Tracking my Gen IV ACR

[ACR08]

I just wanted to write and let you all know how much fun I've had with my ACR recently. I got the car about a year ago and hadn't been able to drive it much since I was living in one state and it was living in another (long story).

However, recently we've been reunited and I got to drive it quite a bit. Best of all, I finally got to take it to the track. The car lives in Utah, so the place to go is Larry Miller Motor Speedway. I took it to their Wide Open Wednesday and was able to do one session of 25 minutes with an instructor. It was awesome!!!! I can't believe how well the car handles and how capable it is. I'm a beginner driver and found the car very easy to drive. You just have to respect it and remember to be smooth. I disagree with the belief some people have that the car is hard to drive and a brute. You just can't expect the car to baby you and take care of you. I know this for a fact because I did spin the car, but it was my fault.

During one of the last laps, I started to push it and came into a turn a little fast. I got nervous and stabbed at the brakes which was just enough to unsettle the rear end and send it sliding out. If I was a better driver I could have saved it. Thanks to reading a lot of post on here I knew to put both feet down (clutch and brake) and the car came to a quick stop in the middle of the track after doing less than half a turn.

The best thing about the event was I learned about NASA and the full weekend events they have. I was able to take the car to a full day of HPDE 1 driving. I got 4 sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday. (Wife said I had to spend most of Sunday with her. I'm still working on getting her bitten. Apparently she is immune to Viper venom. However, I did see her giggle one time when she took off from a stop light when she was driving the ACR. Maybe there is hope.)

The NASA event was awesome and my instructor is an owner of an orange Viper TA. He saw the ACR and came over and said "I'm going ot instruct you. Us Viper guys have to stick together." Needless to say we had a blast and he taught me that the first rule of Viper nation is that we eat up Porsches. There were two in my group a Carrera 4S and a Turbo. (If there were any Corvettes in my group I don't remember them. They were just blurs as I passed them). It didn't take much work to do a way with the 4S. The Turbo was a different story. We had fun dulling back and forth all day. Those Turbos are fast in a straight line, but the ACR ate it up in the turns. The G's you feel in the fast turns are exhilarating. And I can tell you one thing, I was having way more fun in my analog ACR with its manual gear box than he in his digital Porsche with a computer watching out for him and its dual clutch transmission doing all the shifting. (I'll try to post some pics later.)

I'm now completely addicted and can't wait to track the car some more. If you have one of these cars, and are debating about whether to track it or not. Do it. It's so worth it. Seems like there are two types of Viper owners. Ones who drive there cars hard and another group who like to own the Viper, but don't drive it often because they want to keep it in mint condition or have a sweet car collection and not enough time to drive all their cars. To each their own. At first, I did feel guilty about tracking my ACR because it is hard on the car (I already cracked my windshield when the Turbo shot a rock up and at me), but the Viper is built for the track and can take it. I'm glad I've decided to drive mine. I'm also glad that many Viper owners don't put a lot of miles on their cars because somewhere right now, one of them is ordering my future 2016 ACR with extreme areo. I'll take possesion of it in a few years when it has some where between 2K and 4K miles on it. I just hope they are choosing a color I like.

Oh, one last thing.. I spun the car again my second time out. Again, it was my fault. I have some work to do.

Thanks for reading this long post. Hopefully it motivates some people to take their Viper to the track.

[TCurtner]

image.jpgI just wanted to write and let you all know how much fun I've had with my ACR recently. I got the car about a year ago and hadn't been able to drive it much since I was living in one state and it was living in another (long story).

However, recently we've been reunited and I got to drive it quite a bit. Best of all, I finally got to take it to the track. The car lives in Utah, so the place to go is Larry Miller Motor Speedway. I took it to their Wide Open Wednesday and was able to do one session of 25 minutes with an instructor. It was awesome!!!! I can't believe how well the car handles and how capable it is. I'm a beginner driver and found the car very easy to drive. You just have to respect it and remember to be smooth. I disagree with the belief some people have that the car is hard to drive and a brute. You just can't expect the car to baby you and take care of you. I know this for a fact because I did spin the car, but it was my fault.

During one of the last laps, I started to push it and came into a turn a little fast. I got nervous and stabbed at the brakes which was just enough to unsettle the rear end and send it sliding out. If I was a better driver I could have saved it. Thanks to reading a lot of post on here I knew to put both feet down (clutch and brake) and the car came to a quick stop in the middle of the track after doing less than half a turn.

