Viper ACR runs 7:01 at the Nurgurbring

[Serpent]

This was the last fastest lap they could do, it was down to 1 viper as the other had a failure (do to human error). The driver was a Ring veteran, but he never drove the ACR before and his first lap was a 7:01.
Too bad this wasn't a factory backed effort. I truly believe if they had more time and money (aka factory backed), they would break the 7-minute barrier.


Here's a quote from someone that was there (not to be confused with youtube stradman):

Friday Update: Today is our last day at the track. WOW, talk about emotional highs and lows. Since Dom and Mario were racing this weekend, Luca was in one car and we had another. After some due diligence, we found one of the fastest Ring drivers, Lance Arnold, who joined us in the second car. We also found 5 hours of track time, with a group that was renting the track for their club day. Both Luca and Lance were on track and Luca failed to come around the track. He had a tire failure at a high speed (left front) on the final straight. We put some fresh rubber on his car and sent him back out. Unfortunately, the next thing that happened was our own fault. In changing the differential fluid, the drain plug was only finger tightened and mistake slipped through the cracks. Oil leaked out until there was too little left in the diff and it broke. We were now down to one car. Rain was predicted for 1PM and our solo track time was 2PM. I cut a deal with the track days owner to let us go out at noon and we’d give him our 30 minutes at 2PM. We re-prepped Lance's car, put fresh tires on it and waited. He went out at 12 noon. On his first lap he turned a (wait for it......) 7:01.3. We were elated. We couldn't wait to see the time for his second lap. It was then that we were informed that there was a problem. Apparently, his left front tire (like Luca's) had a sidewall failure at about 160 mph while he was in a corner. He ALMOST saved it but the car brushed the left guard rail ever so lightly. At that speed, anything that upsets the car is bad, so it slid across the track and contacted the right guard rail. While it definitely wasn't the worst incident in the world, Vipers with broken parts are never pretty. The airbag went off and all of that (that's what happens when you run production cars). Lance was fine but bummed out because he felt the car was ready to best the 6:57 mark. He did the 7:01.3 on his FIRST lap.
I want to point out that the cost of all of the damage now falls on Bernie and Ben at Viper Exchange, who own the car. This is why I found it odd that some folks were saying that Viper Exchange would profit on selling these cars when we were done with the record runs. Any possible profits will be used to repair the car that contacted the armco. The gofundme donations will pay 1) the track for repair to the rail and 2) the owner of the track-day because we took up 1.5 of his hours instead of 1 and he asked that we compensate him, which is fair.
So, there you have it. Our big adventure to the Nurburgring comes to an end. We have not had a driver who feels that the car is not a mid 6:50's car. I think that we asked a bit much of the tires on this particular track. There's a reason it’s called "The Green Hell." Viper Nation, we did the best we could with what we had to work with. It's hard not being supported by the factory in any way. We did it with YOUR gofundme contributions, tires and funds by Kumho, spare engines by Prefix (fortunately we didn't need them), 2 complete and free cars from Viper Exchange and BJ Motors, and other generous donations by members of the Viper community. So many donations, that the only way to list those who gave more than $250 is on the poster, which we will start working on. I will try to write a post-script from the plane, on the way back to the states.
We will post the video and data shortly. Our data guy is on vacation and we have to figure out how to get it off the drive. As soon as we do, we'll post it.
Again, thank you all and please know that the only thing that kept us apart from a 6:5x was time and money.

 

[13COBRA]

Russ said they are about $30k away from one more attempt (with Bernie's permission to leave the cars there one more time).

 

[Serpent]

Russ said they are about $30k away from one more attempt (with Bernie's permission to leave the cars there one more time).

Put up your ACR and have your Dealership plastered on the front windshield!

 

[apache driver]

I'll wait until On D Bit and his "others" decide whether it should have ran faster or not before I form an opinion.

 

[ZYBORG]

That time is just sick NASTY. Props to them.

Subn for video.

 

[Z06]

Very Nice! As he mentioned, they did the best they could with what they had. Proud of those guys! The world may never know what the ACR is capable of!

 

[13COBRA]

Put up your ACR and have your Dealership plastered on the front windshield!

Mine is just a lowly Gen IV... But honestly, it's at the same or slightly higher power than a stock Gen V...so maybe..

The most impressive thing is, he ran a 7:01 on his FIRST HOT LAP IN AN ACR. You read that right, he had NEVER driven a Gen V ACR before!

