Dodge Viper vs F-16 Viper on Ripley's BION

I was watching Ripley's Believe It Or Not this morning and they had a segment on the Chief Designer of the Viper racing an F-16 in the half mile. Did anyone see it? At the 1/4 the Car blew the jet away and it only lost the whole race by about 1/10th of a second. They didn't give 1/4 time but the winning time for the 1/2 was 13.5 seconds!!! That would put the Dodge at 13.6 for the HALF MILE!!!! THAT IS NUTS!!!!!!!

It was very cool to see the race. What in the world do Vipers do in the 1/4 ?? Would that Viper have been stock? Only thing I thought was strange was the car had it's top down which I thought would effect the drag. Maybe it was more of a marketing promo?

Any Viper experts here?

McAttack

Older vipers did 13's in the 1/4 and the new cars do low 12's.

The show said 13.5 for the HALF. This is why I'm confused. Here is the info and race FYI.
http://www.dodge.com/inside/news_awards/news_viper_race.html

Pretty cool regardless!

McAttack

Mine went 11.80 @ 123 with Corsa exhaust on street tires with 32psi.

Joe

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97 NSX-T BBSC Spa Yellow
93 Supra TT T-61
97 Viper GTS w/Corsa,K/N

MAN!

I better practice my launches!

I guess that I'd qualify as a Viper expert, the F-16 variety that is. I think that comparisons like these are neat, like the Corvette vs. Blue Angel F-18 they did earlier in the year at El Centro, California. However, I take exception to the Viper vs. Viper race, especially since I know my plane and it's capabilities.

Let me first say that the F-16 Viper comes in many flavors just as the Dodge does. There are two main engine manufacturers for the F-16: Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. It is a long-proven fact that the GE motors have a lot more thrust than their Pratt counterparts, and are also more reliable. In the USA, most of the Pratt & Whitney-engined planes have been removed from frontline combat duty and sent to the training bases like Luke AFB. In the hands of a student, the Pratt is better suited and is less of a problem if the motor quits (ie, parachuting over friendly vs. hostile territory.)

So, when they picked Luke AFB for the "race," they really were stacking the deck in the favor of the Dodge. Add a hot afternoon in Phoenix, and you can see where I'm going with this. If you think that a hot day affects a car's performance, try calculating a jet's takeoff roll in 100-degree heat. With the "wimpy" Pratt motor, I'll bet that most everyone watching the race knew the outcome before they even began the race.

It takes a Pratt & Whitney motor up to 5 seconds to get into afterburner after the throttle is moved into that position. In that time, the Dodge is screaming down the runway while the Pratt-equipped F-16 is barely getting going. This wouldn't matter, though, if they had pitted the Dodge against a more lethal F-16 Viper.

Now, put both Vipers at sea level on a cold winter morning, and give the F-16 a GE 110 or 119 motor with the large intake. The F-16 will blow the Dodge away, and it won't even be close. Half mile, hell.....the F-16 will have been airborne in less than 1000 feet after brake release!

Sorry......I just had to come to the defense of my other "car."

Chuck

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'91 Black/Ivory NSX
'89 Gray/Gray F-16C

So which "ride" get's the bumper sticker that says...."my other ride is a Viper."

Not many that can make your comparison Viper Driver!!!