The best thing about the event was I learned about NASA and the full weekend events they have. I was able to take the car to a full day of HPDE 1 driving. I got 4 sessions on Saturday and one on Sunday. (Wife said I had to spend most of Sunday with her. I'm still working on getting her bitten. Apparently she is immune to Viper venom. However, I did see her giggle one time when she took off from a stop light when she was driving the ACR. Maybe there is hope.)

The NASA event was awesome and my instructor is an owner of an orange Viper TA. He saw the ACR and came over and said "I'm going ot instruct you. Us Viper guys have to stick together." Needless to say we had a blast and he taught me that the first rule of Viper nation is that we eat up Porsches. There were two in my group a Carrera 4S and a Turbo. (If there were any Corvettes in my group I don't remember them. They were just blurs as I passed them). It didn't take much work to do a way with the 4S. The Turbo was a different story. We had fun dulling back and forth all day. Those Turbos are fast in a straight line, but the ACR ate it up in the turns. The G's you feel in the fast turns are exhilarating. And I can tell you one thing, I was having way more fun in my analog ACR with its manual gear box than he in his digital Porsche with a computer watching out for him and its dual clutch transmission doing all the shifting. (I'll try to post some pics later.)

I'm now completely addicted and can't wait to track the car some more. If you have one of these cars, and are debating about whether to track it or not. Do it. It's so worth it. Seems like there are two types of Viper owners. Ones who drive there cars hard and another group who like to own the Viper, but don't drive it often because they want to keep it in mint condition or have a sweet car collection and not enough time to drive all their cars. To each their own. At first, I did feel guilty about tracking my ACR because it is hard on the car (I already cracked my windshield when the Turbo shot a rock up and at me), but the Viper is built for the track and can take it. I'm glad I've decided to drive mine. I'm also glad that many Viper owners don't put a lot of miles on their cars because somewhere right now, one of them is ordering my future 2016 ACR with extreme areo. I'll take possesion of it in a few years when it has some where between 2K and 4K miles on it. I just hope they are choosing a color I like.

Oh, one last thing.. I spun the car again my second time out. Again, it was my fault. I have some work to do.

Thanks for ready this long post. Hopefully it motivates some people to take their Viper to the track.

Be sure and adjust your compression and rebound for track work when you go - the recommended settings are in the manual.
Beware: The track is addicting. Ask me about it, i finally had to sell my race car

[Madmav]

It's so addicting , I bought my viper with the intention to maybe go to the track once or twice but now I have every track day booked off of work��and will be ordering track only tires(Hoosier r7) and rims. So it was originally going to be 95% street and 5 % track, but now it 5 % street and 95 % track

[Leslie]

I have your 'sista' ACR, and I can tell you I agree with the guys above...the track can be ADDICTING!

I instruct with PCA, if you ever run with them your wife can sign up for 'taste of the track' and get 1 session on the track, classroom instruction and 2 rides with an instructor for $25. Maybe once she gets bitten she will understand why you want to run all day Sunday too haha.

I loved your write-up, nice job 'in a spin, both feet in' !

[AZTVR]

Great to hear about a Viper owner catching the track bug; but, unfortunate if Miller Motorsports Park is still closing in a couple of months as reported earlier this year. You will have to relocate the Viper !

[TCurtner]

Great to hear about a Viper owner catching the track bug; but, unfortunate if Miller Motorsports Park is still closing in a couple of months as reported earlier this year. You will have to relocate the Viper !

For many of us...it would be WORTH MOVING

[ACR08]

Be sure and adjust your compression and rebound for track work when you go - the recommended settings are in the manual.
Beware: The track is addicting. Ask me about it, i finally had to sell my race car

It's funny you bring that up. I took my jack to the track so I could easily get to the knobs, but my jack was too tall to get under the car. I guess I need to buy a good low profile jack. Any recommendations?

Also, is there an easy way to get to all the knobs to make adjustments?
Thanks.

[ACR08]

It's so addicting , I bought my viper with the intention to maybe go to the track once or twice but now I have every track day booked off of work��and will be ordering track only tires(Hoosier r7) and rims. So it was originally going to be 95% street and 5 % track, but now it 5 % street and 95 % track

The same thing has happened to me. The street is still fun, but not the same after the track. I'm seriously thinking about a set of track wheels. I'd love to pick up a used set of sidewinder 1 or 2 wheels.

[ACR08]

I have your 'sista' ACR, and I can tell you I agree with the guys above...the track can be ADDICTING!

I instruct with PCA, if you ever run with them your wife can sign up for 'taste of the track' and get 1 session on the track, classroom instruction and 2 rides with an instructor for $25. Maybe once she gets bitten she will understand why you want to run all day Sunday too haha.