Conversation with a Porsche Engineer:

He explained to me that they would lap their "Ring" cars basically for a full season, testing, tweaking, changing the cars to get them to run the numbers that they wanted. Their tire manufacturer would create whatever compound was needed to stand up to the lap and get them the best result, they would have a/b/c revisions of the same tire that all looked the same to the naked eye. Then they would wait and run the car during the most optimal conditions, usually in mid October. They would go out with tire, powertrain, and aero engineers with their hottest shoe and lay down a lap that they had already run several times before. Basically unlimited time, unlimited budget, on a track that they live, and design on.

He asked me where everyone else was, and I didn't understand him at first, he said where is your support? I had to explain to him that the handful of people that he saw WAS the onsite support and that we were the extension of 1,000's of Viper Owners, and Viper devotees across the world that had spent their own money to make the effort a reality. He was blown away by what we were running in those conditions with the support that we had. I asked him what he thought the 918 would have run in those same hot conditions and he said 7:03-7:05 with a smile.

 

[jsd512]

7:01 sums up the Gen V perfectly...not quite good enough.

 

[13COBRA]

7:01 sums up the Gen V perfectly...not quite good enough.

That is a very ignorant statement.

If anything it sums up the stock Kumhos. They are toast after 1 lap around the Ring.

The Gen V ACR is a monster.

 

[Pup]

Limited funds
1st time driver
1st Lap ever in an ACR
RWD
Banging gears

7:01 not good enough? Lol. They ran a time that even many couldn't run the "easy" way

 

[Serpent]

Mine is just a lowly Gen IV... But honestly, it's at the same or slightly higher power than a stock Gen V...so maybe..

The most impressive thing is, he ran a 7:01 on his FIRST HOT LAP IN AN ACR. You read that right, he had NEVER driven a Gen V ACR before!

Conversation with a Porsche Engineer:

I mean sell the ACR to get publicity for your dealership. JK though. I always liked the gen IV. If i was treynor rich I would for sure have a iv coupe

 

[13COBRA]

I mean sell the ACR to get publicity for your dealership. JK though. I always liked the gen IV. If i was treynor rich I would for sure have a iv coupe

Oh lol

I need to get Treynor rich...

 

[Sn95Snake]

It was awesome to see them get a 7:01. I am 90% positive that they could have ran a 6:5x with some more money & seat time. I really wish Dodge would have backed this attempt.

 

[13COBRA]

It was awesome to see them get a 7:01. I am 90% positive that they could have ran a 6:5x with some more money & seat time. I really wish Dodge would have backed this attempt.

They definitely could have. They came out after looking at the metrics and said they lost 2-3 seconds because the car was having a hard time shifting 2-3 and 3-4 on several different attempts.

 

[ON D BIT]

I'll wait until On D Bit and his "others" decide whether it should have ran faster or not before I form an opinion.

I think they can get down to a 55 with good weather/conditions. Obviously a few ticks faster with full million dollar plus backing.

One thing is obvious one can't get the best time by showing up and running. Tuning for a specific track is not oem off showroom floor stock. Yet they all tune for best results. Ferrari wants two weeks and the track testing at before they release a press car. Haha.
Would a straight off showroom floor zl11le run a 7.16. No way.

 

[bb83]

Love how people worship 911 gt3's but acr's never get the cred they deserve

 

[Z06]

While I find the time impressive for the Viper and its team, the more I read about what goes into it makes me less impressed with times ran by all manufacturers. The takeaway I get, to get the best possible time is just a matter of throwing money at it until you get what works for you.

 

[blk02edge]

While I find the time impressive for the Viper and its team, the more I read about what goes into it makes me less impressed with times ran by all manufacturers. The takeaway I get, to get the best possible time is just a matter of throwing money at it until you get what works for you.

Well this is why the NBG is a terrible benchmark for comparing vehicles. Great for manufacturer testing though

 

[Z06]

Well this is why the NBG is a terrible benchmark for comparing vehicles. Great for manufacturer testing though

Agreed! The Ring is a great place for testing. When does the US build a track of the same caliber? I know it's full of great tracks right now but something comparable to Nurburgring.

 

[jsd512]

That is a very ignorant statement.

If anything it sums up the stock Kumhos. They are toast after 1 lap around the Ring.

The Gen V ACR is a monster.

No it's not. It's the truth, 7:01 is not good enough. Every time I see someone start to explain why they lost, others scream out, excuses, quit making excuses for losing. I see people on this forum say the same thing. Suddenly, people want to offer up reasons why the ACR did so poorly and it's OK? When is it OK to give reasons why you/someone lost and when it is not OK to give reasons why you/someone lost? The rules seem very arbitrary. Coaches say it all the time, I'm not going to make any excuses, we lost.