ElDiablo Viper

Why the power band is so up and down? Is it because of the turbos? How can I post my dyno here?

PorschePhD

Yes, it is because of the rollers loading /unloading. Typical for a high HP turbo car on a 248C

Sun Ra

racer63; sorry i didnt make it clear i was responding to Tyson. i find your comments cogent and experienced, tyson is a close friend so i can goof on him....

btw many of my cars come from scottsdale porsche, mb and maserati. have you seen mark siffert drive? colm says he's outstanding...

racer63

Hi Watt -

Not a problem. I was just kind of yanking your chain. I couldn't tell if who you were saying was full of it, but I didn't take it personally. I thought you were joking around and was just trying to follow suit.

I haven't seen Mark drive. But I'd like too!

-Donn

fahren affair

They're penalized with inlet restrictors for having too many cubes. unrestricted, a naturally aspirated viper can make much more than 87 hp/litre. It has nothing to do with not being able to put the power down.

Hamann7

Yes, it is true that they are running restrictors, but so is everyone else.

You are probably right about why power is capped at 700, but I would have thought that they could get more power than 700. Even the Prodrive Ferrari 550GT can get 700bhp with a smaller engine and a restrictor as well. And it will spank the Vipers all day long. In fact, the Vipers aren't even competitors to the Vette C5R anymore...

I still stand by my point that Vipers have trouble putting their power to the ground, however. Handlers they are not...

racer63

The reason that the Vipers are no longer competitive is because the factory no longer supports the effort. The teams that are currently campaigning Vipers are low budget and not particularly well funded. I beleive that my racing buddy Erik Messley was the last Viper driver to win a major GTS class victory. Even that car was barely funded. If not for a pouring rain storm, they would not have had a chance. He subsequently drove once for the team (can't recall their name now) that is hitting most of the ALMS races - and said never again.

The C5R has considerible funding, as does Pro Drive. Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go? (The Viper guys want to go fast, but, alas, they don't have the money.)

bgainey

I guess I will weigh in here. I will be the second person to go to Stage 5 after the development car. 700 HP and 700 ft lb of torque. Yes that is alot and I would not trust a car like that to just anyone. In fact Colin at PES asked me if I had any driving experience as he was concerned. The facts of the matter are that I have raced in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series, have done tons of track days in 2 different 911 turbo's and ran in the ASA stock car series as a professional driver for 2 years.

I believe I can drive a car, but I also decided to upgrade the suspension, brakes, clutch, flywheel and shifter. So what I am doing is a complete package. Coming from racing I understand it takes all aspects of a car to make it go fast.

I will take this car to the track and enjoy it's benefits there and I will also safely enjoy this car on the street. The bottom line is everyone is different and that's why we live in a free country, so we can all make our own choices.

For me I will have $160,000 in my 2002 turbo, which is less than a new GT2 or even a used one and be able to totally walk away from the GT2 in any scenario. Just my 2 cents and if you don't like it do your own thang!

fahren affair

The achilles heel of the viper--as well as the vette--is the limitations of the push-rod mill. you're right, the ferrari's output is far highr per ltre than either car. with everything else being equal, an engine that can rev higher will make more power--plain and simple.

ElDiablo Viper

I worked with the Viper team that runs in ALMS and now they have Zonda. First they told me that the restrictors were so big that they did not have a chance. They were even thinking of going from 8l to 7l to increase the air intake and increase the HP. Also don't forget Vipers in Europe that are kicking butt all over. I forgot which race it was in Germany that last time the Viper won and this year they lost because they had bigger tank.

racer63

Ah. But that's where the rulesmakers come in. They limit the displacement of the OHC and multivalve engines. So, while the\ Ferraris may make better peak HP, the Vette's will make better torque. So far, the Vettes are still winning most of the time over the Ferraris (most likely due to the aforementioned money issue...)

Hubert

Paul Mumford just wiped the floor with the factory AUDI and BMW boys from behind the wheel of his viper comp coupe this past weekend at Laguna Seca (took 1st in the Speed Challenge GT race). As far as the ALMS series goes, the Viper platform is dated due to a lull in development; the factory backed effort campaigned some very serious contenders. Anyway, just pointing out a recent victory , on the viper platform, in a heated series, by a provateer (not at all trying to stir a debate on the vipers merits).

racer63

Cool. While most of us were talking GTS, I guess we missed that one.

FWIW, I'm a Porsche racing fan and BMW racer, not necessarily a Dodge fan. But, I do love the audacity of the big ole V10!

Hubert

racer 63:

Right. Which is why I made my "privateer/competative series" disclaimer; the GTS ALMS class is , for all intents and purposes, a factory backed class (where funding/development is concerned) , and is backed by teams/organizations that have tons of money and talent to throw at the get fast game. And , while the GT series in the Speed Challenge is becoming more so, it's still fun to see a privateer win (just so happened that he was in a viper, and made the comment pertinent, kinda). I'm not really a dodge fan, nor a viper fan, but was really impressed (albeit more with the drivers performance) with what the comp coupe accomplished. Regards.

mweels

Well you must be looking forward to the new M5 then!

MWEELS