I used to drive prototypes back in the day and got assigned a production ready viper for a week before they launched. My report back to Chrysler was that it rode like a truck, the steering wheel felt like it wasn't connected to anything and there was a delay from when you turned the wheel and the car actually changed direction and that I felt like the car was actively trying to murder me every time I asked it to change direction. Conclusion, it was one of the most difficult, dangerous and interestingly fun cars I had ever driven but needs to come with a life insurance policy and a week at a performance driving school for every buyer.
Thanks, I just remembered to take my foot off the gas and not touch the brake and just let it do its thing until I could regain control. Still have a vivid memory of this incident many years later, my closest call on any track.
@@Itsjamilagain not being a wall there is luck. But just letting the car do it’s thing and then getting it straight again once it’s back on the track was clearly a very specific action.
For those who want a little more understanding of why they had some reputation like this: Vipers had a short wheelbase at 96" and a lot of low end torque, it also had stiff suspension and tires were nowhere near as good in the early 90s as they are now. Short wheelbases make cars more responsive on turn in but it also make them easier to spin. The torque comes on strong and early so good throttle control is important. Cars with stiff suspension are more responsive but also are generally quicker to break away than cars which have more body roll and compliance. People chest thump about it having no driver aids but very few cars had stability control in the early '90s (this is NOT the same thing as traction control) and ABS doesn't do you any good when you're spinning it out on the throttle, only when you have to stop hard. The muscle car era was rife with cars that have no driver aids at all and hardly anyone beats their chest about how their big block B-body mopar has no driver aids. A 440 six pack car It has close to the same torque, less traction and no driver aids but it also has 20" or so more wheelbase and soft suspension that does not encourage you to push cornering speeds.
Keep in mind, its wheelbase is short, for the amount of power it makes. On a car with MUCH less power, 96 would be "Just right" so that the car feels agile and responsive.
It is not the wheelbase that is the issue. It is the track width. It's around 1590mm. For comparison, a Porsche is nearly 1900mm. A "440" type car is around 1950mm wide. It's why all race cars have big pumped guards and wide bodies to fit wider tyres for more track width. In-fact, why almost all new road cars even have pumped guards for a wider track.
I've gotta admire the team at Dodge for taking the gen 1 Viper to production. I am sure at every meeting, people were there saying it needs this and that (as later versions did), but the team must have really stuck up for their vision of the car to prevent feature bloat and price increase for the gen 1. They sold to the people a v10 engine with a car attached to it the same way selling a jet engine with a folded piece of paper taped to it makes it an airplane.
Still to this day one of my dream cars, I love how it doesn't pamper you and hold your hand through everything. You get a steering wheel, a stick shift, a heavy-ass clutch and no assists. Deal with it.
And a terrible chassis that can't put 200 hp on the ground properly, let alone all it has. There's a difference between a car that doesn't pamper you, and a car that's just bad. A car that doesn't pamper you would be something like a Lotus Elise. Viper is just a bad handling car, it drives like a truck, very inert and understeery until the point where it just snaps and oversteers, and it rides like it has wooden springs.
@@derbigpr500 If it handled so badly it wouldnt be able to corner like crazy if put in the hands of a capable driver. Yes, the car has little room for error and it's been proven to be able to go round the track very fast
Saying a Viper can’t handle is like saying a .50 cal is a useless sissy pistol…it all depends on whose hands it’s in. Just like with the original Cobra and Daytonas, driver skill is everything with these, and Vipers dominated Le Mans (much like cobras did). These will handle a corner as good or bad as your ability will allow you. The chassis will tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing, but typically at that point you’re already starting to lose it.
No abs or traction control, its a savage to be driven, devil on its wheels when pushed harder. Gotta know exactly how to drive & how to deal with that cars personality :)
It had a mind of its own. This was the third and last time that car tried to kill me before I got rid of it. I think that was like my third lap during that session, had it out there plenty of sessions and had pushed it even harder during previous laps. I was taking it easy on this one, then it just did a snap oversteer and the back just slipped out, I was light on the throttle at the time. My 98' GTS never did that, the suspension on the Gen 1 was just so unpredictable, the Gen 2 was just the opposite, so compliant, and very predictable. Never had an issue with the GTS trying to snap at me. I liked the 94', but the 98' was so much better in every way, and still pure.
@@XennialGuy big engine, light car. too little throttle will cause engine braking to slow the rear wheels. add in some rain and you got yourself a no throttle spin.
