as a last resort. I expect an experienced driver to have no trouble heel and toeing once he's had the seat time to commit the technique to muscle memory. I was also amazed at the wet grip of the Corsa on the skid pad, and the feedback the fronts give both there and on the track. I was impressed how quickly I was able to sense and approach the limits of grip with very little seat time, and have that perceived limit confirmed when pushing just slightly harder and losing grip.

your observation of the performance of the car is spot on. THe problem with reviews and articles that hold the car back is the Violent portion. Most Viper owners do not mind and embrace it.

Great read

Bruce

I'll admit that during the first 3 or 4 days I had a bit of a hard time getting my head around the car, and it had almost nothing to do with the power as I was still nursing it through the 500 mile break-in. It is just very, very different from anything else I had driven or driven in, and I think it's all the things that make it so exotic that perhaps over-whelms a bit. Then after 500 miles, and getting used to the exotic aspects, I got above 4000 rpm and probed full throttle and was back to a state of shock and awe for the next 2 days. 600 ft-lbs of torque is unnatural, it's crazy stupid power, it's extremely dangerous for the uninitiated and unprepared...and absolutely the Holy Grail for those with the seat time and experience to use it. I'm not there yet, but will in time. I just have no idea how automotive journalists can write anything accurate or intelligable about this car after a brief stint in it, whether on the street, or around a slalom and road course. Most must feel immediately more comfortable and confident in just about any other car, and have a hard time visualizing themselves owning one for any one of a bunch of reasons. This car should realistically be compared against other ultra high performance exotics only, as it is built for significantly different goals, and for a buyer who appreciates and values those unique goals above almost all others.

I see you are enjoying your new ride

I really am now!

Yes, ringing in the ears is normal. Actually it seems to go away as you either get used to it or progressively become more deaf . Great writeup, thanks.

Wonderful...I knew there must be a solution. The sound really gets intense inside a helmet, and when I say intense I really mean fantastic! I think it's amazing that the government allows a factory race/track car like this to share public roads. Blows my mind.

[Steve M]

This might be of interest:

http://www.ipsco.org/Viper_files/SRT...sion%20Kit.htm

It would bring the gas pedal up in relation to the brake pedal...it should work since the Gen 3/4/5 pedals are all the same.

I love all the pics!

Edit: fixed link (I think)

[Bruce H.]

Unbelievable pictures Bruce, and congrats!!!

Are you able to share/post the higher resolution versions of your last 4 track day pictures?

Thanks!

The photos were taken by a track photographer who keeps the hi-res images to sell in the form of prints. I may be interested in shots from a day with better weather, although he did a great job of the car in the rain.

I'm curious if the aerodynamicist said anything about the shape of the front splitters. It's not a traditional splitter that spans the width of the nose, I'm curious if they chose the mini-splitters more for clearance or if it too is desirable aerodynamically. I'm sure they help but I've never seen splitters of this shape before. Our Vipers with the carbon aero package have nearly double the downforce of the new Z/28 despite it's humungoid splitter.

Congrats brother, looking forward to hearing about your next adventure!

Todd

Thanks, Todd. I saw my first Stryker red at a local VOA social and thought it was absolutely stunning too. We didn't discuss the front splitters, but I know from previous research on the subject that a gap in the splitter serves a function, and would work on the Viper because the car is low enough not to benefit from more of a full airdam. Our splitters will be effective at displacing air around the front tires to reduce drag, and into the grill for cooling, and reduce the amount of air under the car to create a low pressure zone that the flat bottom design enhances to create negative lift.

I would have had video footage also but I think I fried my camera when I hard-wired it. Hopefully I'll have that to share next time. Pretty sure it won't show many getting away from me on the straights!

More pics to come soon.

[J TNT]

Great write up Bruce and glad to see you're fully enjoying the Viper Experience ! Look forward to your Dry condition observation of the TA
Cheers ! Jay

[Space Truckin]

Congratulations!!! The shots are AWESOME

Very good read, U BN BIT

[Bruce H.]

The photographer sent me dozens of pictures. He's brilliantly captured the striking features of the car and the event...enjoy!

http://s49.photobucket.com/user/GT28...how/Viper%20TA

[cmilviper]

The photographer sent me dozens of pictures. He's brilliantly captured the striking features of the car and the event...enjoy!

http://s49.photobucket.com/user/GT28...how/Viper%20TA

Great pictures Bruce...Best I've seen yet of a Gen V!

Those moving shots in the rain are going to be tough to beat!

[Nine Ball]

This might be of interest:

http://www.ipsco.org/Viper_files/SRT...sion%20Kit.htm

It would bring the gas pedal up in relation to the brake pedal...it should work since the Gen 3/4/5 pedals are all the same.

I love all the pics!

Edit: fixed link (I think)

I definitely will put this in my car, maybe even both of them. The Viper clutch engagement point is near the top of the pedal travel, but the throttle pedal is placed further down. Even when drag racing, I like to push the clutch pedal far away as possible, to minimize the pedal arm length (quicker action). But, that puts the throttle pedal even further away for driving around, the balance feels off. This should solve it, thanks for the link!