Chrysler engineer and driver Chris Winkler and team, ready the Dodge Viper 2010 for its first run on the Laguna Seca race course in Salinas, California
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Record-Breaking Congrats
Ralph Gilles congratulates driver Chris Winkler on his record-breaking lap in the 2010 Viper ACR (before sending him back out on the track to try a few more runs), which shattered the previous production car record of 1:35.075 by more than a full second.
“Viper is known as a great cruising car, a great hobbyist car,” Gilles says. “But now it’s becoming a track legend.” To commemorate that legend cemented here today, Gilles announced a spur-of-the-moment plan to produce a limited “1:33″ edition of the Viper — limited to 33 cars. “If he’d broken the record in 1:34, there would be one more car — but he was a bit too fast,” Gilles laughs. “Now this car will be one of 33.”
So how did he do it? Gilles credited the 2010 Viper’s newly engineered 5th gear, with a ratio revised from 0.741 to 0.796, along with a shorter shifter height and a new wing for 2010 that gives more lateral downforce. “Even after owning one myself for some time, I’m still amazed with what the Dodge Viper can do on and off the race track,” he says.
For his part, Chris Winkler, living up to his famed unassuming demeanor, gave all credit to the car. “It was definitely exciting, but a somewhat uneventful lap from behind the steering wheel,” says Winkler, who is actually relatively new to the course. “The Dodge Viper ACR has amazing power and handles like a dream, so following my first practice here last month, I came away pretty confident that we’d be able to set a new record.”
Despite allusions to cooperation on the Viper with Chrysler's new Italian owners, there will be no Viper Ferrari.
Hey, it was a natural question, especially since Dodge opened that door in a press release on Tuesday about a lap record set by a production Viper ACR at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (1:33.915; more on that in a minute).
"When we have partners across the ocean who are known as the best sports-car makers in the world, the future opportunities are huge," Dodge brand chief Ralph Gilles said in a release.
The future opportunities for what--a Ferrari V12 in a Viper body? A Viper V10 in a Frankensteined 612? What? You could go insane imagining the possibilities. So we spoke to Gilles directly and asked whether there would be any cross-engineering or parts-sharing to the extent our overactive imagination imagined there might be. We asked about a Ferrari Dodge Viper.
"No," he said in about as definitive a tone as car execs ever get.
Then what did he mean by the "opportunities are huge?"
"They really know sports cars. We just want some advice," Gilles said.
But wouldn't a Ferrari Viper be cool, regardless?
"Ferrari is Ferrari, Viper is Viper," he said. "Please don't go there."
OK.
We did get these exciting tidbits about the 2010 Dodge Viper: there will be a new graphics package! New stripes! And a new color--Anaconda Green! Also, a new interior for the 2010 Viper will be launched at the Los Angeles auto show.
The 2010 Viper will get a shorter fifth-gear ratio (changing from 0.74 to 0.80) for improved high-speed acceleration and higher straightaway speeds, which hampered an earlier 2008 "lap record" at the Nürburgring's Nordschleife, where it was found that a revised gear ratio would have resulted in a higher speed capability and potentially a shorter elapsed time. The 2010 Viper also will get a new short-throw shifter, and the rear wing profile and redesigned end plates to allow 4 more mph, topping out at 184 mph.
The latter two improvements sound like Dodge is planning to go back to the Nordschliefe to reset its record there.
"That's honestly not a big priority," said Gilles.
So, there's your news.
Oh, and there was that new lap record. Here's how Dodge worded it:
"Chris Winkler, an SRT vehicle dynamics engineer, piloted a black and red 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR (American Club Racer) to a lap record of 1:33.915 as recorded by Motech in-vehicle data recorder (1:33.944--as unofficially recorded by trackside clock) around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn (Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) course, shattering the previous lap record by more than 1.1 seconds." Here's some video from Dodge:
Now we're not saying this wasn't a great achievement, even though 1.1 seconds might not constitute "shattering" by some definitions, and the car it "beat" was a Devon GTX, which may or may not share more parts with the Viper than most snakes. And there is the notion of what constitutes "production" and "record." For its part Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, when queried, replied with a terse e-mail, which ended with these words:
"The official record remains 1:07.722 set by Helio Castroneves in qualifying for the 2000 race."
Close your eyes and count one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi all the way to 27 to see how far off they were from the real track record. Of course, Castroneves wasn't in a production car but there were what, four Reynard-Hondas in that race 10 years ago and a total of 19 Reynards of one kind or another on the grid, not counting backup cars, so maybe Reynard could be a production car, too. Dodge has only made 303 ACR Vipers total for all model years, which is perhaps 302 more than Devon has made GTXs. But if you start down that path then you just spiral into bickering and debate about "production," "record" and "car" and we just don't want all the nasty e-mails.
