Fellas,
While I'm fumbling around looking for the photos I took, I'll give you the numbers:
Weight: 3.39 oz. or 111.5 grams
Wheelbase: 3.720" or 94:50 mm
Fr. Track: 2.909" or 73.90mm
Rr. Track: 3.075 or 78.10mm
Due several factors, my age being among them, the car did indeed take a bit of getting used to as far as speed was concerned. Running the car around for fun is easy enough, but trying to hot lap it is another story. What with tires that are at least 5 decades old and the stock somewhat shallow guide as well as the narrow CLASSIC braid being I believe contributing factors to the lap times.
The track was in very good condition have been prepped not long before our test sesssions.
My
first ten lap stint with the Viper yeilded a best time of:
9.0625 on the timer. Getting used to the cars handling tendencies proved easy enough. Too much throttle out of the turn and the cars spins out and deslots, too little throttle detroys the lap times. So I managed to get the
"hang" so to speak of drifting the car around the track in almost an out of control state resulting in very gradually decreasing lap times...
The
second ten lap session saw the biggest drop in lap time as I recorded a best time of:
8.8904. The lessons learned in the first session paid off handsomley as my drifting driving style was becoming comfortable and I could concentrate on actually going faster down the straights, no small feat mind you as the cars braking ability was somewhat marginal !
The
third and final ten lap run was rewarded with a best of
8.8773. I'm sure that given enough practice with the car or having someone with greater skills run the car around would have resulted in even lower numbers on the board.
By no means does this prove anything but that OLD SLOT CARS ARE STILL FUN !!!
All in all, not bad for a toy car that was produced in the mid 1960's and probably cost about $10.00 at best. Dollar for dollar, pound for pound a great investment wouldn't you say ?