I loved your write-up, nice job 'in a spin, both feet in' !

Great to meet a fellow ACR owner. I guess we're now related through our Vipers. The Taste of the Track program sounds pretty awesome. I've talked with my wife about giving the track a try and she is up for it. Just needs to do it in a way that she feels comfortable. I've also got a daughter I'm working on. Granted she is one, but you can't start too early (see pic). Right?

[NMviperguy]

I don't have an acr but agree about starting them early. My 1 year old boyIMG_20150427_135841075.jpg

[ACR08]

That's great. All that matters is that you have a Viper. I like how he's getting ready to shift.

[ACR08]

Great to hear about a Viper owner catching the track bug; but, unfortunate if Miller Motorsports Park is still closing in a couple of months as reported earlier this year. You will have to relocate the Viper !

So the rumor at the track is its going to be running in 2016. Ford Racing School, NASA, and some of the small businesses that run track days were all pushing for an answer so they could plan for the future. That being said I'm not sure who is going to take control of the track. The county is currently reviewing proposals by different organizations. I just hope it remains a place the public has easy and affordable access to. Otherwise, I might have to move.

Here is a link to an article with some more info: http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/...orsports-park/

[FrankBarba]

Go to lumber store. buy a piece of wood that you can drive your front wheels on. This will get your jack underneath. Why spend the money if you don't need to ?

It's funny you bring that up. I took my jack to the track so I could easily get to the knobs, but my jack was too tall to get under the car. I guess I need to buy a good low profile jack. Any recommendations?

Also, is there an easy way to get to all the knobs to make adjustments?
Thanks.

[shnickerlaus]

glad to hear you are getting proper use out of the acr, I agree with you track is hard on the car but the viper is such a strong engine and the car is set up for being pushed on the track. unless you are running the redline the whole session and doing this over and over i can;t see it hurting the car to just push within your own limitations as a novice track driver. i my self am no track god and can't wait to get my acr out soon as it arrives here, i expect plenty of spins in part of the learning curve with me and the car, but i always get an hour of tuition at any track i go to just helps you get your eye in first before going it solo. which tyres were you using? and how did they hold up after the 2 days use?

[ACR08]

Go to lumber store. buy a piece of wood that you can drive your front wheels on. This will get your jack underneath. Why spend the money if you don't need to ?

What a novel idea!!! Thanks

[ACR08]

I'm glad you asked about my tyres (just for the brits). I've been meaning to give a big shout out to Jon B and Viper Parts Rack. He hooked me up with a sweet set of Pirelli P Zero Corsas at a great price. He got them to me within 24hrs of me placing the order and heat cycled them too. Compared to the original Sport Cup tyres that were still on the car from 2008, the Corsa was a big improvement. The car felt less twitchy on the road and more predictable on the track. As for wear, they are a soft compound, so they aren't going to be the longest lasting tyre. I'd bet I could get another 4 full day sessions at the track before I need to new tyres, but I'm really too new at this to judge. I think the performance of the Corsa easily outweighs the quicker wear rate. My Aim Solo showed the car pulling 1.2 to 1.3 peak lateral Gs each lap, so the tyres were doing their job.

Your going to love your ACR. Its going to get a lot of attention at the track.

glad to hear you are getting proper use out of the acr, I agree with you track is hard on the car but the viper is such a strong engine and the car is set up for being pushed on the track. unless you are running the redline the whole session and doing this over and over i can;t see it hurting the car to just push within your own limitations as a novice track driver. i my self am no track god and can't wait to get my acr out soon as it arrives here, i expect plenty of spins in part of the learning curve with me and the car, but i always get an hour of tuition at any track i go to just helps you get your eye in first before going it solo. which tyres were you using? and how did they hold up after the 2 days use?

[Dusty1]

Its a slippery path, before you know it, you have to have a tow vehicle, another set of tires/slicks, you get really fast and put in things like full cages, fire suppression systems, fuel cells,... Ask me how I know. Oh then your wife decides she really likes doing this and wants her own!

Richard

[ACR08]

Ha, that is great. My wife came out and watched one of the sessions. When she saw all the trailers in the paddock I said "See my addiction really isn't that bad. You should be thankful." She replied "I think I'm seeing my future." Only time will tell.

Its a slippery path, before you know it, you have to have a tow vehicle, another set of tires/slicks, you get really fast and put in things like full cages, fire suppression systems, fuel cells,... Ask me how I know. Oh then your wife decides she really likes doing this and wants her own!