Man it really doesn't take much for this car to bite you, looks like you got a touch of oversteer when you got on the power and the car said "fuck you". Very fortunate that it happened at the track, can't help but picture the same thing happening with an armco barrier by the road or worse, a ditch or ravine 😬
That’s the same thing I was thinking I always wonder why people crash or lose control seems like knowing the car & how it reacts may be the biggest factor
@@loganm2766 that's probably the best thing to do tho, look at the mustang community, most of them are known for crowd crashing. And it's caused by spinning out of control but those guys never get off the accelerater when they do lose control, it'll just cause the car to keep from getting that traction, if you don't have it you can't really do much but pray
@@Got_Ghosted they crash because people with no idea think they are mika hakkenen because they bought one of these cars and think having the keys gives them rally driver expertise
@@Got_Ghosted Most of the time I see a mustang fly off the road, is because they think they can just throw the car out of a dead stop corner, in first gear. If they'd just at least wait to be straight with the road, most wouldn't have even happened. I've valeted for some years in my life, drove a lot of vehicles. A few of which being even the Ecoboost v6 Mustang. Given they usually have some dreadful all seasons on them from rental companies. Those mustangs are very live in the rear, even a little damp out. And the V6 Mustang still wanted to get sideways with even traction control on.
recovered? He just spinned out of controll untill he lost his kinetic energy and stopped mid road xD It just happened, driver lost complete control of a car and didnt regain it untill it was over xd
@@skyliner4610 considering he didn't continue spinning after he hit the asphalt shows that wasn't his first rodeo, a bad driver wouldve easily lost control on the asphalt thinking they might have to accelerate out of it
I drive a 94 from time to time and even though I don't push it hard it always gives me an uneasy feeling. I can certainly understand how you could do nothing but the same thing you've done lap after lap and it throws you a curve ball. I get the feeling from them that they are "stable until they aren't" and at that point you are along for the ride
That is by design. Stiff, short travel suspension and wide tires make a high limit car with no notice on when you go beyond. You really have to know the car in order to get the most out of it. The Viper suffers fools poorly.
@@OxBlitzkriegxO I would be hesitant to track it in the rain without expecting to lose control. Might be good experience to know how to handle it if rain catches you on the road though.
@@OxBlitzkriegxO I wouldn't say that it suffers fools, because professional race drivers have tested them and say the same thing about it being unreliable (at least in the mid 90's). The first generation of them were killing machines. They held a multi-sports car triathlon that only the viper couldn't finish because it kept going off track by either spinning or locking the wheels. This was done without effort in the other vehicles. No point in having that much power if you can't control it.
i went to high school with a girl who, while we were in high school, was driving someone's viper around a track and completely totalled it, like, nothing was left of the car. I remember her posting a pic of her posing with it like "oops" or something, and i just cant believe someone put a teenage girl in one of the worst handling cars ever made around a track
Its one of the most successful gt2 car in mid to late 90s so itcan handle..the power is constant cos it has more torque rhan anything equivalanr and yeh as ppl say minimal driver aids mean you cant constantly have ur foot in it like other supercars with less torque..i say it from experience
It could handle in the right hands on a track bit was horrible for the average driver on the street. The grip was high but there was nothing linear about the way things happened once you hit the limit. It didn't start sliding in a catchable way when you exceeded the cars capabilities. You had tons of grip and then 1/10th of a second later your were flying backwards through someone's fence/living room/ lawn.
@@RoadRage810 that is true 3500rpm and above it gets scary..the thing that got me wen i 1st drove one is seating position u literally sit low and back on the rear wheel with a long bonnet so u understeer and miss the apex for a while lol
That thing seems terrifying. That little wheel spin sent you off the track like that? Something seems off, old tires maybe? Or Dodge really did just strap a car onto an engine and sent it out the door lol.
The ladder. Damn thing has a weird delay from when you turn to when it goes. Feels like you're just suggesting it to turn rather than actually turning. Kinda like a truck but with but with way more power. Power the damn thing can't but down right.
The wet. That V10 is all torque and it doesn't take that much to spin cold/wet tires. It also looks like his racing line was tighter than it should have been on exit and weight was still being transferred at the rear (but that could be because of the sudden traction loss too I guess)
Wow, a recent UA-cam video that doesn't make you wait 10 min to see what you actually came to see! Nice recovery and good on you for actually driving your car!
I feel like in modern sticky tires and good suspension, these things wouldn’t be as bad. I know the aftermarket for 1st gens sucks but can 2nd gen stuff be retrofitted easy enough?
The problem with old vipers is that they were not equipped with ABS and traction control, so good tyres and suspension may not be enough to tame the monstrous V10.
I've seen this twice in the wild. In the early 90s a black viper took out my neighbour's bushes near an intersection. Don't even think it was going that fast. Second was another black Viper that almost took out a Dairy Queens. Now that I think about it I wonder if it was the same driver 😅
There's a secret compartment in the ceiling of the glove box where you will find a stack of forms, on those you can note the type of corner you want to take and at what speed. Date it correctly, submit it two weeks before the occasion to your nearest Dodge dealer and leave them a generous tip. If you encounter the corner on time, you will take it safely, in any other case, you're in for a surprise.
well, with a contact patches the size of surf boards and enough torque to repave a highway... the Viper is known for horrible traction unless its being pinned down... worse if the pavement is even remotely damp
I will always love the styling of the 1st Gen Vipers; they're way too cool. The handling characteristics and lack of safety features common even in that day... bring it on! I don't want my cars trying to hold my hand as I cross the street. But as a past-owner of a Hemi Superbird, I got to tell you: That school bus noise Vipers make is embarrassing. Give me that 426 ROAR through the twin Carter AFBs any day.
