Take out spare tire at the track?

[Martin2000GTS]

Hey Guys,

Just trying to plan my trip to Tail of the Dragon and VIR. Since Ill be on the road for literally 2 weeks in my viper I was looking at options to make more space in my trunk. I drive my car around with a spare tire in the trunk all the time but in reality the spare would not even fit on my car because of my big brakes. Is it important to keep the spare in there for a rear end collision? (I thought I read about that somewhere) Would VIR not let me race if I didn't have the tire in there? Am I just worrying over nothing? Id like to take the spare out to give me more cargo room for my trip. What do you guys think?

Martin-

[GhostStalker27]

I travel without a spare, I also track without it.

[thetalonguy]

Hey Martin,

I just so happen to have the NARRA US PDE and SOLO Regulations in my office at work:

"Before going on track ensure the following items are removed from your car:
....
i) Spare Tire

So it's actually a requirement to remove the spare before racing on a NARRA course.

:-)

[Leslie]

I remember reading something about the design of the GenII and the spare tire, protection from the fuel tank...?

Hopefully someone will chime in on this.

When I had a GenII I would always leave it in and just take it out at the track.

[GTS Dean]

twscrash.jpg

The spare serves as a crash attenuator. This crash happened at Viper Days' first event at Texas World in '97. He was glad to have the spare in the trunk.

If you are looking for extra trip space, you can put things under the spare center, over the spare center and below the cover, around the spare in the trunk pan. Under the seats you will find a surprising amount of volume. Beside the seats and the exhaust sills are spaces. What you're looking for is VOLUME, not just area.

[Patentlaw]

twscrash.jpg

The spare serves as a crash attenuator. This crash happened at Viper Days' first event at Texas World in '97. He was glad to have the spare in the trunk.

If you are looking for extra trip space, you can put things under the spare center, over the spare center and below the cover, around the spare in the trunk pan. Under the seats you will find a surprising amount of volume. Beside the seats and the exhaust sills are spaces. What you're looking for is VOLUME, not just area.

Totally correct.

[Camfab]

I also thought this was the case, however someone noted that it was specially for the RT/10 and not the GTS. Why this would be the case, baffles me. I believe the frames are the same although updates to the frame occurred with time.

[slovenom]

My gts 200 has a spare ?

[XSnake]

yes, take it out

[GhostStalker27]

The spare is secured by a wing nut...It'll decapitate you before it ever provides any protection. The average spare weighs about 25lbs..would you want a 25lb bar bell in your cockpit if god forbid you rolled? No car should ever count on a spare as impact control. As anyone whose ever tracked - you remove all 'loose' items, including your spare.

[Matt M, Pa]

I've had a Viper since 1998 and I remember very well these discussions over the years on the other forum. I had to search, but found a thread from 2002 where Chuck Tator wrote..."All Vipers...the spare is there for safety! Do not remove!". Also Roy Sjoberg was quoted as saying that something similar.

[ViperTony]

The spare tire is an integral design of the rear impact-crumple zone. The spare tire hold down rod has a cable running through it and the cable is tied to either side of the frame. In a rear-end collision, on the RT-10, the trunk lid hinges give way and the trunk lid slices into the passenger compartment through the RT/10's sport bar. The spare tire is supposed to prevent a complete rear-end crush and keep the deck lid from moving forward. During Viper Days I couldn't run without the spare in my RT/10 for this reason. Every track day I go to the spare is required to say anchored in my RT/10 trunk. No exceptions. On the GTS, not sure if the spare tire is part of the rear-end crumple zone safety or not.

[ACRSNK]

Martin you have plenty of room in trunk. I saw what you had in there yesterday at the dyno. Never knew a Viper trunk was so big. Coolers, DJ equipment, chairs, food, more food.....Dang!

[ViperTony]

Martin you have plenty of room in trunk. I saw what you had in there yesterday at the dyno. Never knew a Viper trunk was so big. Coolers, DJ equipment, chairs, food, more food.....Dang!

Let me guess Martin had 3-4 coolers full of lobster in his GTS trunk?

[Stretch]

Chuck Tator himself told me never to remove the spare tire for the exact reason that ViperTony mentioned above. I always traveled with it in the car.

[GhostStalker27]

Chuck Tator himself told me never to remove the spare tire for the exact reason that ViperTony mentioned above. I always traveled with it in the car.

Maybe it's an RT/10 thing, he also worked on my car (was aware there was no spare) and never mentioned anything about needing it. Just seems odd they'd design a car that'd compromise your safety if you needed to use it. Can anyone confirm this is also true with a gts?

[BadAndy]

Stretch busted me out a few years ago. I put mine back in and have left it ever since.

[Thawk97]

Maybe it's an RT/10 thing, he also worked on my car (was aware there was no spare) and never mentioned anything about needing it. Just seems odd they'd design a car that'd compromise your safety if you needed to use it. Can anyone confirm this is also true with a gts?

I think the assumption is that if you're running with the spare you already need to be driving with extra caution - the spare certainly isn't designed to hold up to regular driving. It's the same thing with limp mode - when the car isn't working properly, they want to enable you to get it somewhere to resolve the issue, but that doesn't mean it's safe to try and drive it normally.

[Bugman Jeff]

Maybe it's an RT/10 thing, he also worked on my car (was aware there was no spare) and never mentioned anything about needing it. Just seems odd they'd design a car that'd compromise your safety if you needed to use it. Can anyone confirm this is also true with a gts?

It's likely assumed that if you're using the spare, the original wheel is in the trunk. If it is there to prevent the rear from crumpling, it's the solidness of the wheel, not the air in the tire doing the work anyway.


I'm curious about the GTS question as well. My '97 didn't come with a spare, and I haven't really gone out of my way to find one. If it turns out to be a non-issue with the GTS, I suspect the roof helps distribute impact energy around the cockpit. Or, it could be strictly trunk lid related as stated above, making it irrelevant on the GTS.

[Red Kaos]

Just an observation and a bit rhetorical…there are a number of warning stickers on the GTS as well as warning notices contained within the manual. However, I have yet to find one regarding the operation of the viper without a spare tire.

[GhostStalker27]

It's likely assumed that if you're using the spare, the original wheel is in the trunk.

That's a good point.

Just an observation and a bit rhetorical…there are a number of warning stickers on the GTS as well as warning notices contained within the manual. However, I have yet to find one regarding the operation of the viper without a spare tire.

I read through the service manual - just basic info about the spare but you'd think if it was a safety issue it'd mention it and there'd definitely be a warning label haha

[Martin2000GTS]

I totally forgot I posted this!! Thanks for all the responses reading them now!

[Martin2000GTS]

Hey Martin,

I just so happen to have the NARRA US PDE and SOLO Regulations in my office at work:

"Before going on track ensure the following items are removed from your car:
....
i) Spare Tire

So it's actually a requirement to remove the spare before racing on a NARRA course.

:-)

Awesome that's good news! thanks !

[Martin2000GTS]

Dammit I just read all this stuff and I just feel more confused now lol! Thanks for all the different opinions, maybe ill send a note to the VOA tech section in the magazine to see if they can answer the question. I mean I'd "risk"/ gamble and take it out for this trip because of the additional space it provides. But you guys make good points there is a lot of room under the seats of the car....but with that spare tire out it makes a big difference, specially when you have a girlfriend that packs as if we were going away for a month.....

[GTS Dean]

Viper sized tires are not always available when/where you need them. Take the spare. Tell her it's either risk sitting in a hot car on the side of the road with no good prospects for repair, or to wear less clothing. Problem solved!