The Viper Days group run by Skip Thomas is a well organized school and race series that attracts many Vipers and some of the most potent examples of these venomous creatures from across the country. Skip personally invited anyone who owns a DRM C500/RSR after watching Steve Melnick our resident test pilot run his red RSR hard at Gingerman Raceway in South Haven Michigan.
When Al Korbel heard that Vipers Days was
coming to Road America he couldn't pass up the opportunity to try running with the snakes.
Al has had a number of years experience running in SCCA events and has since
retired from racing. Al now considers racing a hobby and he sold his
trailer and racing gear (except his helmet and suit). All he wants is to have a
street car that he can reliably drive to the track, run real hard and then drive home.
No trailer queens please! Al feels that after owning many high performance
street cars with performance modifications that the Corvette offered the best compromise
of road comfort and brut performance. Of course that's after Doug Rippie gets his
hands on it. Al Korbel entered his blue hardtop RSR into the event but was told that
due to insurance reasons that he would need a full roll cage to participate in the race,
but he could run the qualifying sessions with the race group instead. This was a
perfect opportunity to show off Rippie's latest creation and his own driving skills to
boot.
I must tip my hat to Al for an unbelievable showing. For those of you familiar with Road America you know that a time of 02:26.730 is incredibly fast for any car including many dedicated race cars. Al drove 70 miles to and from the track for both days on his Hoosier racing tires and he claims that the tires still look good with minimal wear. I think the C500/RSR is proof that we can build a street car that is enjoyable to drive to work every day and still offers world class performance at the strip or track. Even though we now have a winner we still continue the R&D on the C5 platform to improve the car even further. Doug Rippie
For information on our C500/RSR car click here.
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