It all might have been a clever way for Dodge to distract attention from the fact that it sold only 245 Vipers in the 2009 model year and is trying to figure out how to sell all 500 Vipers planned for the 2010 model year. Dodge will start cranking out those 2010s in the spring, once all the 2009s are gone. Then production will stop in about mid-summer once the 500 2010s have been stamped.
Will there be a Viper after that?
"I hope so," said Gilles. "We're investigating that. The Viper nation is screaming at us to do that."
Viper SRT10 ACR recaptures lap record at Laguna Seca
Posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 9:44 AM EST. (Employee News)
The Street and Racing Technology (SRT) team from Chrysler Group LLC arrived at Laguna Seca raceway yesterday on a mission—to recapture the production car lap record at the world-renowned road course in Monterey, Calif. Mission accomplished.
Chris Winkler, an SRT vehicle dynamics engineer piloted a black and red 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR (American Club Racer) to a lap record of 1:33.915 as recorded by Motech in-vehicle data recorder (1:33.944 – as unofficially recorded by trackside clock) around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn course, shattering the previous lap record by more than 1.1 seconds.
“It was definitely exciting but a somewhat uneventful lap overall from behind the steering wheel,” said Winkler, who is still learning the intricate details of Laguna Seca raceway, having spent only one other session on the course. “The Dodge Viper ACR has amazing power and handles like a dream, so following my first practice here last month, I came away pretty confident that we’d be able to set a new record.”
In 2008, professional road racer Randy Pobst, drove a 2008 Dodge Viper ACR to a one-lap, production car record of 1:35.117 at Laguna Seca raceway while working with Motor Trend magazine. That record stood until Aug. 6, 2009, when the most recent record of 1:35.075 was established by a one-off exotic prototype.
Ralph Gilles, President and CEO, Dodge Brand and Senior Vice President, Product Design Office, was impressed with the Viper’s performance. “I’ve been closely tied to this car my entire career and even after owning one myself for some time, I’m still amazed with what the Dodge Viper can do on and off the race track,” Gilles said. “After our record-setting lap at the Nürburgring circuit, we’re excited to set a second performance benchmark record at another world-famous road course.”
The Dodge Viper is going into the final year of production for the current-generation model. Approximately 500 Viper cars will be produced in 2010.
“We’re going to keep Dodge’s performance icon alive and well by not only producing some of the most special Vipers ever built, but we’re also investigating what the next-generation Viper is going to be,” Gilles added. “When we have partners across the ocean who are known as the best sports carmakers in the world, the future opportunities are huge.”
2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
The Dodge Viper ACR remains the ultimate purpose-built, street-legal track car since its introduction in 2008.
New for the 2010 model year is a shorter fifth gear ratio (changing from 0.74 to 0.80) for improved high-speed acceleration and higher straightaway speeds. This improvement is a direct result of SRT’s experience at the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany where during the lap-record run in 2008, it was found that a revised gear ratio would have resulted in a higher speed capability and potentially a shorter elapsed time.
The Dodge Viper ACR also receives a new short-throw shifter in 2010 for enhanced driver experience and better performance. The rear wing profile and end plates are redesigned to further optimize the vehicle aerodynamics and improve rear yaw downforce. These changes result in an increase in top speed of 4 mph (to 184 mph).
Powered by the venerable 8.4-liter, V-10 engine with 600 horsepower and 560 lb.-ft. of torque, the Dodge Viper ACR continues to offer extreme performance, including 0-60 mph acceleration in less than 4 seconds, quarter-mile time in the mid 11-second range and 0-100-0 mph in 11 seconds flat.
The Dodge Viper ACR with optional Hard Core Package is more than 80 pounds lighter than the production SRT10 and offers race-ready hardware and competition tuning for optimal on-track performance. The four-wheel independent suspension features high-performance aluminum control arms and knuckles, KW suspension with two-way adjustable competition coil-over shock absorbers with remote reservoirs.
The aerodynamic package features a carbon fiber “fanged” splitter in front and adjustable carbon-fiber wing with seven-position stanchions that allow up to an amazing 1,000 pounds of downforce at 150 mph. Lightweight wheels, two-piece slotted StopTech brake rotors and Michelin PS Cup tires round out the Dodge Viper ACR package.
The 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR will make its worldwide auto show debut on Dec. 2 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
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Dodge engineer and sometimes race car driver, Chris Winkler, was behind the wheel of the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR when it broke the lap record at the famed Laguna Seca race circuit. Winkler describes in detail, the record-making lap.
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
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