Who Can Drive Your Viper?

Obsidian

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I let anyone drive my Viper, as long as I know them and they are a safe driver. I do this because when I meet someone with a great car (like a Lambo or 911 or something) that I wish they would let me take their wheels for a test spin. My philosophy is do onto others...

So my question to the Viper community is: Do you let other people drive your Viper? Why or Why Not?
 

Chuck 98 RT/10

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If I have a good feeling about them I let them drive.
If I don't have a good feeling about them I don't let them drive.


Sometimes breasts measurments enter into the decision.
 

jpa99acr

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Never let anyone drive it. I made the mistake of letting a friend drive mine, and it costed me my ACR (he totaled it last weekend).

I would only allow my spouse, and even then reluctantly (he, he)
 

Limit

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me... thats it.

My bro has driven it once(he has a vette and let me practice on it). My dad had to cosign on it because I'm 19 and he hasn't even gotten a ride in it.
 
OP
OP
O

Obsidian

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19 with a Viper. Holy shee-iaattt. That is awesome.

When I was 19, I barely could afford a tricycle.

You must be getting chicks all the time. You still call hot girls "chicks" right? Or is there a new term now.
 

FE 065

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Just me and Jessica Alba

-------------------------------
For sale:
Chrome ACR wheels
New SVS short shifter
 
V

Venomiss

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Definately not Danica Patrick...;)

Depends. Are they responsible? Like the Jim Hendrix song...Are You Experienced?
 

AFL in NJ

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LOL Venomiss!!

I've let a few pals drive the Viper in a parking lot with me in the car.....and not out of 1st gear. I did let my boss (a Porsche racer) drive the car and he couldn't wipe the smile from his face....it was priceless!!

Regards,
Aaron
 

wigginz

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I'll only let someone who has track experience or done a performance driving school. Before they start up the car, I make sure it's really clear that I waited 15 years to buy my Viper, and wrote a $60k check to get it.

To be honest, the majority if people I offer the driver's seat to turn me down. Usually they're too intimidated.
 

Viper Specialty

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Myself... if I am good that day.

Other than that, no one, unless it was an emergency... and even in that case, restricted to CERTAIN Viper Owners. There are very few people I would trust to treat it as if they couldnt replace it (and they cant, trust me... nothing to do with dollars), and that includes only a few of the guys around here. Others, both owners or not, I know for a fact would not be able to control themselves and/or I dont feel have good enough driving or even clutch skills to handle the car. All I would need is to find out someone either ruined my $5K+ clutch or lost the car shifting in a turn because the clutch locked the drivetrain when they sidestepped the pedal forgetting it wasnt exactly stock...

Ironically, I have this position while at the same time driving other peoples Viper's day in and day out of all horsepower levels. It goes along with the job (oh darn, ha) but at the same time my customers are well aware that "I have done this before" to say the least, and have more respect for these cars than anybody they have or will ever meet. I realize all to well the wrench time and dollars that go into putting humpty dumpty back together again if anything, either mechanical or accident were to occur, and I also know how I would feel for the same reasons if someone damaged my car.
 
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Zan186

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Yep I agree, most Vipers are wrecked from inexperienced drivers taking it out for a ride.
My wife can drive it, but she doesnt even want to.
I let one friend who is a mechanic drive it with me in the car.

But anyone else I wouldn't. Too many people get them wrecked that way.
 

yogibayer

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I have a four people on my short list

#1 My wife - she let me buy the car (she is too scared to drive it though)
#2 My Brother - I'm sure he would let me drive his (So far only with me in the car and he was very gentle)
#3 Best Friend - He is one of the best drivers I know and has lots of track experience
#4 My wife's cousin - He races in the Nascar sportsman series and I completely trust him.
 

mad0953

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I'd let my gf drive it if she wanted to. She said she wanted to drive it before I gave her a ride in it. Now she says she is scared to do it and believe me not much scares her. The Devil called her the other day asking for advice. :) Her son (18 years old) wants to drive it but no way. He thinks he has skills because he can do good on some video driving game....go figure. My Mom threatens to drive it to her bingo games but at 79 years old and 100 pounds I am not too worried....she can hardly drive her walker.
 

goldcup

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Me,Myself and I, my wife drives it whenever she feels like it.There are lots of people who can drive it better than us, but then their not responsible for the repair bills!!
 

hou99gts

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I let anyone drive my Viper, as long as I know them and they are a safe driver. I do this because when I meet someone with a great car (like a Lambo or 911 or something) that I wish they would let me take their wheels for a test spin. My philosophy is do onto others...

