I was lucky enough a couple years ago to rent a Hennesy Viper 500 for a night. There was a place in Attleboro, MA called International Horsepower that used to rent exotic cars. I think they have gone out of business unfortunately. For a car nut like me, this place was awesome. At the time they had a 6-spd C5 corvette, an Acura NSX, some older Ferrrari, and a 911 convertible, as well as a Hummer. But their craziest car was the Viper, a 500 horsepower monster, and I picked this brute up on warm summer afternoon, knowing I had to have it back there by 8am the next day.
I gave them my credit card, signed a few papers, got a tour of the car, and squeezed, or more like dropped, into the car. This is not an easy car to get in. You have to avoid burning yourself on the side exhausts which are right below the doors. And the seats are so low that you basically step in with your right leg, holding on to the roof of the car, and keeping your left leg away from the exhaust, and then you kind of swing yourself into the car, and let go of the roof and hopefully drop into the seat as you raise your left leg to avoid the burning exhaust. Think of it as your daily gymnastics workout.
Once in you shut the door and are instantly aware you are in something completely different. There is a massive hood in front of you, and you are so low, I would imagine really short people would have difficulty seeing out. And the roof is so low, that if you put down the sun visor it obscures at least half the windshield, and is therefore totally useless. The roof is far forward enough to eliminate the need of any sun visors.
The seats were actually very comfortable, and the driving position was ok, though the pedals seemed far forward and I never found what I thought was the perfect position.
For those of us with modern cars with silky smooth V6's, we occasionally start the car when it is already running because it can be hard to tell the engine is on because it is so quiet. The Viper avoids this problem completely. Not only is there enough vibration to loosen a few teeth, the cabin quickly fills with exhaust fumes and disconcerting noises from the engine that sound like something necessary has come loose, so that there is no doubt you have turned the engine on, though there is some doubt that it is safe to continue.
Once underway, it becomes even more obvious that this car is something unique. If you can get some fresh air into the car before you lose consciousness, you may notice that you have suddenly become famous. I have driven a couple Corvettes and some BMW's, and nothing attracts attention like the Viper. Everyone stares. I was on the highway taking the car home and every few minutes a new car pulled aside me so the passengers could wave, give me the thumbs-up, or just stare in wide-eyed amazement. Oh, and you will never be lacking for a race. Camaros and Corvettes seem to materialize out of nowhere, and would appear suddenly beside me, politely eticing a little playful challenge, knowing full well they would lose, but just wanting to see what the Viper could do. The road was too crowded to take them all on, but at one point the road opened up and the Viper pulled away from an excited Z28 SS owner so quickly that he later pulled up next to me, gave the the thumbs-up, and simply said "Wow!". Ok, that was fun.
But the majority of the highway ride home was not so fun. The outrageously wide 335 tires follow every groove in the pavement, and cause the car to dart off in every direction at the slightest provocation, causing the driver to focus an unusual amount of attention to simply keeping the car on the road. I found going a steady 70mph in that car a more difficult experience than blasting it from 0 to 100, which I must say, is what this car truly excels at.
The Viper accelerates with a ferocity that borders on the ludicrous. But unlike on the highway, while blasting to 60 it felt completely secure, and never did the tail step out or the car get squirrely. Thanks to those huge rear tires, and a stiff suspension, the car stays so straight and flat under maximum acceleration, that it is a much less hairy affair than simply driving on the highway. In fact, my wife usually screams in fear whenever she is the unlucky passenger during one of my accelertaion runs in some crazy car. In this car, she just laughed. It was so preposterously fast and so secure that it just made her giggle, though perhaps the exhaust fumes had something to do with her laughter.
However I must admit, had I just spend 100k on this car, I would not be laughing. I am not a racecar driver, and I have a feeling this car really belongs on a race track, piloted by an experienced and talented driver. There it might demostrate abilities justifying it's enormoush price tag. But it had few qualities that made driving it publicly quite punishing.
Aside from the aforementioned problems with entry and exit, exhaust fumes, highway meandering, and limited view, the car also had some racing brakes which I found similar to trying to squash a brick. They required a great deal of pressure, and gave back very little feel. Perhaps this is what racecar drivers like, but for me, it was not confidence inspiring. And the stiff suspension will have you visiting a chiropracter after a few minutes on anything but the smoothest pavement.
After returning the car, I did not miss the noises, the smells, the loose fillings, and the headache. But I sure missed the rocket sled accleration and the fame.
