Review Tuned Viper SRT10 TLD v's Dutch customs - head to head showdown
First off I have to apologise to NLxAROSA. I promised to review his Opera 350z setup but I'm afraid when the opportunity to roadtest two setups for the Tuned Viper came up all other cars were pushed to the back burner. I'm a Ford GT groupie first and foremost but I'm also partial to the odd visit to dodge's snakepit and, on this occasion BHP and FR wildness got the better of yet another 600pp roadtest. It's been too long since I got behind the wheel of something truly deadly.
I had one of these a while back but I think I sold it to get money for the F50. Yeah I know but I needed it to finish the game and I was getting sick of taking the GTlm round that bloody oval for 20,000 credits a pop so I had a clearance sale.
Luckily for me I've gotten the online bug so the 200,000 price tag didn't even make a dent in my wallet. Time to see what this puppy can do. For the reference lap I slap on a set of sticky R3's, drop the weight as low as it'll go and spend the rest of the points on a nice fat +7 power, taking the whole package up to a stomach churning 585 brake horse power. All other settings were left at standard.
3 laps later and I'm racing a 2:06.055 ghost. This beast is fast but without some trick settings to reign in that awesome power its just a glorified smoke machine, every corner sending kilo upon kilo of rubber into the stratosphere. With tyre wear on I doubt I'd have made it as far as the esses on lap one. Still it's a reasonable enough reference and I've got two setups to test so I'm pushed for time. Back into the pits I go and dial up the TLD voodoo I've come to know and love. Let's see what Holden can do with this hissing terror...
From the run in through casio I have a lot more control, it's still a bit skittish in first gear but with nowhere near as much faffing about and correction required I leave the triangle and head down to the start line at a fair old lick. I've shed 34 horsepowers but the gearbox seems a lot tighter and, sure enough, the ghost is a distant glimmer by T1. The double apex is a nice steady comedown from 4th, thru 3rd, hitting 2nd at the bottom and turning back out. I'm understeering a bit here so I kick the back end out and stamp on the -go faster- pedal.
She's a bit skittish here and I have to feather the revs a bit to get the bite up to third and then brake early for the esses. I'm a hell of a lot faster than the spook through here but I'm fighting the back end all the way, hitting the rev limiter in the middle and, again, just before Dunlop. Not good! I've lost a tenth of a second there easy and it'd be more if I had to shift up and then back down again.
Again I'm fighting with the back end through dunlop, nearly losing it in 3rd at the top of the hill, dash of understeer through degner, missing the curb on the apex and losing another good few milliseconds. Coming out the hairpin, again there's a lot of wheelspin and I lose another little pile of vital milliseconds.
200R highlights the understeer factor again as I have to lift slightly to catch the all important outside line heading into spoon. Spoon part one comes and goes without a mishap but, again I'm understeering on the exit.
130R is nice and fast catching 136mph and heading back into casio and there's just enough time to think "my god these things are fast" before I'm crossing the finish line. The last 5 paragraphs taking two minute, three and seven tenths of a second. Not bad but I'm sure there's room for improvement, particularly second gear which is just a little too short in a couple of spots.
Anyway I head back to the pits and pick up the Dutch Customs package (no entendre intended) I'm still feeling a bit guilty for slamming his Tuned Coupe, I desperately want to find something good to say about this tune. I make a mental note - if it sucks I'll say something nice about the way the engine sounds.
Press the start button and away we go. Initial impressions - Casio is much smoother! The back end is much more planted I'm on the power a split second earlier and, more importantly its - foot to the floor, none of this toe wiggling feeling out the grip shenanigans just stamp and go. I race off down the back straight, braking into T1 a good car-length clear of the TLD ghost.
I'm two car lengths clear by the start of the esses. This is a lot more like my cup of tea - strong and black, no pussyfooting you kick the crap out of the pedals and the car does what it's told, none of this "if you wouldn't mind..." carry on I just scream "Do it!" and it obeys. I'm on a power trip, this car makes me feel like invading a neighboring racetrack and torturing prisoners. I am the king of Suzuka and if you don't get out my way my car will sink it's fangs in your throat!
The gearbox gives me the space I need to floor second gear then I snap into Dunlop with a little snap of my right foot. Note to self - need a set of jackboots for the full effect here. Degner part 1 ... effortless. Degner part 2 ... sweet! The understeer is gone, this snake twists and turns like a ... well ... like a snake I guess. Like a badass, venom dripping, twisty turny snake. Power on is earlier on every corner so far.
The hairpin is no different. 200R and I keep the pedal to the metal right round, catch a tiny little nibble of rumble strip and then brake into spoon. Tiny little understeer on the exit, I pump the throttle and that takes care of that. Just 130R so zoom around, without incident, casio comes and goes and my serpentine compadre deliver me across the line with a shiny new 2:03.1 ghost to play with.
I have mixed feelings about this verdict, on one hand I'm glad I found something good to say about Dutch Customs but on the other hand I feel like a bit of a traitor, Holden's setups have been brilliant so far and I'm fast becoming his biggest fan. I feel like I felt when Metallica released the Load album, kinda bummed but I call it the way I see it and in this instance NLxAROSA was the better drive.
I'll give Dutch Customs 8/10 cos I feel there's still room for a bit of improvement here, maybe the ride is a little too planted and some of that skin could be shed in favour of a little bit extra bite but TLD, in this reviewers opinion is too far the other way and 6/10, that's be a 7 if you stopped 2nd gear topping out.
Perhaps a better driver would make more of the TLD ride, I'm not the most subtle driver in the pack but I reckon I'll shave the final couple of secs lap time from Dutch Customs Viper, long before I've tamed the LTD beast.
But going to stay at another persons for the next 2 days to, so time to cram in that review of the Vette.
