Why on Earth a VIPER?

[my 1 88 u]

my money says d1 lets the cc viper compete on american soil but itll never touch a japanese competition, competition coupe or not

[my 1 88 u]

http://www.drifting.com/forums/showt...&threadid=5505

it seems that they chose the viper because of a restricted time frame. I would like to know if the viper cc is in their long term plans, or will they choose a less expensive platform in the future?

[Sam768]

Originally posted by Tsunami
Nissanguy the PVO Competition Coupe isn't the 800hp Carbon-fibered monster you think it is. It's still the stock Viper chassis (no tube frame stuff), and suspension, plus all they did to the motor is put headers and straight exhaust on it plus a cold-air intake. I think it's around 525-550 hp. The body is stock save for the wing and splitter (I dunno if it has widened fenders or not), plus the suspension is stock viper, although I think they may have tweaked the dampening some. They upgraded the brakes and removed the heater and A/C. Inside they gave it a digital dash. That's it. Basically you could make a comp coupe street legal easily. It's basically a spec racer for ALMS and Speed GT.

You might want to read this: http://www.vipercompetitioncoupe.com.../features.html
and look at the pictures. This aint your Grandfathers Viper......

I guess we all have to ask ourselves, is this what we want the grassroots sport of Drifting to become? I know a bad driver in a great car can't win. God knows Samuel does an awesome job behind the wheel (as he would in any car he'd drive). However, motorsports has a bad habit of allowing it's competitors to spend themselves right out of the sport. Name ANY series and I'll show you how the rules/or lack of them have made it where a great driver that doesn't have a lot of money is forced to the sidelines because he can't make his car a bad-*Censored**Censored**Censored* as a guy with sponsors/personal money, etc.

IMO, one of the cool things about Drifting is that there is only 1 class. Even the D1 cars (as trick as they are) can still be beaten by a guy with some time on his hands and a few good parts in a "street derived" car. I believe Lateral G's Viper was a matter of convenience and lack of time. BUT, if we and the officials of this sport allow "purpose built" racing chassis cars it'll be just a matter of time before some guy (with good driving skills) comes with an unlimited budget and builds the Formula 1 of drift cars. Then where will all of us be with our "street hot rods"?

It's really up to all of us. We need to tell the officials of these events what we want! You've got to speak out! If you've got a ton of cash, go buy yourself a $120,000 Viper or an ex-Trans-AM car. If you're a Regular Joe like me, you better speak now, cause it won't be long until you'll be relegated to the "amateur only" class at your local stadium
parking lot...........

[noobster]

hey sam-

as you know, motorsports is a business. drifting is now a business.

almost every motorsport requires sponsors in order to elevate the level of competition. sponsors bring cash. drivers and teams need cash to be competitive. competitive, technologically advanced race cars bring media and put seats in the stands. media sells advertising. butts in the seats sells merchandise and tix sales.

what does this do to the grassroots racer? well, do grassroots racers even "care" about competition or do they just want to drift? you have 2 schools of thought. one school is a purist who just wants to keep the sport underground. 2nd school wants to drift at events but probably isn't as concerned about winning rather just having fun and competing.

the 2nd school of racers will always have their grassroots events. always. there are tons of series out there that support grassroots racers.

however, since drifting is a sport that crossesover many different age groups and audiences, the sport is going to get bigger and bigger. this will create "pro" series for the highest level of competition AND technologically advanced cars.

we just happen to be involved in the sport before the "pro" series is created. but as you can see, it appears that we're getting closer and closer to that point. a "pro" series is going to emerge and it will be the "F1" of drift series for the top racers and top teams. in my opinion, this is the reality of it.

[my 1 88 u]

I'm pissed now

[nissanguy_24]

Please tell us why....

[my 1 88 u]

because I have a gut feeling that the sponser money in drifting will lean toward proven professional race car drivers to drive illegal super cars and not the other struggling teams out their.

[Craftsman]

Originally posted by my 1 88 u
because I have a gut feeling that the sponser money in drifting will lean toward proven professional race car drivers to drive illegal super cars and not the other struggling teams out their.

And this is what I'm worried about... Not the actual chasis...

Professional drivers from all different backgrounds are going to come and take over this sport...

I know drag racers are trying with their drift trucks...

Matt.

