I went A-Vipering yesterday...

[SUN RA KAT]

I went A-Vipering yesterday and was running about 1/2 to 2/3 snake pedal in 2nd gear and starting around 45 MPH as the RPMs came up my rear tires started to lose traction until I let off the gas at around 60 MPH and gently shifted in to 5th gear. This was on a clean dry road (on a closed course, of course). When the temperature drops to 70 degrees the Viper picks up a lot more power than it had at 80 degrees and when the RPMs go up this extra torque means be very, very carefull so you don't get bit by the snake.

I had something like this happen to me 2 days before when it was in the lower 60's out, except that time I lost traction from all the power in 3rd gear. (Another closed course...)

Another viper owner had warned me about things like this happening in a Viper - they just don't happen much in 80 & 90+ degree temperatures, but when it's comfortable enough to roll down the windows and turn off the air conditioning... Someone had dyno'd his Viper at 90 degrees and again at 70 degrees without changing the the engine and he picked up 50 horspower just from the temperature drop.

I expect in about a month I'll have my Sean Roe Supercharger and have it installed. It will also be cooler outside. I'll have to be very, very carefull... 574.4 rear wheel horsepower or about 675 flywheel horsepower...

[DODGEguy3]

when do you plan to get some performance tests done to your viper? i think it is going to get high 10's on the 1/4. have you been sucked into your seat pretty hard from accellerationg lately?

[SUN RA KAT]

I haven't done much fast accelleration lately - just practicing medium accelleration shifting (medium accelleration for being stuck in traffic and also medium accelleration for a Viper). I just got back from a weekend of being with my daughter's high school marching band. They took 1st place in a regional competition. There's a good chance that they may be the top high school marching band in the country when the Grand Nationals happens in early November. My daughter is a Monster on the electric bass and she has several solos with the band.

Right now I'm just honing my manual shifting skills and praticing driving real smooth in preperation of getting the Sean Roe Supercharger in the next two weeks and getting it installed shortly thereafter. My previous biggest gain in power with a single trip to the garage was around 55 HP in my truck. The Viper weighs a whole lot less and the gain from the supercharger will be around 155 HP. I think I will easily notice the difference.