Sorry I have never been much of a racing fan until recently and obviously breached some kind of race-talk etiquette by calling the EVO a Viper eater when at the very last second, the Viper crossed the finish line ahead. I don't know what position they started at, as I missed the very beginning of the race.

That being said, I'm surprised by all the hate here. I have been posting here for months and haven't seen this kind of reaction before. I was trying to give fellow EVO owners what I thought was good news, and got flamed for it. I was there. Everyone I talked to after the race was very impressed with Kent's performance in the Muellerized EVO.

I'm used to the 60,000 trolls in the 350Z boards, but thought it was different here. Oh well . . .

Also, I think it depends what year a Viper is, for the hp rating. The older ones are 500 hp but I'm pretty sure the new ones are 550 hp.

 

What was the best lap time of the EVO at buttonwillow?

Steve

 

2:00.9 on configuration #13 (Clockwise with the bus stop and the hairpin at the bottom of the west loop -- no back straight and no Star Mazda turn).

 

For the record ... my post was NOT a flame. Thanks for the report. To have an EVO in the same 'class' as a trackable Viper is really something.

jcnel.

 

richard, i wouldnt see this as hate... i would see this as an incorrect lable for something that isnt. Both cars are very nice. But in your post, you state the evo did lose both days. Now the fact that the evo hung with the viper is a very good accomplishment. But calling it a viper eater is an understatment, and people here are calling that out

no flame here either..

just soo many flame wars start on a "it was a cheap win" kind of race. Win is a win and a loss is a loss. thats what make a rematch even better

 

Not wishing to be accused of false advertising, I tried to changed the title of this thread to:

EVO "almost" eats Viper at Buttonwillow!!!

But the system won't let me change the title in the forum listing of threads, so I'm asking a moderator to do it. Thanks.

 

So what it boils down to is that the EVO lost. Although it may be a very disappointing defeat it sounds as if the EVO put up a good fight!. I can only imagine the amount stress the viper driver was under because a 4banging forced induction 4door sedan was on his azz!

 

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/evo/viperfun.htm

Kent's car has a stock engine and ecu with the stock turbo, Muellerized/RRE suspension on Hoosier DOT tires against a 2003 Viper on Goodyear slicks built to run in the World Challenge GT class. Our EVO ran this far in front of the Viper for 12 of the 13 laps, lost by 6 feet after a 25 minute race. Maybe next time we should only spot him 200 horsepower?

'Viper Eater' is what the National Chairman of NASA wrote in the remarks section of Kent's race driving novice permit, as he signed off Kent for his competition license after the race:-)

 

The older Vipers are 450hp (460hp for the ACR), the new Vipers are 500hp. It was said that the stock EVO is a better handling car on the track than a stock Viper, (not by you) nothing could be further from the truth. Just an FYI. The EVO is a great car, but it's not the performance car the Viper is on the track.

Not an EVO bashing at all, just the facts. Good to hear the EVO was that competitive!

 

John -

Thanks for your post. I wasn't sure how much I should say about Kent's engine set up. I think it was a great victory for the EVO, even if we technically lost at the last second. Not only that, Kent is a relatively new race driver, having just gotten his NASA license yesterday. He was obviously a better driver than that guy in the V10 500 hp Viper.

I'm still surpised the membership here isn't jumping for joy like we were when Kent came in after the race on Sunday.

 

overstatement is what you meant.

richard, that's cool that you were there for the viper-eating...! you post over at socalevo.net too, eh? you'll find that the crowd over here will jump all over you for nothing.

 

2.00.9 is very fast for buttonwillow... where you running the same config as the honda challenge and bmw races ?

 

What year is the car? Seems to have a roll bar/cage. Doesn't look like it has a stock intercooler... what complete mods does the car have?

Steve

 

thats looks like a bad *** viper!! good job

 

Okay, after wading through all these posts my take away is this: A moderately modified Evo with a good driver can compete with the likes of a Viper on the track. That's pretty cool because I've heard it said quite a few times that the Evo would get killed going up against the likes of Vipers and Z06 Vettes. Obviously this isn't the case. It's a drivers' race. This only bears out my own very, very limited experience at track days going up against Z06s. In those situations I've been given the pass many times. Then again, the guys I drive with a HPDE track days are quite a bit more conservative than I am. :P