As many GTM’ers know, Andrew has a passion for cars, and its rare to see him with the same car twice, and the Dodge Viper has been a bucket list / dream car for him since he was a kid. Last year after many personal experiences with “Upgrade & Trade” he was able to get a hold a Viper for himself (or maybe 2).
All that aside, this is the first proper “exotic” that Andrew has ever owned. Even cars like the Lotus Elise 72D John Players Edition was more common a vehicle than a 3rd Gen Viper. And you might think… what’s so special about a Viper? It’s just a parts-bin Dodge product.
Despite being manufactured during the Daimler-Chrysler era of Dodge, there’s a vast assortment of unique and disparate parts that share nothing in common with other products of the time (even if some can be cross matched against the Caravan, whoops!).
But like all good “Andrew stories…” as he says “What’s the point of owning it, if I can’t test it out on the track?”
Heading into the limited fall season here on the East Coast, he took his opportunity to prep the Viper for an SCCA event at Summit Point’s Jefferson (Extended) Circuit.
Never one to turn down the opportunity to turn some wrenches on an unfamiliar car, I heeded the call to come help prep Andrew’s Viper for track day duty.
“It only needs a couple things” you know… Brake Pads, Fluids, Transmission & Differential Fluid Change, Oil Change, Power Steering Lines…
After quickly exceeding the 10 item or less express checkout option, I stopped paying attention to all of the Viper’s aliments and just got to work.
Hours later we declared the Viper “good enough” for duty, foregoing some of the jobs that would have taken days and missing parts to complete (ie: the Power Steering line upgrade). I still had this gnawing feeling that something wasn’t right. I told Andrew “I don’t think you should track this car…” his rebuttal, “but I have to, you know, I just do!” The 2.0 mile course wouldn’t prove much match for the Viper, but the looming rain was a bad omen to me. OK. Fine. Even Bruiser (below; GTM’er Sam H’s dog) wasn’t convinced either.
That one time at the track day…
After a couple sessions on track; the Viper proved more than a handful, and Andrew has videos where you can hear the water pump and power steering begging for mercy before their catastrophic demise. I hate to tell ya, I told you so.
That hardest part with any car is parts availability; and as mentioned, the Viper is even more complex because of its rarity, and there’s no help for a car like this when you’re broken down at the track. Can I borrow?… Do you have a spare?… Hello AutoZone? Yea, NO, bruv.
Thankfully, Sam was able to load the Viper into his trailer with very little room to spare, and with help – yep, including yours truly – is currently working on getting it road worthy again.
Thanks to the sage advice of Mike Kuchavik at Havik Performance, Andrew was able to get some upgraded replacement parts since the OEM ones aren’t available and not worth pursuing. During the repair session an interesting debate arose around the overheating / cooling issues that the Viper suffered at the track. After much hand wringing we convinced Andrew that “real race cars don’t have thermostats; and if they fail, they fail closed!” Meanwhile, we’ve removed that for now and water seems to be flowing again.
What’s the major downside? He’s got to let the car warm up a little longer on a cold day, a small price to pay to insure that this rare 10-cylinder engine remain in fighting shape. #lessonlearned.
More photos available in the Vault!
