My Diaries

A Lurid Tale of Obsession, Depravity, Wits and Attempted Wit

Mon May 3, 1999

Viper GTS-R Squeaks to a Win at Grand Valley

Well, I practised a lot for driving the Viper GTS-R in the Grand Valley 300, but it did not seem to help much.

Results:

So, as you can tell from the times, the race was tense. There have been other races where the AI car times would have beat this one.

I jumped to an early second, gaining a brief lead after the first pit exchange. I had dropped to fourth when pitting, but worked back to 2nd fairly quickly, and briefly held the lead when the leader finally pitted. But he got by me again. At one point during the race, the GTO rear-ended me into the gravel, and took off, gaining several seconds that way.

I had another brief lead from about laps 27 to 30, as I passed the GTO while it was in the pits, but once again it caught me, just before my pit stop at lap 36. However, the GTO pitted soon after that, and by lap 40 I was in command. I lost the lead on lap 48, but regained it on the track before the GTO's final pit stop, which it finally took at lap 53, so then I almost cruised to victory. (This field was relatively weak, with a slowish winning time).

I won Cr300,000, and a black/green Castrol Supra GT.

One interesting thing about the Viper GTS-R was that, perhaps because of its relatively heavy weight, it was quite easy to drive well with worn tires. I almost wondered if I should have stretched some of my runs, but its handling was such that when duelling close up the slippery tires would probably have been a disadvantage, so I decided to be cautious.

The next Grand Valley 300 entrant will be the red Honda del Sol LM Edition. This seems to be another car which requires a lot of learning in order to drive well.