I agree, and I replaced the exhaust with a catted upgrade which made it sound much better. But the Gen 2 with rear exit exhaust sounds very mean with a B&B muffler upgrade. The hotter cam on the Gen 2 provide one of the best sounding V10 muscle notes with just a simple cat-back.
i cant see the other replys. the track is definately super wet. you can see the spray coming off the tires as he drives away in the end. the Car got into Understeer, thats what happened. front tires lost traction, rear tires still had it, driver stepped on gas, car body was angled towards grass (so the passenger rear tire was farther ahead than the driver rear) its interesting that he understeered After the car body made the turn. Those huge rear wheels just have such massive grip lol
A wet apex in a car that demands respect. No traction control just pure driving. The next 2 miles replayed it and regardless of your ability to quickly recoup, humbling to say the least. Thrill of the hunt…
I'm guessing the rear end got a bit of lift coming out of the corner as the balance shifted and decided to go for a dance around the grass? Great car, but its about as intimidating as a 930 Turbo.
@@Rubn1out4GudLuk Its surprised me a few times. Was hooning my pickup in "awd" mode and I lost traction on the back when the wheels hit a bump and I let off the throttle a bit. I went for a ride and came within inches of a mailbox. Thankfully, the awd system realized and got me sorted back out in time. Needless to say, the traction control went right back on after that. :P
Reminds me of an accident that happened a while back. Apparently this couple got killed in a 1st or 2nd gen viper I can’t remember. The accident was so bad the car got torn in half. Goes to show how dangerous these cars actually are. Nice save! 😅👍🏽
That's what I love about full analog vehicles, you need skill. Great job on that recovery! Very impressive, I found it adorable how you slowed down afterwards to gather yourself
I tried playing this in slow motion and go frame by frame to try to understand what happened and I think I've got it but please correct me if I'm wrong. I think he was going through the corner slightly too hot causing the car to understeer slightly and he also got on the gas a little bit too hard and early which kicked the rear end out. This lead him to countersteer and therefor overcorrect and inevitably run out of track.
A properly set up car, even one with good power and RWD can take a long corner like that at speed, even in the wet and make it out okay. The first gen vipers are just notoriously tempermental. As it says in the description, it was the third lap he'd taken so it's not unfounded to assume he took the corner the same way the last two times and didn't spin.
Got on it a little too hard in the wet on exit it looks like, the rear was still coming around and the hadn't settled, then all that torque broke it loose. I have a C5 Z and the combo of cold and wet had me counter steering from changing lanes and getting on it too much (not even half throttle) the other day. I think I'm going to spend February wrenching instead of driving, then I can hit up some track days when it gets warm.
@@loganm2766 I could see there being a throttle solution, the sudden return of grip as the weight transfers back is what send him off, if he managed it like a power slide and kept the rear slipping maybe he could have recovered, but his line didn't leave him much room to work with on the inside.
@@loganm2766 That's the "I'm too much of a throttle control boss to have that happen" thinking. If we are going to think like that then first step is picking a way better line. Yeah he could have listened to his tires, you can tell the rear was still struggling for grip from the sound. ... and yeah just like an aggressive turbo the key to a viper is in the throttle control (though maybe a little tricky in the Viper cause the torque is always there and should be more consistent). Remember too he's in the wet and he's probably not pushing the car either so his tires are cold (and maybe even all-seasons). That loss of traction was sudden and unexpected. You have to adapt all your track knowledge the to the weather, I'd imagine it's harder to know a real track you see a couple times a year the same way as a sim track that is consistent and familiar and you race every other day (though to be fair you also get a lot more input from the car).
Everyone talking about a great recovery😂 it was a rookie error coming out of the corner, and the terrain was lenient enough afterwards to enable a simple full spin. Bunch of UA-cam simpletons here.
The 1st gen Viper are popular for snap oversteer like this. Even for pro drivers this car is not easy. So the driver in this video did very well on saving it
@@haluyolo7568 he didn’t save it you simpleton😂 he lost it, the made a normal recovery with a forgiving terrain. Saving it means keeping it straight after a snap.
@@Hermanos22 I didn't said he did it perfectly, but what he did is pretty good compared to actual rookie which might ended up even worse. This one is pretty nice at least
"For no reason at all" Clearly has too much steering input relative to throttle position Why would you be turned in on a corner exit in the wet with a large displacement V10? Ya know torque is a twisting force, right?
My wife and I were given the gift of a 2000 steel grey viper back in 2000 for 4 days. 4 days of pure joy and fun. I took a lot of friends and business associates out in that beast. One day had a little bit of mist on the ground. And yep it tried to break free when taking a corner. But 335s on the rear and no traction control will do that. One day I'll get that same year and color but with a John Hennessy touch.
These cars are animals and deserve much respect for the torque of the V10. Traction control might have prevented the spin but there is an art to racing in the rain. This was a classic example of being off line and applying to much throttle while there was a substantial amount of steering input on cold tires. Don't feel bad this is a semi-common occurrence coming out of the last corner at Grattan. Spinning to the left always turns out better than loosing it to the right.
nice save, it looked like as if someone spoke to you about it after that, they'd say, "it looks like you've done that a couple times" in a good way hahaha
I used to drive prototypes back in the day and got assigned a production ready viper for a week before they launched. My report back to Chrysler was that it rode like a truck, the steering wheel felt like it wasn't connected to anything and there was a delay from when you turned the wheel and the car actually changed direction and that I felt like the car was actively trying to murder me every time I asked it to change direction. Conclusion, it was one of the most difficult, dangerous and interestingly fun cars I had ever driven but needs to come with a life insurance policy and a week at a performance driving school for every buyer.
