I recall one of my C&D issues a couple months back (the one with the supertuner shootout) indicating that a stock Viper GTS will destroy a stock Z06 from 100 mph to 150 mph. The stats indicated the Viper would get there 1 1/2 or 2 seconds ahead, or something like that.
Two Saturdays ago my buddy and i took a run up to Sacramento Raceway. He was in his Viper GTS-ACR (a '00 or '01) and i was in my '01 Z.
On the way up, with my buddy about 3 or 4 car lengths directly in front of me, he starts motioning "one, two, three" with his fingers -- then he nailed it.
We were doing about 80 mph at the time, i went from 4th to 3rd gear, chirped the tires slightly and took off after him.
He pulled me right away, of course, because he hit it first, so he pulled out by about another 2 or 3 cars before i was really accelerating.
I chirped going from 3rd to 4th, went all the way through 4th gear and made a quick shift into 5th. We kept at it up to 160 mph. If he pulled me at all, it was maybe one car length.
Driver vs. driver: He's good. His car is stock and he ran a 12.1 @ 117 mph later that day with a 1.9 60 ft on stock Pilots.
There's just no way that a stock Viper can pull a stock Z06 the way C&D says it does. I've tried it.
I wonder if they mean flying past 100 under acelleration, as in 0 to 150 (or starting at 80 as you did), or do they mean starting at an established 100 and then nailing it. I suppose there would be a difference wouldn't there?
I guess that makes some sense, Five-0, although i thought the whole point of the C&D statement was that the Viper had so much more top end. What i thought was really interesting was that i shut down the instant i saw my buddy's brake lights. I looked at the speedo and saw an indicated 160 mph. When i talked to him later on at the track, he said he had shut down when he hit 160, so it wasn't like he was getting anymore top end than i was.
He was also extremely confused, as he had thought he would run the Z right into oblivion on a high speed run.
The C&D review made it clear that the Z06 needs to use it's gearing to keep up with the Viper. Put both cars in 4th at 100 and stomp it, the Viper will walk away from the Z. There's no arguing with 10 cylinders vs. 8.
Maybe your buddy didn't drop from 4th to 3rd like you did.
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I don't care about the gearing at all. I'll race you in my wife's M3 from any speed you want so long as you start off in your Z two or three gears too high.
My point in noting my buddy's 1/4 mile time was to show he's a good driver. He told me he dropped into third. Shoot, at 80 or so mph a Viper can probably get second gear. Stock Vipers run a 3.07 final drive.
He didn't walk away from me at ANY point: third, fourth or fifth gear. That's why i posted the little story. I don't know where C&D came up with their stats, but i'm pretty convinced that "on any given day..."
Besides, if he wanted to start me at 100 mph, i probably WOULD have been in 4th. Third is only good for 105 - 107 anyway, so it wouldn't have made sense to hit third.
I am pretty sure that in the report you are referring to was the time the cars took from 100 to 150 mph as they accelerated off the infield road circuit to the banked oval. Hence it was a rolling run and as Joe stated, this will be different from your pull from steady state.
This data was obtained with two semi-pro drivers with precision data gathering devices. In my opinion, this is pretty irrefutable data, despite your personal experience.
I don't think C&D's statement really had a point about top end, it was just data they gathered during the run.
I have been on a road circuit with a Viper and I can attest that they are fast. I was faster around the track than he was, but I sure as heck wasn't able to pull with him on any straight.
My .02 cents
I did not say i pulled him. I didn't pull him at all during that run. What i did say was that he shut down at an indicated 160 mph. I shut down at an indicated 160 mph the instant i saw him hit his brakes in front of me. I also said that from a punch at around 80 mph, running all the way up to 160 mph, IF he pulled me AT ALL, it was only about one car length. I thought it was great, that's all.
I guess you just didn't bother reading the first post huh? You know, the post that is responsible for this thread being here.
His friend in the viper was 3 to 4 car lengths IN FRONT of him BEFORE they even started AND took off first, so of course the Viper would be in front at the end of the run.
Roland's right. I got the shifter from 4th to 3rd and nailed it, and from that point on, up to 160 mph (on both our speedometers) he pulled me by one car -- MAYBE.
I re-read the C&D issue last night. They had the Viper getting from 100 mph to 150 mph in 12.9 seconds. The Z-06 took 15.8 seconds to accomplish the same. I say that Z-06 was not a strong example of the breed, or was simply not broken in.
Plain and simple a Viper has more torque than a Z06. So in a roll on from 4th (with both cars in 4th) the z06 will loose.
Yes, in a z06 you have to use the gears more than a Viper. A Viper has a much bigger and wider torque curve than a Z06 so you can just mash the gas and go. From a roll a Viper should be a pretty tough hombre. From a dead stop all the torque will work against the owner if they don't know how to drive. But again, if they can get it to hook it will work to their advantage.
Lets sum it up If all things were equal, then the Viper will be faster. Not much, but it will be. However, most of the time things simply aren't equal, they just aren't. So now add in driver ability. Just like in the Vette crowd, there are guys who can drive and there are those who aren't quite as proficient.
In a race as close as 1-2 car lengths driver's skill can make all the difference. Let me cite a prime example. I know a fellow who owns a Viper, his car makes well over 480HP on the dyno. His best time at the drag strip is a 12.0. his average is in the 12.1-12.2's on the stock radials. I haven't had a chance to race him from a roll. but if you look at those stats vs my 11.93 best on radials and my 11.802 on Et Streets my Vette is faster than a modded 96GTS. But is it really. No.... It isn't in another driver's hands or if he had some drag radials in the car he'd probably beat the snot out of me. A roll on race would be interesting, but we haven't done that yet either....
Anyway Vettes and Viper's are close. But I give myself the nod in a drag race with a stock one and most of the "average" Viper drivers, just like a lot of the hard core drag racing F-Body guys do with their Camaros/Firebirds and the Z06....
Just about every Viper owner will try to manipulate a Z into a rolling start. I won't do that again. In the future I'll run a Viper from a stop only, it's the great equalizer-don't make it easy for them. Alot of Viper driver's have trouble getting it out of the hole.
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