So my question to the Viper community is: Do you let other people drive your Viper? Why or Why Not?

I feel the same way you do. Many who I let drive it will never be able to afford a Viper, so I am happy to give them that experience. However, I am in the passenger seat for all drives... :)

My father in law is next to drive it, so I can drive his 911 Turbo Cab.... :drive:
 

SylvanSRT

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my car(SRT) was actually driven on the track by a friend before i ever drove on the track(he was the chief steward and instructor of the local PCA), my best friend, a good friend of mine has a Ford GT and i ran into him a few weeks ago and said "give me the keys to your car(my hand extended with the Viper keys towards his hand) and we switched cars for an hour or so, my wife is afraid to drive even through i offer all the time, and a few others get offered the privledge
 

V10SpeedLuvr

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Here's who has driven mine:

I've had 4 friends drive mine in parking lots, never getting over 10-15mph.

My dad can drive it whenever. In 2.5 years, he's driven it maybe 7 times

One fellow GA-VCA member. He drove mine and I drove his b/w GTS for 30 mins or so

Two mechanics who are also personal friends

1 Dodge porter (older guy) drove it to a welding shop for the 998 recall. I didnt know about this until afterwards or I would've taken it straight to the welding shop myself.
 

Mopar488

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Me, my wife, even though she has not driven this one and my Viper tech into the garage. Other than that, I do not trust anyone else. It is kind of funny, when you let someone drive or borrow somthing, especially fast, they tend to try to see what she will do. Even as a kid, my brother would be pushing my bicycle, mini bike, or motorcycle back to me with something broke and would not fix it. A good friend brought my 1100 Suzuki back to me and pointed out that he scraped the lower collector part of the Vance and Hines header. Again, no replacement or fix. I could go on and on. The only other people I would consider driving my Viper would be a very interested, funded buyer with me in the passenger seat to make sure the car did not get abused and the prospective buyer did not do anything stupid.
 
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bth1

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Only my father (if I am in the car) because he drives sllllloooowww. He lets me drive his 69 XKE so fair is fair (he actually prefers that I drive his E-type to give it a good run through).
 

Andrew/USPWR

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I've let friends drive then at first. It mostly scares the hell out of them. Now just my wife and I. And I don't drive their cars.
 

RobZ

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^^^ haha, I agree with the non car enthusiast passengers. Had a date put her bare feet up on the dash last night.... NO NO!


I have let quite a few friends drive mine. Some of us switched cars and I rode along for some. We are all car enthusiasts and know how to respect each others' property so no worries there. My dad has driven it, never got out of 2nd gear, blasted up to 80 or so then coasted the rest of the block, lol.



Rob
 

ViperTony

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Absolutely nobody but me drives my Viper unless its the Wizard for service reasons. No passengers either. They slam the passenger door too hard and/or hang on for their lives during the ride which ****** me off.
 

Hamrhead

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Basically, I'd let any other Viper owner drive mine if for some reason they want to.

My Father has driven it, but not nearly enough to be comfortable with it. Though he's got enough common sense to respect the hell out of it and takes it real easy.

Mom doesn't 'do' stick shift. She really has no interest in what this car is good at anyway.;)


Anyone else, like mentioned already, I'd have to have a good feeling of not only their skillz, but how they treat their own vehicle. Not only am I afraid of someone wrecking it, but smacking potholes and scraping the front end
when parking/entering lots and such - some people are just oblivious to this stuff.:rolleyes:

Ditto on slamming the doors too.:mad:
 
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SNAKE BITE

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No passengers either. They slam the passenger door too hard and/or hang on for their lives during the ride which ****** me off.

I hate this the most. Passengers always seem to slam the door way too hard.

I've let many people drive my car in the 11 years i've owned it but I see myself changing my ways since seeing more wrecked by first time viper drivers.
 

SERPENT INDY

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...wife won't drive 'em....
...kids have driven them a few times, but neither one really cares for them either
...a few close friends have

.....just bring 'em back clean:D
 

GuitarSteve

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As a 20 year old who is a big fan of these things, I wish I was able to drive them a little more than I actually have. One time (only time) was when I just got my licence and my friend let me drive it (95 RT/10) on a side street. 40 kilometres per hour, and the 1-4 skip shift kicked in.

Simply because I hear so many stories about the cars being totalled due to people not realizing the power this car offers, I took it easy. I don't know about you Viper owners thinking I did the right thing and babied it (light acceleration) but it wasn't my car, I was rather scared to accelerate moderately and risk losing control of the car. Any of you blame me?
 

XXX BLK

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