Bad ass story ! Always wanted to drive a viper as kid! I’ll stick the rx7z little more predictable in the corners
Yea but who asked?
@@YungEagle3k me
What an interesting experience
what is it they say about vipers? something about a real pretty coffin?
Driver: "Ok lets go around a corner"
Viper: "Let´s try spinning, that´s a neat trick!"
That’s a reference from somewhere
Let’s try spinning that’s a neat trick
Underdog?
@@amberharmsen2497 Star Wars episode 1: The Phantom Menace. During the pod racing scene, I believe.
@@amberharmsen2497 nevermind, it's from when anakin is about to destroy the trade federation ship
@@officialgohan5687 I remember the that’s a neat trick part
But I don’t think spinning was ever done during the pod racing scene
@@officialgohan5687 oh ok yeah
You handled it pretty well and made a decent recovery.
Thanks, I just remembered to take my foot off the gas and not touch the brake and just let it do its thing until I could regain control. Still have a vivid memory of this incident many years later, my closest call on any track.
Definitely was ALL luck
@@idontlikecops1 how do you figure? It was pretty obvious to me the j-turn at the end to straighten himself out was intentional
@@case2238 And what if instead of grass, there was a wall...?
@@Itsjamilagain not being a wall there is luck. But just letting the car do it’s thing and then getting it straight again once it’s back on the track was clearly a very specific action.
For those who want a little more understanding of why they had some reputation like this: Vipers had a short wheelbase at 96" and a lot of low end torque, it also had stiff suspension and tires were nowhere near as good in the early 90s as they are now. Short wheelbases make cars more responsive on turn in but it also make them easier to spin. The torque comes on strong and early so good throttle control is important. Cars with stiff suspension are more responsive but also are generally quicker to break away than cars which have more body roll and compliance.
People chest thump about it having no driver aids but very few cars had stability control in the early '90s (this is NOT the same thing as traction control) and ABS doesn't do you any good when you're spinning it out on the throttle, only when you have to stop hard. The muscle car era was rife with cars that have no driver aids at all and hardly anyone beats their chest about how their big block B-body mopar has no driver aids. A 440 six pack car It has close to the same torque, less traction and no driver aids but it also has 20" or so more wheelbase and soft suspension that does not encourage you to push cornering speeds.
Keep in mind, its wheelbase is short, for the amount of power it makes. On a car with MUCH less power, 96 would be "Just right" so that the car feels agile and responsive.
It is not the wheelbase that is the issue. It is the track width. It's around 1590mm.
For comparison, a Porsche is nearly 1900mm. A "440" type car is around 1950mm wide.
It's why all race cars have big pumped guards and wide bodies to fit wider tyres for more track width. In-fact, why almost all new road cars even have pumped guards for a wider track.
I think ya’ll forgetting the main factor which contributes to the poor handling.
Its American
Plus it's a rearwheel drive.
@@sjg9585 Corvettes have been consistently competitive in GT racing since the C5.R but go off
I've gotta admire the team at Dodge for taking the gen 1 Viper to production. I am sure at every meeting, people were there saying it needs this and that (as later versions did), but the team must have really stuck up for their vision of the car to prevent feature bloat and price increase for the gen 1. They sold to the people a v10 engine with a car attached to it the same way selling a jet engine with a folded piece of paper taped to it makes it an airplane.
So the Dodge Viper is essentially the MiG21 of the road?
As Mr.Regular said “THIS car will kill you”. Be careful out there
Any RWD car with tons of torque is deadly
Exactly what sports cars used to do.
@@angelgjr1999 4cyl mustang lookin at this rn
And then kill your bank. And your bank account. *Hi beams your wife next*
@@janki3353 What?
Still to this day one of my dream cars, I love how it doesn't pamper you and hold your hand through everything. You get a steering wheel, a stick shift, a heavy-ass clutch and no assists. Deal with it.
And a terrible chassis that can't put 200 hp on the ground properly, let alone all it has. There's a difference between a car that doesn't pamper you, and a car that's just bad. A car that doesn't pamper you would be something like a Lotus Elise. Viper is just a bad handling car, it drives like a truck, very inert and understeery until the point where it just snaps and oversteers, and it rides like it has wooden springs.
@@derbigpr500 If it handled so badly it wouldnt be able to corner like crazy if put in the hands of a capable driver. Yes, the car has little room for error and it's been proven to be able to go round the track very fast
Saying a Viper can’t handle is like saying a .50 cal is a useless sissy pistol…it all depends on whose hands it’s in. Just like with the original Cobra and Daytonas, driver skill is everything with these, and Vipers dominated Le Mans (much like cobras did). These will handle a corner as good or bad as your ability will allow you. The chassis will tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing, but typically at that point you’re already starting to lose it.
