Southeast RENDEZVOUS....WOW

[1TONY1]

Haven't seen a thread on it yet so here it is. First...it was sold out !! Pete and the others and Panoz racing that put this thing together did a FANTASTIC job. The Host hotel was actually a resort/spa and is only 20 minutes from the drag strip and 10 minutes from Road Atlanta. The meals were five star and our cars were treated like they should be. After our Sat. night banquet we had a fake money casino and then had a auction for a bunch of goodies/door prizes. On Saturday we did a SRT4 autocross/wet skidpad and it was awesome !! There was a slalom where we could use the SRT10's or our own cars. Then there was a cross between an autocross and mini road course with elevation changes.....in the morning we ran our own cars and in the afternoon we ran the SRT10's and it was a blast. I will be making a post on the gen3 forum about how good the SRT10 was compared to my car with 600hp/Hoosier race tires and me having a good bit of autocross time in my car this year (only three tenths slower on Michelins and I have only driven an SRT a few miles) Organization moving three groups around COULD NOT have been coordinated any better and was done by Panoz Racing. Today.....due to some prompting/whining the Panoz school let us do a lead follow session of about 5 laps......before we went out they were calling them "parade laps".....not so, we were hauling butt. There was about 37 cars at the dragstrip Friday night and we had a great time.
I got to meet a lot of folks that I needed to put names with faces. Got to see a lot of friends I haven't seen since VOI. I will get a few pics posted and I'm sure others have some. One of interest should be Russ Oasis after he "took over the casino dealer's job" (Russ knows his blackjack and does not mind taking your money) Someone please list everybody that put this event together..THANKS !!!!!
*********Did I mention that I got to drive the PVO comp coupe around the mini coarse......oh yea.. the REAL race car !!!!

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Sounds like a good time.

[1TONY1]

Missed you Chuck. On a sad note, I just heard a blue and white Roe s/c GTS (NOT ME) out of Atlanta tagged the wall in turn five at r/a. It blew the air bags, got the front frame etc. Seems like someone in front of him had a problem and he had to lift then the rear broke loose. Forgot to mention....it was good to meet Skip Thomas from Viper Days. I need to do Viper Days.

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

oooooo, sounds bad. Hope to get some facts soon.

[1TONY1]

SRT4 autocross/wet skidpad, autocross/mini coarse in background.

[image] http://vca2.viperclub.org/gallery/da..._zone1-med.jpg [/image]



And again

[image]http://vca2.viperclub.org/gallery/da..._zone2-med.jpg[/image]



Did I mention I got to drive the comp coupe

[image]http://vca2.viperclub.org/gallery/da..._zone3-med.jpg[/image]


Now everybody can tell I am much better looking than Chuck

[image]http://vca2.viperclub.org/gallery/da..._zone4-med.jpg [/image]

Well, I guess I forgot how to get the pics up....I will try again when I am awake Anyway, The links work.

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Now everybody can tell I am much better looking than Chuck

Don't aim so high Tony, disappointment can have tragic results. Chicks dig me. They can't resist my throbbing good looks and pulsating charm.

[pdmracing]

Missed you Chuck. On a sad note, I just heard a blue and white Roe s/c GTS (NOT ME) out of Atlanta tagged the wall in turn five at r/a. It blew the air bags, got the front frame etc. Seems like someone in front of him had a problem and he had to lift then the rear broke loose. Forgot to mention....it was good to meet Skip Thomas from Viper Days. I need to do Viper Days.

It was not a club member that paricipated in the rendevous however.

[ryan 94RT]

nice run Tony !!!! I didnt get to run you for the spot but i am happy someone like you came in the top 2... I will be back in town in 6 months when my Moes is up and i am seeing some $$$$$ going back in the bank acct.

havin fun

ryan

[1TONY1]

Ryan....sure did miss you !! I had to initiate a few others into the world of smack since you weren't there

[Andrew/USPWR]

I was one of the first to sign up for the rendezvous and had to cancel last minute. Now I'm REALLY sorry I did. Sounds like you had a blast.

