Day 4 a day for Chuck! (lots & lots of pictures)

[Y2K5SRT]

<FONT size="1"><FONT COLOR="red">WARNING: There are LOTS of pictures on this thread, please be patient while they load - especially if you are on dial up modem.</FONT c></FONT s>

It was the day we had all been waiting for: Time to exercise some Vipers! Not a single cloud to be found most of the day, it was sunny and absolutely gorgeous. Having had a ball at the road rally the day before, this day promised to be even more exciting. We are going racing! I wandered out to my car and remembered seeing this one before. Finally had a shot of it without another car next to it to block the view:



Yes, in addition to the moon hubcaps, that is indeed a large Viper in the rear window. On to the track time! First up was the Viper autocross. The layout was a good one, with quick times to be expected. There were a couple decent straights to play with, as well as the obligatory hairpin turn. Of course, the placed that turn right after a spot in the track where there seemed to be an endless supply of water. Many a car got the thrill of a spin on that turn. Here is Kansas City's Mike Long tearing it up:



This car would also serve as his wife Cheryl's 2nd place ride in the Women's Division. Cheryl turned a seriously quick time and beat most of the men as well. She stopped by the Neon autocross (where many of us had moved) to let out a whoop of joy. And then promptly stalled the Viper when she let the clutch out. I thought I would point that out, since she rightfully earned a huge trophy and we didn't... (grin)

I made my run, just barely beating out Cheryl's time and setting the pace for our club (I am pretty sure, although one member wasn't talking to me). It was then time to hand off the car to our friend from Ireland. I knew he would take the utmost care of my car and would pay extra attention to the track instructors. Here, the instructor is describing the turn where several drivers had been killed or simply disappeared - while Joel pays careful attention:



No matter, the guy turns out to be one heck of a driver. Indeed, he was downright upset when he missed the apex on one of the turns (yep, the one he was paying such close attention to above):



And guess what? That very run he trounced everybody in our region by an easy 3-4 seconds (where 38 seconds total was pretty darn good). His time was in the top ten for the weekend and only one second off of the instructor's times. Not bad for a car that wasn't even his!

Next up we had the Neon autocross. This has always been a very popular event, with a long line of eager drivers. Dodge brings a small fleet of race-prepared Neons (five point harnesses, roll cages, etc.) and cordially invites you to beat the snot out of them. It was almost as much fun to watch as it was to drive, as several folks were very "spirited" in their driving. This gentleman had no such troubles, clicking off a very quick time:



Our appetites for action and quick twisties was temporarily sated. Time for lunch! Unlike previous VOI's, it seemed that every meal was provided for, including breakfast. The food was very good and often deluxe buffets. Here is a typical lunch set up:



Definitely not your school cafeteria! Now very well fed, the next stage in our adventure was about to begin...



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[Y2K5SRT]

On our way to the track, we came up on a '68 Camaro with slicks and skinnies. Yeah, on the freeway:



We pulled up alongside of hiim to give him a thumbs up for a nice ride, but he wanted nothing to do with us. He looked straight ahead and grannied off into the sunset. Oh well! When we got to the track, the first thing we did was park the car in the line to wait our turn for the big track.



We wandered around the garages and vendor areas. Made a few minor purchases and saw some great cars, including this one:



This car would go on to win the Viper Days event on Sunday. Big surprise! We also came across the silver SRT-10 and I shot a few photos of it, including this one:



Oh, and the Spyder RT/10 was also there, and also in silver. I shot a picture of it and forgot about it. As I went through my pictures this morning, I thought I would give you a shot of two silver Vipers, albeit not quite the same angle...



Interesting! We also saw the famous SVSi Stryker Twin Turbo GTS. In case you missed it, this Viper is the World's Fastest, with a clocked speed of 247 mph on the salt flats. Very cool!



While we waited our turn for the big track, Dodge had a couple more goodies up their sleeves. One of them was the skidpad course. This offered you crew cab Dakotas with small racing slicks on them. Add a very large water truck to the mix and you are going for a spin!



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[Y2K5SRT]

After a few spins and some coaching from the Skip Barber guys on recovery, it was off to the Off Road course. Here we had new Rams, Dakotas, and Durangos to go play with. Some rough terrain set up just for us, including some larger hills bulldozed into place just for this event (figure a bulldozer rental in your VOI calculations). Very nicely done:



After running the terrain for a while, it was on to smoother pastures - the track! Now this was a set up that was challenging and very fast at times. You were able to use 3/4's of the large high-speed oval before coming down into the infield road course. Figure speeds of 130-140 on the front stretch, as shown by Kansas City's Matthew Howell:



I got out there and had a decent time. Like Slaughter said in an earlier post, it was a little bit underwhelming when the instructor would grab the steering wheel to let somebody pass. At one point I was tempted to just drop my hands and work the pedals only. Undoubtedly it was because there are numerous amateurs mixed in with the professionals, which I understand. Still, I had no problem handing the car over to Joel after just one session. Joel had no such apprehensions and went back for more. Three sessions in all! Here he is in one GORGEOUS GTS taking the track (note that great banked oval in the background, open for Vipers)...