Not just doesn't hold your hand it also kicks you in the balls once in a while if unsatisfied with what you're doing to it!
@@jonmopar7917 the first gen viper sucked ass horribly in corners although the latter generation ones are pretty decent
No abs or traction control, its a savage to be driven, devil on its wheels when pushed harder. Gotta know exactly how to drive & how to deal with that cars personality :)
It had a mind of its own. This was the third and last time that car tried to kill me before I got rid of it. I think that was like my third lap during that session, had it out there plenty of sessions and had pushed it even harder during previous laps. I was taking it easy on this one, then it just did a snap oversteer and the back just slipped out, I was light on the throttle at the time. My 98' GTS never did that, the suspension on the Gen 1 was just so unpredictable, the Gen 2 was just the opposite, so compliant, and very predictable. Never had an issue with the GTS trying to snap at me. I liked the 94', but the 98' was so much better in every way, and still pure.
Some cars just do try to end you huh
@@XennialGuy ....bad tires.....no rear downforce
@@ssnerd583 People with 10 year old tires and saying it handles like crap.
@@XennialGuy big engine, light car. too little throttle will cause engine braking to slow the rear wheels. add in some rain and you got yourself a no throttle spin.
That stand of grass held up fantastically for a car skidding through it.
I think its cause its wet out. He just slid over the grass without tearing much of it up.
Driving a Viper on a wet track. That takes big balls of titanium. Glad it worked out.
Man it really doesn't take much for this car to bite you, looks like you got a touch of oversteer when you got on the power and the car said "fuck you". Very fortunate that it happened at the track, can't help but picture the same thing happening with an armco barrier by the road or worse, a ditch or ravine 😬
That’s the same thing I was thinking I always wonder why people crash or lose control seems like knowing the car & how it reacts may be the biggest factor
I think the problem is he let off the throttle when it kicked out
@@loganm2766 that's probably the best thing to do tho, look at the mustang community, most of them are known for crowd crashing. And it's caused by spinning out of control but those guys never get off the accelerater when they do lose control, it'll just cause the car to keep from getting that traction, if you don't have it you can't really do much but pray
@@Got_Ghosted they crash because people with no idea think they are mika hakkenen because they bought one of these cars and think having the keys gives them rally driver expertise
@@Got_Ghosted Most of the time I see a mustang fly off the road, is because they think they can just throw the car out of a dead stop corner, in first gear. If they'd just at least wait to be straight with the road, most wouldn't have even happened.
I've valeted for some years in my life, drove a lot of vehicles. A few of which being even the Ecoboost v6 Mustang. Given they usually have some dreadful all seasons on them from rental companies. Those mustangs are very live in the rear, even a little damp out. And the V6 Mustang still wanted to get sideways with even traction control on.
the fact that he recovered so well in one of the most manliest cars of the 90s is respectable as fuck
recovered? He just spinned out of controll untill he lost his kinetic energy and stopped mid road xD It just happened, driver lost complete control of a car and didnt regain it untill it was over xd
@@skyliner4610 considering he didn't continue spinning after he hit the asphalt shows that wasn't his first rodeo, a bad driver wouldve easily lost control on the asphalt thinking they might have to accelerate out of it
@@skyliner4610 He could have went straight into the guardrail. It looks to me like he caught it at just the right moment.
@@skyliner4610 You wouldn't do it better.
Still look better than most sports cars today.Especially better looking than challengers and chargers
As someone who wants to drive more stick, this definitely makes me appreciate you guys who bleed true performance machines like this.
0:06 🐍
On the street this would've been a game over. Still you have to admire the guys that have the balls to drive these things quickly.
Not only are you a savage for saving it, but to even be out in a viper on a wet track is next level 🔥🔥
Dang, that recovery was so good it almost looks like they did it on purpose
I would not call that a recovery lol
@@skyliner4610 it was a recovery
@@skyliner4610 how was it not? Clearly wasn’t his first rodeo
@@Vito_Caligiuri I'll tell ya how... he locked up the brakes on a wet track, like a moron, he's lucky he didn't roll when the pavement met the grass
Agreed. He engaged the brakes just at the right time so the car faces forward again without any steering input.
I drive a 94 from time to time and even though I don't push it hard it always gives me an uneasy feeling. I can certainly understand how you could do nothing but the same thing you've done lap after lap and it throws you a curve ball. I get the feeling from them that they are "stable until they aren't" and at that point you are along for the ride
Sounds like my ex wife.
That is by design. Stiff, short travel suspension and wide tires make a high limit car with no notice on when you go beyond. You really have to know the car in order to get the most out of it.
The Viper suffers fools poorly.
@@OxBlitzkriegxO I would be hesitant to track it in the rain without expecting to lose control. Might be good experience to know how to handle it if rain catches you on the road though.
I mean it is named after a damn snake of similar nature to what you just detailed.
