People who actually track their car care.

 

You should come down to Sebring and run with us at a Chin or Safe Motorsports event. The Z06's do pretty well down here.

 

Viper ACR looks nice and is clearly quite fast. Just a different kind of car than a porsche. Modified large displacement truck-based engine, probably a great track car, probably poorer build quality, but who cares? Sports cars are not the same as muscle cars...

 

Well said. When you're on the track no one really cares about the quality of your interior (or for that matter, if it even has an interior!) It's just about getting around the track faster than the other guys. I think the ACR will do that just fine.

 

Perhaps a 24 hour test at the 'ring would be a better indicator of who builds the best sports cars? Oh, that's right, they do have one of those, and Porsche swept the podium in 2007. I can't wait til next year when hopefully they will have a few Nissan GTR's in the running. Perhaps it will be a death blow to all the hype if it isn't over before then.

 

I'll get down there, likely the beginning of next year, and most likely with Chin. Sebring is #1 on my to do list.

 

this record is probably due to fact that chrysler is looking to sell the entire viper works off to try and raise much needed cash. it will be interesting to follow this story. the viper definitely deserves to live on.

 

The record has nothing to do with chrysler, it has everything to do with the amazingly fast car they built. In fact the VCA has as much to do with the ACR's getting over there as anyone.

This ACR is the real deal, period. No gimmicks, no agendas, just plain "lap you" speed.

 

With all that torque going through the transmission its bound to shake things up. I would think that the Viper would last when driven at its limit.

 

The Viper has had the best of transmissions for a long time, lots of guys running huge whp numbers on stock motors and rear ends at the drag strip. They are not prone to break. But not the most civilized either.

In fact, in terms of durability on the track, I would rank the Viper a close second to Porsche. They are built like tanks. Unlike the Corvettes.

 

For some reason, it just doesn't occur to me to sell my car and buy 2 ACRs...

Sure the car is fast, but so is a GT2 if you bump it to 600bhp and add KW v3 suspension, and it's more comfortable/streetable too. The V3 is basically a double adjustable shock with compression (low speed) and rebound adjustability. This is good for at least a few seconds off the clock alone. Yes, the ACR is good value for money, but if I want something that oriented for the track, I'll buy a Cup car, which is still faster than an ACR around the track.

Before you discount how good the new 997 GT2s are and why it's not really comparable to something like a Viper, you should drive one. It's really quite an amazing car, and it should be for the price. It is heads and shoulders better than a 996 GT2, let alone a Turbo... even modded. There is a refinement built into the car with some nice suspension tweaks that make it easy to drive fast, yet also makes it a wonderful daily driver.

The 7:22 time is a very good one, but no way is the ACR a 7:15 car in stock form. The reason why the driver was bouncing off the rev limiter was because by the time he would upshift, he would lose time by having to downshift for the coming corner again. This has to do with the car's gearing, and given that it is a manual box, he probably did the right thing.

I doubt very many people here (if any) could do the lap any faster....

 

The GT2 is for those who can afford the very best. We all know that once you build an excellent car, you get diminishing returns with any more money you put into it. Those who can afford one need not make excuses, more power to them. If I could afford the price of entry, I would have one.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how well the automobile marketeers have the general public eating right out of the palm of their hands. Everybody's all caught-up worrying about n-ring times ... a completely irrelevant number for a street car.

The GT2 and Viper may be in the zip codes as far as laptimes are concerned, but they're worlds apart as far as cars are concerned. Anybody can build a go fast car, but building a fast car that's refined and comfortable to drive, etc., is a different story.

 

There are a great deal of track enthusiasts who would gladly give up some creature comforts in order to lap a road course a little faster. It's all about choice. There's no one car that works for everyone. Also, I'm not sure that "anybody" can build a "go fast" car. When you consider the safety and emission parameters that engineers have to work within, I think it's quite an accomplishment to get around the Nring as fast as the ACR did. When I look at the top 20 cars in the Nring rankings and their average cost it looks like to me that a great deal of work went into designing those cars.

 

You cant say definitively that a Cup Car is faster, especially not a factory one. Remember the ACR is running MPSC that many of us drive at DE's. Cup Cars are almost all running the fastest and best slick this side of pro racing. Put an ACR on a similar tire and I'd best you the ACR could win on certain layouts.

The guy missed two shifts, which cost him nearly a second each, he only had 4 runs (laps) and had never been in the car before. I would bet you if they spent the time that most others spend, which is a few weeks to a month or so, he would be at or near 7:15.

The ACR is miles ahead in terms of shear ability than the GT2. On the same tires.