Our First Reviews Of The Viper ACR Are In!

[ACRucrazy]

Driving the Viper ACR on the crowded public roads makes you look and feel like a complete idiot

He belongs in a Porsche apparently.

[Voice of Reason]

He belongs in a Porsche apparently.

I may get flamed but I see his point. The giant aero bits are too much for regular street driving for me. I drive my TA a lot (5,100 miles total or about 1,000 miles a month during driving season in IL) and I wouldn't want the rear wing of the ACR or TA 2.0 for that matter. On the track is a different story but street/track combo duty I consider my TA perfect.

[Rapidrezults]

I may get flamed but I see his point. The giant aero bits are too much for regular street driving for me. I drive my TA a lot (5,100 miles total or about 1,000 miles a month during driving season in IL) and I wouldn't want the rear wing of the ACR or TA 2.0 for that matter. On the track is a different story but street/track combo duty I consider my TA perfect.

I agree, the TA is perfect for street/track duty. I was never a fan of wings, and the more I look at them the more they grow on me. I will be one of the clowns occasionally driving my extreme on the street. I can't wait to see the reactions from people. I'm sure a few snide remarks will make their way to my ear at a stop light. Hahah.... I've already registered the custom plate "DWN FRCE" to have some fun with it.

[ViperSmith]

I may get flamed but I see his point. The giant aero bits are too much for regular street driving for me. I drive my TA a lot (5,100 miles total or about 1,000 miles a month during driving season in IL) and I wouldn't want the rear wing of the ACR or TA 2.0 for that matter. On the track is a different story but street/track combo duty I consider my TA perfect.

I agree, but people act like Porsche doesn't offer its own flavor of insane aero that does nothing for the car other than look preposterous.

People act like this functional aero on the ACR is "out there" in terms of styling but in reality isn't bad across the automotive landscape.

[SSGNRDZ_28]

I don't see how having an ACR on the street is any more ridiculous than any hummer, lifted truck, hellcat, any other sports car, etc... any car that isn't practical or a "driving appliance" for that matter.

[ACRucrazy]

I don't see how having an ACR on the street is any more ridiculous than any hummer, lifted truck, hellcat, any other sports car, etc... any car that isn't practical or a "driving appliance" for that matter.

ding ding ding.

[BlknBlu]

I would need too many drugs to have a Viper as a daily driver, but love taking them out on nice days and to cruises. Wings and all

Bruce

[Darius]

I don't see how having an ACR on the street is any more ridiculous than any hummer, lifted truck, hellcat, any other sports car, etc... any car that isn't practical or a "driving appliance" for that matter.

I don't think it's the car that makes this guy look like a idiot.
hit-the-nail-on-the-head-1024x1024.jpg

1307784264639.jpg

[darbgnik]

I don't see how having an ACR on the street is any more ridiculous than any hummer, lifted truck, hellcat, any other sports car, etc... any car that isn't practical or a "driving appliance" for that matter.

Agreed, I have an H1, and I love it to death, and take it to Moab every year to use it as it was intended. But that doesn't stop me from driving that old hay wagon around town! At least in the ACR, you wont clog up the on ramps.

[allans]

I agree, the TA is perfect for street/track duty. I was never a fan of wings, and the more I look at them the more they grow on me. I will be one of the clowns occasionally driving my extreme on the street. I can't wait to see the reactions from people. I'm sure a few snide remarks will make their way to my ear at a stop light. Hahah.... I've already registered the custom plate "DWN FRCE" to have some fun with it.

Drop the"W" and ad an "O" "DN FORCE"

[Rapidrezults]

Drop the"W" and ad an "O" "DN FORCE"

Good idea. I tried a million combos and most of them were taken.

[Viktimize]

Good idea. I tried a million combos and most of them were taken.

I would stick with what you had. The lack of vowels makes it perfectly clear what it is supposed to say. Randomness of having a few vowels or consonants missing and some not just makes it confusing to most people.

[JackBaruth]

Hey guys,

Just stepping in for a moment --- I saw some inbound links to my site from this forum. The photo of the blue car with the vents out is mine --- it's meant to show the three different aero packages (TA, TA 2.0, and ACR) together, if you look you can see all three spoilers.

I wrote the R&T, TTAC, and Wired reviews of the ACR; I've also written about various other Vipers from about the year 2010 forward.

Re: videos and times. R&T used Andy's video and not mine because my videos (the grey door video and red overhead video linked earlier in the thread) are a single GoPro without any commentary, external microphones. I use those videos when I'm writing the reviews to remind me of how the car behaved in certain turns. They're not really consumer-friendly videos. Very few people have the patience nowadays to watch a single-perspective lap of a track, and most of those people have SCCA memberships, y'know?

I took five three-lap sessions in the cars, only the middle of each lap permitted to be at pace, with an instruction not to smack curbs or raise any dust. Andy had the luxury of a full camera crew and an exclusive session after the regular lapping was done. Brian Makse, my friend and fellow NASA racer, also took a video session for his outstanding video. Basically the way it worked was that if you had a camera crew with you, they let you have extra time because they understand how video-focused people are now.

All laps were on VIR Grand. We were not permitted to run through the cutout and set a VIR Full laptime.

I'm not happy with my laptime (best I could manage was a 2:56) and after watching Andy's video I don't think he was any faster. It's worth noting that I caught other journalists almost every time I was out on track, and I didn't see anybody else turning anything faster. I think the reasons can be summed up as:

* curb restriction
* instructors in the car
* very conservative aero and damper setup
* maybe 30 heat cycles for each set of tires being used --- they were being used dozens of times in a row for different drivers
* the knowledge that if you raised dust you'd probably be sat down for the rest of the day

If anybody has any questions about the cars, the event, or the way the vehicles behaved, feel free to ask in this thread.

And just as a matter of personal opinion: the only reason I'm not already in the order books is because I'm poor enough to have to choose between racing a Neon ACR on a regular basis and *owning* a Viper ACR If something happened to curtail my racing, like another injury, I'd probably choose a Viper ACR 1-of-1 without too much hesitation.

[ACR Steve]

Very nice Jack

[sammyv]

Thanks for the post Jack!

[Rapidrezults]

Jack,

Thanks for posting clarification. I really, really liked your Wired review! Your picture of the GTS-R blue was IMO one of the best pics out!

[zoomzoom22]

Guys,
For clarification, on Hoosier slicks (not as sticky at Pirelli or Michelin slicks) a properly set up comp coupe (World Challenge spec) turns a 1:55 or so on the full course. A well prepared and modified comp coupe with 800 hp, traction control and a sequential, can make it through in about 1:52 (again on Hoosiers). That should give you an idea of what it would mean if a stock ACR could ever turn a 1:56 or under on the full course. You'd be into the professionally set up Viper Comp Coupe arena, right off the showroom floor. I've driven VIR extensively. The best I've squeezed out on Pirellis in my comp coupe is a 1:54.1

Curious weather when you ran 154.1 in the comp coupe?
We ran 154 flats in our ACRX at VIR on BFG DOT's which had to be 1-1.5 secs slower than slicks. This was in late April at VIR last year. This year 155's, was hotter for sure.

Dying to see what a new ACR does so I can decide whether to get one.

[LABrit]

Any more vids? Can't find many that aren't from the press days!