@@OxBlitzkriegxO I wouldn't say that it suffers fools, because professional race drivers have tested them and say the same thing about it being unreliable (at least in the mid 90's). The first generation of them were killing machines. They held a multi-sports car triathlon that only the viper couldn't finish because it kept going off track by either spinning or locking the wheels. This was done without effort in the other vehicles. No point in having that much power if you can't control it.
i went to high school with a girl who, while we were in high school, was driving someone's viper around a track and completely totalled it, like, nothing was left of the car. I remember her posting a pic of her posing with it like "oops" or something, and i just cant believe someone put a teenage girl in one of the worst handling cars ever made around a track
Its not the worse handling but it will get you if you don't know how to handle it since theres no safetys
Its one of the most successful gt2 car in mid to late 90s so itcan handle..the power is constant cos it has more torque rhan anything equivalanr and yeh as ppl say minimal driver aids mean you cant constantly have ur foot in it like other supercars with less torque..i say it from experience
It could handle in the right hands on a track bit was horrible for the average driver on the street. The grip was high but there was nothing linear about the way things happened once you hit the limit. It didn't start sliding in a catchable way when you exceeded the cars capabilities. You had tons of grip and then 1/10th of a second later your were flying backwards through someone's fence/living room/ lawn.
@@RoadRage810 that is true 3500rpm and above it gets scary..the thing that got me wen i 1st drove one is seating position u literally sit low and back on the rear wheel with a long bonnet so u understeer and miss the apex for a while lol
@CarEnjoyer my N.A gen 2 has 1157 pounds of torque, not many supercars have that..
One of the best car designs, definitely beautiful and stands out.
With this car they knew how to get good performance and just didn't care about the rest
Isn't that how they normally take corners 🤔
its not suppose to be a mustang
@@jackcharles8243 there's no people to run over so definitely not a mustang
they are the dodges mustang for sure. they for some reason love trees, telephone post and curbs. all that power wants to eat anything in it's way 🤣🤣
@@thump3r but mustangs have had a taste of people now so we should all be scared with all that hungry power 😆 🤣
@@jackcharles8243 I was about to take a sip of tea before reading this, but I'm glad I didn't 🤣🤣
That thing seems terrifying. That little wheel spin sent you off the track like that? Something seems off, old tires maybe? Or Dodge really did just strap a car onto an engine and sent it out the door lol.
The latter
The ladder. Damn thing has a weird delay from when you turn to when it goes. Feels like you're just suggesting it to turn rather than actually turning. Kinda like a truck but with but with way more power. Power the damn thing can't but down right.
Didn't get enough lock on early enough but mainly didn't get it off quickly enough when it came back.
The wet. That V10 is all torque and it doesn't take that much to spin cold/wet tires. It also looks like his racing line was tighter than it should have been on exit and weight was still being transferred at the rear (but that could be because of the sudden traction loss too I guess)
"Strap a car onto an engine"🤣🤣 sounds like a viper
Seen one in my hometown in the middle of nowhere you never realize just how low, wide, and sleek these things are till you see them in person
Lost control but recovered nicely. Well done! My dream car has always been a 95 Viper, I'll get one some day 😄
Nice to have all that empty grass and no other infrastructure or cars nearby.
Thoroughly impressed by the quality and performance of the grass :D
Wow, a recent UA-cam video that doesn't make you wait 10 min to see what you actually came to see! Nice recovery and good on you for actually driving your car!
Well it's true "You don't really respect a car unless it tries to kill you"
Low hp or high hp, it needs a skilled person to control it.
Gotta respect the Smart ForTwo or the Tata Nano then
And this, right here, is why runoff is so important when designing a track.
That's just the Widowmaker doing it's job.
The most beaultiful coffin I've ever seen
I feel like in modern sticky tires and good suspension, these things wouldn’t be as bad. I know the aftermarket for 1st gens sucks but can 2nd gen stuff be retrofitted easy enough?
basically: gotta Restomod them vipers
Nobody knows because they're all sitting in garages driven 60 miles/year going under the speed limit.
The problem with old vipers is that they were not equipped with ABS and traction control, so good tyres and suspension may not be enough to tame the monstrous V10.
@@adamr.481 Thats a problem?
@@Dubz0408 If you want to drive fast and not crash- I think so...
Bro drove off like nothin happen.😂😂😂
You handled it like a pro! Good job. These things are deathtraps and bitey af. And that's why we love them so much.
I've seen this twice in the wild. In the early 90s a black viper took out my neighbour's bushes near an intersection. Don't even think it was going that fast. Second was another black Viper that almost took out a Dairy Queens. Now that I think about it I wonder if it was the same driver 😅
"I got that on film."
-every middle aged guy holding a camera, ever
Very nice driving skills great save that’s a true drivers car right there
beautiful car and Good recovery but damn i wouldve been shitting myself
Dodge: “yea, they do that sometimes…”
Me: “Hard to complain about much else”🤷♂️
The most Real life Gran Turismo 1 and 2 footage I ever saw
Absolutely LOVE Vipers. Thank you for sharing this video!
There's a secret compartment in the ceiling of the glove box where you will find a stack of forms, on those you can note the type of corner you want to take and at what speed. Date it correctly, submit it two weeks before the occasion to your nearest Dodge dealer and leave them a generous tip. If you encounter the corner on time, you will take it safely, in any other case, you're in for a surprise.