[abstrakt01]

I dont understand why some companies bring these super cars and make them into drifting cars..Like I dont even remember the name of the company, But anyone from tampa/st pete that may have gone to DDAY 1 and saw the Lotus drift car..It totally sucked, It spun out on almost every turn. Personally Id rather see an S15 in america drifting than a stupid lotus or viper drifting.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Well the way I look at it, todays aftermarket suspension manufacturers produce products that meet or exceed the potential of OEM equipment in all those "Supercars". The advantage of the "Supercars" is that they have been designed from the get-go to have certain qualities that are good for roadracing and thus they do not have to be highly modified to achieve those qualities. All of us with "Regular cars" have to build our cars (using aftermarket parts) to achieve those qualities. Some might have to do major modification so some might have to do extreme modification. But when all is said and done, what it really comes down to is tuning and driver ability. Remember, more power does not mean someone will automatically win. Any platform can be a winning car if the people modifying it and driving it know what they are doing. Because drifting has been exposed to Japan for the majority of its life, everyone is used to seeing Japan cars. Its inevitable that the various regions of the world will use their local domestic makes/models because the prices are so much lower. So Japan people probably use Japan domestic cars, USA people probably use USA domestic cars, and European people probably use European domestic cars. Now of course there are some exceptions, makes/models that have been released in multiple regions of the world, best example is a Nissan 240 in the USA. This platform has been used successfully for years in Japan but the USA got a different version. Even though the chassis are the same, everyone knows the Japan parts are the way to go. Everyone modifies their USA 240 into the equivalent of the Japan counterpart. But if you think about it, there is a 99% chance that the guys that drift S13's in the USA are using cars that were originally bought here in the USA and have been integrated into our local domestic market of cars. Nobody drifting S13 in the USA is using the actual Japan model car, it would be too expensive. So in essence, they are using a USA domestic car (bought here in the USA), but with the advantage of their make/model used successfully in this sport for years in a different region of the world (advantage in both tuning knowledge and parts). Everyone else that is using a local/domestic platform that has not been used successfully for years in their region of the world probably is having a harder time tuning their car properly. They probably have to experiment and adjust settings a lot more because they have not been doing this as long as the Japan guys and there is nothing to work off (they are the first to do it). So thats probably why the Lotus had a hard time, and the S15 was having no problem. It all comes down to tuning and driver ability. Japan guys have a huge advantage in that they have been doing this so much longer than anyone else. It will take time for the other regions of the world to catch up.

[T3h m4d]

viper = ghey

viper wtf???? thats s0 gh3y ne way i think that alot of domestics should stay out of drifting unless they are actually practical for drifting and are balanced for drifting like a AE86 or 240sx this just makes me mad.

[MoNkEy_MaGiCx]

what do you mean by practical? like, just corolas and silvias only? there was no car made for drifting, and i think that the unbalanced cars or heavy *Censored**Censored**Censored* cars are a handicap. for the viper though, i do think that they should get rid of the cc but change it to a regular production viper. and i think that fishy seeing that mopar does sponser the event and the car...

[nissanguy_24]

Re: viper = ghey

Originally posted by T3h m4d
viper wtf???? thats s0 gh3y ne way i think that alot of domestics should stay out of drifting unless they are actually practical for drifting and are balanced for drifting like a AE86 or 240sx this just makes me mad.

This is a very bad arguement. Come on man, You need to argue a point by explaning your idea, not just calling it homosexual, and stop using numbers for letters, We are not talking in ancient hebrew. (every letter in that alphabet repersents a number value, similar to the romans)

So come on man, use Crazy Hawaiian's post as an exaple.

[Craftsman]

I want to get something straightened out first...

Drifting is not a competition sport. It's not a competition to see who is faster or who is quicker. It's an exhibition sport like figure scating or gymnastics where the judges rule who won the race.

Having a purpose built race car is cheating in my opinion because it's allowing a hockey player to compete against figure scaters...

Just my opinion.

Matt.

[craiglieberman]

Interesting debate

I've read this thread and like many of you, I've wondered which is cooler:

To see grassroots style cars drift and take on (and in many cases beat) the high dollar cars;

Seeing a true JDM car, or hachi roku, 240Sx, whatever, slide around the course vs. a Mustang, GTO or Viper;

Ghost mentioned it: this is a judged sport, so you don't have to have a $200,000 car to compete or to win.

So, all else being equal, which one would be judged better?

A $200,000 Mopar sponsored Viper driven by an American?
A $100,000 FD/Skyline/Supra (you pick it) with all Japanese parts with a Japanese driver?

Would depend on the judges, wouldn't you think?

Interestingly enough, many of the Japanese drivers have stated that they WANT to compete against American cars.

Would love to hear thoughts and views on this and last but not least, how would fans accept cars like Mustangs, Camaros, GTO's and such in the sport?

But which would the vast majority of American drift fans think was cooler?

For me, I'm not a fan of having American cars in the drift scene...to me, what makes this whole scene cool is emulating the sport in true Japanese fashion. Guess its that 'we want what we can't have' mindset.

Again, would love to hear your thoughts and views.