[Russ Oasis]

Tony, Remind me to never play cards against you again. You were not only hot on the track (fastest autocross time) but were on fire at the blackjack tables. Why don't you come out to Viper Days? I think that you'd do really well.

[Larry Macedo]

Tony,

The run you made with me as your passenger at the auto x was awesome and must have been one of your fastest? Congrats and I wish I could have stayed to see you run the CC through it paces. Thanks for the ride!

[Janni]

The SE Rendexvous was a fabulous event. MANY thanks to Pete for an outstanding time.

Talk about a fun filled weekend. From the reception at the lovely Chateau Elan on Friday, to the events on Saturday - it was first class al;l the way.

Saturday started out for us with a pretty good size wet / dry autorcross course in the Dodge supplied SRT-4's. What fun little cars - they are like mini-vipers - and can spin the tires very easily in many gears. I'll bet a few more were sold based on the driving experience. They had the snot beat out of them and ran ALL day long requiring only gas....

Then, we went over to the mini-roadcoures / autocross with our own cars. This was the first time I realy pushed my '03, and let me tell you I was IMPRESSED - it was SO controllable around the course, it's amazingly easy to hang the tail end out just the amount you want and then steer the car with the throttle. And of course, the brakes are phenomenal (Who would have ever thought I would post THAT statement about a Viper?????)

Then, we went down to the slalom that was set up in the pits. It was a fairly long slalom that you did in a quick second gear. We had the option of driving our cars or the factory supplied SRT-10s. Most folks drve their car once, then stoof in line to drive the '03. Most did not want to go back to their own cars after gushing over the handling improvements on the new cars. I just drove my own car and got in more runs. Ran it pretty hard and it was flawless. Even the Michelin runflats were outstanding.

After a quick lunch, we were back at it again through another rotation. SRT-4's, then the SRT-10 autocross for time, and finally a last hurrah at the slalom.

We figured the SRT-10s had about 500 laps of the mini-roadcourse / autocross and they too, ran great. There were some minor differences between the cars, but considering they were the Fast and Furious cars with over 5K abusive miles, they were outstanding.

The top 9 got to drive a Comp Coupe. (Nope, wasn't me.... grrrr) and then it was off to the Chateau for a wonderful cocktail parts, dinner (risotto, filet, shrimp, potatoes, dessert plate of tiramisu, bananas foster, and a biscotti). Awards were given for Friday nights drag racing - including a seriously fast run by Tony A. in Joseph Dell's car, top 3 men, fastest woman (ME!) and thanks to all the folks that made this event happen.

But wait - there was more. We adjourned to a casino night were we gambled with VERY LOOSE rules to win $$$ in which we could bid on items generously donated by Ringold Dodge and others.

We turned in at about 11:30 pm after a 16 hour day of "playing with cars" and couldn't have been happier.

Got to meet some folks from this board - Tony, Joseph, Mickey, met some realy nice viper owners from other regions and hopefuly helped at least one feel better about having to have the valves replaced on their '03, and got to see other friends like Jeff T, Russ, Gary and Libby, Pete and the rest of the Caroinas VCA gang, etc.

I know no one likes to day these are "mini VOI's", but this one was - and we have Pete to thank for that.

We didn't stay for the track day, as Henry had flown in on a red-eye Friday AM, and I wasn't going to load up the race car to drag it down there, but based on the Panoz instructors that ran this event, it would have been great and we are looking forward to getting out there soon - hopefully with VIPER DAYS if everything comes together.

[trumper Z06]

Heeey Ryan,

We missed running with you, and listening to your "SMACK" at the Panoz days event. A big Howdy from us Z06'ers.

Teddy, Brian, Cris, Tim, and I all missed ragging on you!!! Pete said you were doing well... considering your stuck up there in "Yankee Land".

Hope to Cya soon!

[ryan 94RT]

Whats up guys I will be back asap but until then i will continue to smack it up on the boards....

see y soon

ryan