😅😂🤣🤣
Pretty good recovery! Impressive seeing it’s a murderous, go-kart.
well, with a contact patches the size of surf boards and enough torque to repave a highway... the Viper is known for horrible traction unless its being pinned down... worse if the pavement is even remotely damp
DRIVER: Man, good thing I’m wearing diapers.
Beautiful vehicle. Always been one of my dream cars
I will always love the styling of the 1st Gen Vipers; they're way too cool. The handling characteristics and lack of safety features common even in that day... bring it on! I don't want my cars trying to hold my hand as I cross the street.
But as a past-owner of a Hemi Superbird, I got to tell you: That school bus noise Vipers make is embarrassing. Give me that 426 ROAR through the twin Carter AFBs any day.
I agree, and I replaced the exhaust with a catted upgrade which made it sound much better. But the Gen 2 with rear exit exhaust sounds very mean with a B&B muffler upgrade. The hotter cam on the Gen 2 provide one of the best sounding V10 muscle notes with just a simple cat-back.
Dang man do you still have that Superbird? Quite the market for them and incredibly rare, only 136 Superbirds came with a 426.
Dry? It looks and sounds wet…
def looks wet
i cant see the other replys.
the track is definately super wet. you can see the spray coming off the tires as he drives away in the end.
the Car got into Understeer, thats what happened. front tires lost traction, rear tires still had it, driver stepped on gas, car body was angled towards grass (so the passenger rear tire was farther ahead than the driver rear)
its interesting that he understeered After the car body made the turn. Those huge rear wheels just have such massive grip lol
Back in 1997, I autocrossed a 94 Viper, Very common for the ass end to break lose. Those early Vipers handled very weird
how much of the engine sat over the top of the front suspension line ?
What a beast of a car to have, respect
A wet apex in a car that demands respect. No traction control just pure driving. The next 2 miles replayed it and regardless of your ability to quickly recoup, humbling to say the least. Thrill of the hunt…
I'm guessing the rear end got a bit of lift coming out of the corner as the balance shifted and decided to go for a dance around the grass? Great car, but its about as intimidating as a 930 Turbo.
I thought the same thing. Lift off oversteer will surprise most.
@@Rubn1out4GudLuk Its surprised me a few times. Was hooning my pickup in "awd" mode and I lost traction on the back when the wheels hit a bump and I let off the throttle a bit. I went for a ride and came within inches of a mailbox. Thankfully, the awd system realized and got me sorted back out in time. Needless to say, the traction control went right back on after that. :P
My 930 is a pussycat with modern tire technology. A viper on a wet greasy track is gonna be 1k times worse.
@@Psychonaut_ I guess I'm not surprised. I got to drive a Viper once in my life and even at low speeds, it scared the crap out of me.
Nope, just too much power on corner exit. You can hear the revs spike as the rears spin,
That's why they stopped produce this model
That was a beautiful recovery. I wish I could've had that level of controll in my '03 beamer (:
Good recovery sir. Beautiful car.
Reminds me of an accident that happened a while back. Apparently this couple got killed in a 1st or 2nd gen viper I can’t remember. The accident was so bad the car got torn in half. Goes to show how dangerous these cars actually are. Nice save! 😅👍🏽
That's what I love about full analog vehicles, you need skill. Great job on that recovery! Very impressive, I found it adorable how you slowed down afterwards to gather yourself
With the OG tires? I've seen so many Viper owners with original tires still on them, lol
I tried playing this in slow motion and go frame by frame to try to understand what happened and I think I've got it but please correct me if I'm wrong.
I think he was going through the corner slightly too hot causing the car to understeer slightly and he also got on the gas a little bit too hard and early which kicked the rear end out. This lead him to countersteer and therefor overcorrect and inevitably run out of track.
Ngl, that was pretty smooth
The early Vipers were not quite known for handling. Good thing he know how to control it. Lucky save!
"for no reason at all" - proceeds to push the gas on a wet day while cornering with 600+ horsepower
These had like 400 hp but yes
A properly set up car, even one with good power and RWD can take a long corner like that at speed, even in the wet and make it out okay. The first gen vipers are just notoriously tempermental. As it says in the description, it was the third lap he'd taken so it's not unfounded to assume he took the corner the same way the last two times and didn't spin.
@@fisherthegoat wet track, bad tires, too much accelerator, too much torque with no traction control, light tailed rwd car
i cant even see the replys
@@skyliner4610 light tailed huh? I actually never looked up what the weight distribution was on the first gen viper.
Wow dude that was sick
Got on it a little too hard in the wet on exit it looks like, the rear was still coming around and the hadn't settled, then all that torque broke it loose.
I have a C5 Z and the combo of cold and wet had me counter steering from changing lanes and getting on it too much (not even half throttle) the other day. I think I'm going to spend February wrenching instead of driving, then I can hit up some track days when it gets warm.
Ive got lot of practice on the simulator with turbo cars. I think he could have kept this car in control with very little throttle input.
CB7 Accord very predictable in the turns and fun at the limit.
