My friend, Kourosh (@f8_green.gt), organized a Coronavirus Awareness Drive to bring awareness to how severe this pandemic is and to advise everyone to stay home and be safe during this unique time. All jokes aside, we just got extremely bored during the quarantine and decided a drive was long overdue. Since this was such short notice, we just texted our friends and got nearly 20 cars to join us.
At 11 PM the night before, I decided to take my chances and text Andre (@suited.racer) and invite him to join us in his insane 900 wheel horsepower Viper ACR with 2 bottles of Nitrous stuffed in the trunk. He said he’d try his best to show up and I didn’t think much of it till the next day while we were parked and I heard a very distinctive 8.4 Liter V10 rumble up the street. He even got a friend of his to join us as well in a tastefully modified M4 Competition (@comp.m4). Even though most of us were in the usual BMW or muscle car that most Burbank Highschool car guys have, he still treated us on the same level. Andre showed us around the car, popped the hood, and showed us the extremely grippy tires and nitrous bottles. Eventually, the cops showed up and decided this was a “social gathering” so we got ready to leave. As we were leaving, I asked Andre if he would mind me riding passenger. Even though we are going through this weird time in a pandemic he still decided to share this experience and I will never forget it. Thank you Andre!
One thing I should note about the viper is that the cabin is TINY. It was one of the hardest cars to get in and out of. Even the McLaren Senna seemed more comfortable! The moment we got on the main road, I realized what a track focused car the ACR was. It was definitely the most stiff suspension I have ever felt, and I’ll go into detail about that in a minute. We hopped onto the 5 freeway and that V10 was no joke. Andre shifted through the gears one after the other, and we were overtaking cars so fast it was reminiscent to Back to the Future.
At one point, Andre decided to point out the 2 massive nitrous bottles between our heads, and began to activate them. He showed me the beautiful red button on the side of the shifter and even let ME activate the nitrous, and boy you can really feel the difference. It’s like a turbo, without the lag. There’s just instant power and torque no matter where in the rev range you are. It was such a unique experience and I’m glad I got to experience Nitrous in such an already crazy car.
As we merged onto the 101, Andre mentioned that this was his favorite stretch of the Mexican Freeway. As our speed began to climb higher and higher, we sped past the pack and I attempted to wave at them as we flew past. Key word: attempted. Holding your hand out into ”65” mph winds is not a good idea. My wrist snapped and I had to pull my arm back into the car. Then, the surface of the freeway drastically changed, and there was a minuscule hump. However, hitting a minuscule hump at 65mph versus “65”mph changes a hump into a jump. We caught air for what seemed like an eternity and I can’t even remember if my head hit the ceiling of the tiny cabin. Because of the crazy amount of downforce being produced by the massive wing, rear diffuser, splitter, and canards, the car SLAMMED back down onto the ground with so much force it bottomed out. What did Andre do in this situation? He shrugged and said, “sounds like I need a new $8,000 diffuser,” downshifted, and kept accelerating as if nothing happened.
Of all the cars I’ve ever experienced, this Viper was by far the most “Racecar” of all of them. The 458 seemed like a Rolls Royce compared to this. The GT3RS seemed like an S2000. The only car that I can think of that can give Andre’s Viper a run for its money is Cody’s monstrous Gemballa 911 Turbo. With nearly 1000 horsepower on tap and AWD, it’s extremely fast. But it’s still insulated and comfortable on the inside like a regular 911 Turbo. The Viper is track focused in every aspect. When you hop into it, you notice that long bulging hood housing the 8.4L V10 and the low seating position that tells you the center of gravity in this car is serious.
As a kid, the Need For Speed nitrous seemed like a gimmick, but once I experienced it in real life, I’m very tempted to attach a 250 shot to my Cayenne and see what happens. Watch my reaction to the Viper on Andre’s Youtube channel, Suited Racer starting April 1! Thank you to Andre again for joining us and providing some fresh content during this time! We appreciate everything you’ve done for us and it was a pleasure to see you again. We look forward to working with you in the future.
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