After entering the track, you ended up coming into the road course portion of the run. One of the more interesting aspects was the abrupt change when you went from the banked oval to the flat track - and vice-versa. This caused more than a couple folks to spin out, with no damage that I know of other than some flat-spotted tires. Here is Joel again, this time making the first turns of the road course:



Back on the oval, he was really enjoying himself and nailing some great speeds:



Of course, while I was a tad partial to this car, I did manage to shoot some pictures of some of the other cars out there:



And even if red isn't your favorite color, this is a nice shot:



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[Y2K5SRT]

We ended our session a little earlier so that we could race back to the hotel before the memorabilia exhibits closed. I was buying a small truckload of VOI and SRT stuff for a very good friend of mine and didn't dare miss a single trinket. As I waited for one vendor to box up my goods and another to verify my financial statement, I noticed this Viper in another booth:



No need for air conditioning here! After carefully loading the stuff into the car and dropping it off (I was relegated to another hotel), it was back for the awards dinner. While I neglected to take a picture of the first centerpiece, I did manage to get a shot of this one:




And yes my Canadian friend, I have both centerpieces ordered and paid for you... Many presentations were then done and the various brass received awards, some just for showing up (grin). Then it was time for the autocross awards, where Cheryl Long of our Kansas City VCA took 2nd place her division:



Cheryl is the second from the right. Fifth from the right is Yours Truly, having put on a few pounds and neglected the sun for a while. I still managed to squeeze into the SRT the following day. Next up we had an interruption from "Bob Lutz" to deliver the traditional "Ode to the Viper". Unfortunately, the genuine Bob is no longer in a position to be real friendly with DC, so we ended up with lesser impersonator, probably his brother...



Many laughs were had, including a few at our Illinois chapter's expense for their narrow loss in an autocross challenge to the PVO team. All of the banners escaped theft, except for the Illinois banner. Turns out that it is now in the position of Wolfgang Bernhard himself, who has challenged the Illinois club to "earn it back". We then received a nice review of upcoming DC products, including the SRT-4 Neon, the SRT-10 Ram, the Dodge M-80 pick up truck, the Crossfire, and even a Jeep Willys (looking very much like a Hummer H2). We then were treated to a shower of balloons and confetti:



Our surprise performers turned out to be......... not Aerosmith. Hey, we knew it was unlikely, but you can always hope. Instead we ended up with the very talented (and five time Grammy-nominated) Diamond Rio:



Perfect band for Nashville and an enjoyment for most. As one that tends to listen to the harder stuff, I wandered out a little early. Out in the lobby of the convention hall, they had brought in a new display: The Crossfire!



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[King GTS]

Awesome pics! Thanks.

[Y2K5SRT]

After checking it out, I wandered back to my hotel through the Viper lot. Much to my enjoyment, I witnessed that very rare of occurances: The Viper Ghosts!!



If you haven't seen these before, it happens when there is heavy humidity and dew/mist settling on the hood. The thinner parts of the underside insulation allow more heat to get to the hood and evaporate the water settled there. The result is VERY cool! It was most noticeable on the darker cars, but could also be easily seen on even the GT2's.

And that is all she wrote for Day 4! It was an exciting day and one that shall certainly be remembered for years to come. There was one more day left in this VOI for me, and it was one of the more exciting ones - my drive in the SRT-10! More on that later, including action pics of the SRT-10, Competition Coupe, and much more!

Chris

[Jason-Middle Tennessee]

Nice to finally meet you Chris!!

[ab]

Hey Chris,

Where's my pic of me on the track?

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Thanks Chris. I've been putting in lotsa hours so I hope this section stays around for a while so I can catch up on it.

Great job!!!

[C O D Y]

Reading Y2KGTS (Chris's) posts is like getting a new Viper Magazine. I look at all the photos and then go back and read it.

Another great post!

[Birvini]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ab:
Hey Chris,

Where's my pic of me on the track?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah right, I'd be shocked to hear you made it to the track!!!



Chris, Great pics and good to meet cha!!!

[Y2K5SRT]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ab:
Hey Chris,

Where's my pic of me on the track?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No "please", no "thank you". Nothing. I tell ya, it's nothing but work, work, work...



You're welcome...

[ab]

THANK YOU CHRIS~~ ha! I had a good time meeting you!..Did you like the beers I bought for you?

What kind of camera do you have? I want one!! That thing is bad to the bone! Anymore pics of me driving?

As you can see, the Instructor is yelling at me to pull over...

Now Birvini..is that you or Tracy?

[Viper89]

Oh that is very nice pics Chris! Can you post some more of your pics please!!!

Best regards

Joakim
Sweden