@@loganm2766 I could see there being a throttle solution, the sudden return of grip as the weight transfers back is what send him off, if he managed it like a power slide and kept the rear slipping maybe he could have recovered, but his line didn't leave him much room to work with on the inside.
@@hiighcalibre Yeah that probably would have saved it. My idea is more for preventing in all together.
@@loganm2766 That's the "I'm too much of a throttle control boss to have that happen" thinking. If we are going to think like that then first step is picking a way better line. Yeah he could have listened to his tires, you can tell the rear was still struggling for grip from the sound. ... and yeah just like an aggressive turbo the key to a viper is in the throttle control (though maybe a little tricky in the Viper cause the torque is always there and should be more consistent).
Remember too he's in the wet and he's probably not pushing the car either so his tires are cold (and maybe even all-seasons). That loss of traction was sudden and unexpected. You have to adapt all your track knowledge the to the weather, I'd imagine it's harder to know a real track you see a couple times a year the same way as a sim track that is consistent and familiar and you race every other day (though to be fair you also get a lot more input from the car).
Man seeing this makes me miss when racing games had this car. Good times.
I remember in middle school someone's family member won one playing McDonald's Monopoly. Coolest car in the pickup line.
Everyone talking about a great recovery😂 it was a rookie error coming out of the corner, and the terrain was lenient enough afterwards to enable a simple full spin. Bunch of UA-cam simpletons here.
The 1st gen Viper are popular for snap oversteer like this. Even for pro drivers this car is not easy. So the driver in this video did very well on saving it
@@haluyolo7568 he didn’t save it you simpleton😂 he lost it, the made a normal recovery with a forgiving terrain. Saving it means keeping it straight after a snap.
@@Hermanos22 I didn't said he did it perfectly, but what he did is pretty good compared to actual rookie which might ended up even worse. This one is pretty nice at least
"For no reason at all"
Clearly has too much steering input relative to throttle position
Why would you be turned in on a corner exit in the wet with a large displacement V10? Ya know torque is a twisting force, right?
They are infamous for that!
One of most dangerous cars on the road
Nice recovery! Sweet car too.
that coulda been scrambled eggs my Dude, Great Save!!!! I laughed when you just rolled away, like “nothing to see here….” 🤣👌🏼
"Go down that way, really really fast. If something gets in your way, TURN"!
What a beautiful car. Probably the best looking Viper.
My wife and I were given the gift of a 2000 steel grey viper back in 2000 for 4 days.
4 days of pure joy and fun. I took a lot of friends and business associates out in that beast.
One day had a little bit of mist on the ground.
And yep it tried to break free when taking a corner. But 335s on the rear and no traction control will do that.
One day I'll get that same year and color but with a John Hennessy touch.
Driver: let's kick the gas in a rwd car while turning...
Viper: okay, you'll see
“Totally did that on purpose guys common…👀”
That was gracefully done.
The nemesis of all American cars, the bend in the road.
absollutely love the design of this car,
Will always be a classic.
I remember driving this car in Gran Turismo for Playstation and it was hard as hell make turns
Lol. I remember it in Gran Turismo as well. Not quite that hard to drive in real life.
Notice the brake lights , he didn't press the brakes UNTIL he was on asphalt , which was amazing recovery , hats off
Driver: *Looks down at the gas pedal*
Viper: So you've chosen death
There’s nothing quite like that post spin slow drive. “Am I alive, is my car alive? Yeah we good let’s get back to it.”
I got that on film and now what ?
It's not exactly the Hindenburg, 911 or Pearl Harbor.
The old legend is that 2 out of every 5 Vipers sold never made it home to their driveway.
The only body style of viper I really liked. It and the prowler just have that perfect hot wheels kind of vibe to their looks that's just timeless.
That's crazy, it just right away went left with no way out of it. Nuts
The Viper is so light it didn't even leave tracks in the grass 💪
Can we take a moment to appreciate how excellent the guy on camera performed?
I'm Italian and I'm from St.Agata Bolognese (Lamborghini's home)and I can say without any doubt that the Viper is one of the beautiful cars ever made.
-"Lightning Mcqueen is back to the racee!
Satisfying recovery, glad it was very well recorded
Can't blame this guy at all. Wet track, high hp car, no driver aids at all. Yup, spin city is an expected result. Kudos for saving it.
These cars are animals and deserve much respect for the torque of the V10. Traction control might have prevented the spin but there is an art to racing in the rain. This was a classic example of being off line and applying to much throttle while there was a substantial amount of steering input on cold tires. Don't feel bad this is a semi-common occurrence coming out of the last corner at Grattan. Spinning to the left always turns out better than loosing it to the right.
That was on purpose stunt driver you. wink wink . Thanks for sharing .
Driving Viper in Gran turismo 2 in a nutshell 😢
The best part is that theres no dramatic effect to this 👌👍
wow i had forgotten this car existed, still love it
They screwed up the title of this video. It should have been recursive (and 100% accurate) with the title “My Viper Being a Viper”. This is the way.
nice save, it looked like as if someone spoke to you about it after that, they'd say, "it looks like you've done that a couple times" in a good way hahaha
That was a great recovery