Richard

[Bill Pemberton]

Glad you are having such a blast , and agree NASA has a great set-up in instructing folks , and possibly taking them to the next phase , whether it be Time Trials or pure Road Racing. Miller is my favorite track in the US and when you get to finally run the full 4 miles plus, it is a track that rewards focus and is a joy in it's variety of corners. Sure appreciate the gentleman who dropped the article on it's future ,as there are an awful lot of us that want to see Miller stay active. I know that the time in my ACR out there was a riot, but was fortunate to chat with the designer of the course the first time I was there ( attending their racing school ) . Alan Wilson was unaware of the group I was with , but he told us he designed the course for Vipers ------ gotta thank him for the abundant runoff, ha,ha.

[ACR08]

Bill,

Great story. I'm sure I'll put those run offs into use a number of times as I begin to improve my skills and push my abilities. My goal is definitely to get to Time Trails and hopefully eventually into wheel to wheel racing. However, that will probably mean a new car as I just don't see myself being willing to tear up my ACR in order to install a cage and all the safety gear needed for racing. Hopefully a well priced Viper race car will be available when that day come.

I'll keep the forums posted as hear more info about the future of Larry Miller Raceway.

Glad you are having such a blast , and agree NASA has a great set-up in instructing folks , and possibly taking them to the next phase , whether it be Time Trials or pure Road Racing. Miller is my favorite track in the US and when you get to finally run the full 4 miles plus, it is a track that rewards focus and is a joy in it's variety of corners. Sure appreciate the gentleman who dropped the article on it's future ,as there are an awful lot of us that want to see Miller stay active. I know that the time in my ACR out there was a riot, but was fortunate to chat with the designer of the course the first time I was there ( attending their racing school ) . Alan Wilson was unaware of the group I was with , but he told us he designed the course for Vipers ------ gotta thank him for the abundant runoff, ha,ha.

[Bill Pemberton]

Do keep us posted on Miller, there are a lot of folks that really love that track and the locale. I would really hate to see it closed , it is so versatile with options to run two tracks at a time , besides the massive 4 mile plus full track.

[TCurtner]

It's funny you bring that up. I took my jack to the track so I could easily get to the knobs, but my jack was too tall to get under the car. I guess I need to buy a good low profile jack. Any recommendations?

Also, is there an easy way to get to all the knobs to make adjustments?
Thanks.

I see someone answered the question about the jack - yes i've done that, works fine as long as your boards don't slip. Another alternative is to pull the cup (if your jack has a removable one), and throw a piece of leather (an old thick belt section?) over the hole area of it. There are lift triangular places attached to the frame rail of the car. If you are into safety (good idea), or if your jack might release pressure, use jackstands. The back lift triangle will lift the whole side of the car up. i would lift one corner of the car at a time - with suspension in full droop, you can then reach over the tires (front and rear) to reach the top adjustment rebound knob (the bottom compression knob is easily reachable and visible regardless at each wheel). It's tricky to turn those top adjusters - i had to use a finger on each side with my two hands in there, arms laid across the top of each tire - you'll feel the indentations and there's a knob in the top that spins (not the fitting on top of the shock with the white arrow that holds the spring). It sits right below the mount, and there is a rectangular cutout on each side that you can 'feel' the adjuster through. Difficult to see, just reach up there and feel around. Counting clicks is tricky too. I had to go back to complete damping, then back off to the desired setting many times until i got it right, as the clicks sometimes are not crisply heard. Otherwise, this job is not very difficult. Once you've done it once, you'll be a pro!
Have fun at the track!

[AZTVR]

... If you are into safety (good idea), or if your jack might release pressure, use jackstands.
...i had to use a finger on each side with my two hands in there, arms laid across the top of each tire....

On a different car at the track, I've done similar using just a Harbor Freight jack. The picture did pop into my head of what my arm would look like if the jack collapsed and I didn't get the arm out fast enough.

[TCurtner]

On a different car at the track, I've done similar using just a Harbor Freight jack. The picture did pop into my head of what my arm would look like if the jack collapsed and I didn't get the arm out fast enough.

yup - i recommend getting each up (one at a time ok) on a jackstand - Northern tools et.al. sell some real heavy duty ones for about 59./ pair (last i checked)...i think each jackstand is rated at 3k lbs or more. Rugged. Safe. No crunched arm nightmares will continue coming at you

[ACR08]

Update on Larry Miller Raceway: So the rumor is a Chinese company is going to buy the raceway. A news report on local TV said they plan to open a manufacturing facility for cars. Maybe even race cars and keep the track open to the public.

I found this news article on the web. It doesn't make the future sound so bright for the local racers.

https://kutv.com/news/local/sources-...torsports-park

I guess we'll have to wait and see.