Videos - Viper TA autocross and road course

[Nine Ball]

I competed in a 2-day event over this weekend, at the Optima Batteries "Ultimate Street Car" event. (see www.driveusca.com). It was at Texas Motor Speedway, in Fort Worth, TX. We had five events to compete in for points, autocross, road course, speed-stop, design & engineering, and road rally. Most of the cars attending were highly modified, driven by some well-known people in the racing scene. I'd watched a few of these events in the past, but decided to enter this one since it was only 3 hrs from home. This was my first competitive timed event for autocross and road course, and I managed to place 7th out of 16 in my class. Autocross and speed-stop were my weak points, but in road course I did well. Overall, it was a great event and I met some excellent gearheads and racers. The Viper wouldn't take much to be more competitive, mostly suspension upgrades and alignment settings, and possibly better tires. We had to use 200+ treadwear tires, so even the factory tires were too sticky for this event. I ran on my 19" Michelin Pilot Super Sports, they did well for 5-6 hard laps on this short track, before getting greasy. I found my best lap times were with the shocks in Race Mode, and the active handling in Sport Mode. Running the system full-on proved to be too intrusive on curve exit acceleration. It was 84F outside, and oil temps never went over 233F after 20 minutes of hard lapping. These cars are tough and durable.

I did manage to push these Super Sports to the limits:









Autocross Video

https://youtu.be/aTPNWqe3BK8

Road Course Video
https://youtu.be/Wabi8pyUoH0

Tony

[Nine Ball]

Also, check out (and LIKE) my car facebook page to see photos of the other cars that competed.

https://www.facebook.com/nineballgarage

Tony

[FLATOUT]

Way to go dude! That looks like a blast. I need to get you out to the TAMSCC autocross in College Station during the practice sessions. You'll pick it up really quick.

[sammyv]

That was fun to watch! Good job!!!

[mjorgensen]

Very cool Tony thanks for sharing!

[Bruce H.]

Looking good Tony! Always love the wheel lift in track pics...that and flames like Andy's!

[MtnBiker]

Dude!! That first photo is awesome!! The right front is practically off the ground. Love it. Especially the Trak It plate! Magazine material right there!!!

[darbgnik]

Too bad that first pic wasn't a landscape, would make an awesome wallpaper!

[Nine Ball]

Too bad that first pic wasn't a landscape, would make an awesome wallpaper!

It was! I've requested the original, I want a poster made of it.

[FrgMstr]

It was! I've requested the original, I want a poster made of it.

Damn right. Too bad Vipers are only straight line cars!

[swexlin]

Very cool. How did the Hellcat Charger do? Is that yours? Man, I miss my Charger SRT8, and in a couple years, need to add one back into the stable.

[Jack B]

Tony

Besides the viper, I also autocross a turbo solstice, I put a new set of pilot super sports on that car last summer, they sucked for that purpose. they are a decent street tire, but, once they get hot, traction goes bye-bye.

[Nine Ball]

Tony

Besides the viper, I also autocross a turbo solstice, I put a new set of pilot super sports on that car last summer, they sucked for that purpose. they are a decent street tire, but, once they get hot, traction goes bye-bye.

100% agreed. They are good daily-driver tires, but only perform well for about 10 minutes on track. Then they turn greasy and you get surprise understeer and worse braking. I have a video of an offroading excursion this past weekend, as proof. Entered the same corner at a same entry speed, tires just kept sliding in the brake zone and had no steering until I almost saved it. LOL

Very cool. I've wanted to participate in this at Road America but the 200 tread wear rule turns me off.

There are some pretty good tires in the 200 range nowadays. The fastest cars were running the BFG Rival-S, but they don't have Viper sizes yet. Could run a 315/30-18 front and a 335/30-18 rear on some track wheels though. That would be a great combo. Otherwise, the Michelin PS2, PSS, or even Nitto NT05 can also work.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+Rival+S

[FrgMstr]

100% agreed. They are good daily-driver tires, but only perform well for about 10 minutes on track. Then they turn greasy and you get surprise understeer and worse braking. I have a video of an offroading excursion this past weekend, as proof. Entered the same corner at a same entry speed, tires just kept sliding in the brake zone and had no steering until I almost saved it. LOL



There are some pretty good tires in the 200 range nowadays. The fastest cars were running the BFG Rival-S, but they don't have Viper sizes yet. Could run a 315/30-18 front and a 335/30-18 rear on some track wheels though. That would be a great combo. Otherwise, the Michelin PS2, PSS, or even Nitto NT05 can also work.
[/COLOR]http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+Rival+S

Running the MSS at CoTA, those were fine, but I was NOT pushing the car deep into the breaking zones like you were. I was less trusting of the break pads on the car and I wanted to get used to the track my first time out. I think you were running 3:30 laps and I was running 3:50 laps.

I have run the Nitto NT05s at MSR Houston, and I was pushing pretty hard there. The NT05s gave up the ghost after four 20 minute sessions there. After that, those were totally useless. That said it was middle of summer and hot as hell that day probably 95F air temp and sunny.

[Shooter]

Nice. Good to see people pushing the cars (and themselves) on the track.

[MR Viper]

Thanks for putting up the videos, and for running your TA in the Optima event. Very cool !

You're the true modern, gentleman racer Tony. The guy who buys a great car, and runs it hard. Reports the results. All, very cool.

thanks

[lmcgrew79]

Nice! Wonder if corvette spec super sports are better?

[Back In Black]

Very cool. I've wanted to participate in this at Road America but the 200 tread wear rule turns me off.

[Dman]

Thanks for sharing, way to represent! I am really thinking I live in the wrong state.

I agree with all posts on the MPSS. I've used them as a go to on my GT500's, they are a huge improvement over stock and a great street tire IMO. On the track, they're the wicked witch of the west, melting, melting. I ran them on my gen4 at VOI12 and I had way more understeer than I've ever had before. I still recommend them as a compromise, but I can also tell my Corsas on the gen5 are superior after just one track day.

[345s-bspinnin]

That looks like a lot of fun Tony. Thanks for sharing.

[Nine Ball]

Andres,

I'm hosting a DE track day this Friday, if you can take off work. 8 hours of track time, instructors available, rain or shine. PM me if you are interested (or anyone else in the Houston area). We have room for a couple more cars. $200/driver.

Tony

[Nine Ball]

Some more cool pics from a photographer that was at the track (Kaleb Kelley)









Pics like this make me remember why I would never lower this car. It is lowered occasionally, when cornering. HAHA

[99RT10]

What about the 888's? Wouldn't those make a great track tire? I would have thought the NT-05s would have held out longer.

[Nine Ball]

What about the 888's? Wouldn't those make a great track tire? I would have thought the NT-05s would have held out longer.

The R888 are good tires, but those are rated at 100 tread wear and weren't allowed for this event. Had to be 200+

See the "UTQG" rating here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....el=Proxes+R888

[FLATOUT]

Are you running caps?