Why Track Days Are Important For All Viper Owners
At DodgeForum, we always encourage safe use of your MOPAR at trackdays. Specifically because of this kind of outcome.
Road course track days are one vital part of our MOPAR community that doesn’t receive enough attention. These fun days offer an opportunity to really hammer on your car without the consequence of the fuzz lighting up your rear view mirror in blue and red.
We stumbled across this video recently and thought it shared a great point on why you want to go to track days. Plus, we have some tips to prevent this kind of thing happening when you’re at said track-day. Think of it as a snake bite instructional course.
Focusing on this particular video, we see a first gen Viper out on a rainy course. Barely a tap of the throttle, and it seems to pitch the car violently, spinning it out. Had this been a public road, there could have been a curb, light pole, another car, or any various things to hit. But at this track day, it was a simple pirouette, and the driver continued on. This level of safety is why we push for track days.
Now this isn’t to say the Viper will do this spin dance every time it rains. There’s a few things that led up to this spin. The best way to prevent the snakebite is to be more patient with the throttle. Hitting the skinny pedal while still going around a bend is a sure way to get the car to loop. Always wait till you’re pointed the direction you want to head before dipping into throttle.
Secondly, quicker hands could have saved this slide. There’s a considerable time gap between the time the back end starts to rotate, and when the wheels start to steer into the slide. And finally, “when you spin, both feet in.” If you’re going to spin out, you want to stop, rather than roll back on course.
Hopefully this evidence of snake bite won’t prevent anyone from going to the track. The Viper and other MOPAR cars can be a handful, but if you’ve got capable hands, then they are an enjoyable track partner.
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