CMcLeod

...and had a blast playing. 100 miles @ 7 gals = 14+ MPG...with 93 @ $3.15 / gal.

The best part was being able to run the A3 at 7/10 while pushing a Viper GTS. He obviously drove away from me on any straight, but I was eating him up on the corners. We stopped and he asked "What's in that thing?"

bbbradley

you ran into a Viper owner who didn't want to crack up his car, or doesn't know how to drive. An A3 might handle well, but to think you could keep up is a bit optimistic.

Sounds like fun nonetheless.

/bill

CMcLeod

and was shocked that he didn't drive off without me. It was just fun...and I know an A3 has almost zero chance against a Viper.

memphis10

The bottom line is you had FUN in the twisties pushing the A3 to its limits.

April

is that unlike us in our lower powered cars that have a hard time exceeding the limits of our cars, the high torque drivers must worry about overwhelming the chassis at the wrong time because they usually have more torque than they can handle. Their work is doubled. How much is enough, and when is it too much? ;-)

I see it at the driving school all of the time. We usually tell people to start out with their lowest powered car, and then come back again with the high powered car. Learn more and go faster in the end.

520

2nd

memphis10

Very good point, April. I never looked at it that way before.

April

two-point-slow (2.0), and spinning out repeatedly while trying to match the Jetta on a tight track ;-P

acie

I know that it's a far cry from a Viper's 535 lb-ft, but almost 300 lb-ft through the front wheels might require more judicious use of the right pedal than I can muster. We'll see as soon as REVO releases their new Select switches.

(Glad to see that petethegreat is so happy with his switch to REVO)

Austin A6 3.2

... a few years ago when I still had my 225 TT Roadster. My instructor liked the car, but he was not happy with me (I was way too timid) - so he asked to drive my car and took it around the track twice - after that, I did better, knowing what my little car was capable of.

Anyway, there was a family there (dad, mum and their 16-18 year old son). The dad was some hotshot from the Viper club, they all had racing suits, expensive helmets, two Vipers for the parents and a pimped up Mustang for the son.

I rarely had this much fun in my life. I passed both Vipers TWICE in 20-30 minutes on the track. Daddy spun out in the fourth turn on the first lap, and mum spun out later in the second lap. All my Audi club buddies and I were laughing, since even the guy in the 136 HP Urquattro passed the Vipers. They were fast on the one straight, but got flagged a few times on the rest of the track for blocking people from passing.

Vipers are fast on a straight, or if you are a REALLY good driver - and that's it. During the two days out in the drivers education class, they never passed me once, even as we all got better during the sessions. The 400 HP monster had no chance of catching up to my little roadster on the track. Just goes to show that having money (to buy all the toys and the fancy equipment) doesn't mean you have skills.

Was a fun weekend, only cost me a $1,000 ($700 for new tires and $300 for the event and the hotel/food/gas).