Viper ACR-X (FAST!!!)
 

Ran a 2:08.6 earlier this weekend at Sebring with Kuno Whitmer driving.

That's insanely fast for a car weighing over 3000 lbs.

any pictures, i love that car!!

ACR-X is a helluva car, and Wittmer is a great shoe....but I believe the factory-claimed weight & engine power of this SPECIFIC pre-production car are not quite accurate. ;)






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

Probably right. It ran 1:30-1:31 at Leguna on R6's though which is realistic compared to the regular ACR which ran 1:33. On slicks that's high 1:20s'.

Point is at the very least, it's about Cup Car fast on similar tires. (maybe not the 2010). Which is astounding for a 110k car.


PS. I am not at Sebring, this came from one of the development guys posting on Viper Club. Therefore no pics.

600+ stated HP (probably closer to 700 in pre-production form) and slicks sure would have no problem doing Cup times in the hands of a good driver. Sort of like "enhanced" cars that get stellar times on the 'Ring: the goal is to sell cars! :D






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

I agree, it's pretty easy to throw 700-800 hp + big df at something and run Cup times.

Still Kudos to Dodge for doing it anyways and making it available to everyone.

+1.

I will be at VIR in July when it has its formal debut. ;) You should come down, maybe I can give you a ride in one...






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

Is it a VRL event? If I can bring my car and drive I may come.

Yes. And yes. Didn't know you had one, sorry. July 10-11 (not sure yet about a Friday open track day). I will be doing some coaching, as well as acting as CDI (for the DE/Challenge time trials) and Chief Race Steward.






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

I don't have a Viper but if I'm not mistaken they allow other cars in the Driving School/Time Attack thing they do.

Yes, absolutely.






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

The ACR puts down VERY impressive times for a 3400lb + driver car...sure its got monster tires and HP, but still impressive times...

Huh?

Factory lists the weight as 3,190 + driver.






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

Iceman, you are talking about the regular ACR which weighs 3375 or so. The ACR-X is the non street legal version which drops a couple hundred lbs. Same car, different variations. We were talking about the race car version of the ACR called the X

I think they might need the cash.

Good thing Marchionne is calling the shots at Chrysler, somehow I don't see Obama letting GM make a car like this.

:rolleyes:


The Viper has never made money for Dodge/Chrysler, which is why it's scheduled to end production without a replacement. Take the political nonsense to OT.

Actually, I was told by someone at Dodge (pre-FIAT) who was/is directly involved with the Viper program that they have made a profit on every Viper ever sold. That said, the development costs to make a successor car that would be a world-beater in the current supercar world & this economy are likely why no successor car has been identified.






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

Making money on each car sold, and the brand being profitable is two different things especially considering how many of the 03-06 SRT-10's went unsold with the increased production numbers. I still don't buy that they would have been trying to sell of a car that was making money. I do not think the Viper as a whole was profitable as from what I read they were trying to liquidate it at a hefty discount.

Sounds like a validation for the program to continue, but if it wasn't costing Dodge anything while simultaneously promoting the performance aspect of the company it seems Dodge would have sold something else first.

That's very hard to believe though I know you can't believe everything you read, however all signs point to the opposite.

All true. It's also possible I was misinformed out of bravado & brand loyalty! :D






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

+1 Pure awesomeness. :D

Daddy want in a big way. Yummmm...

http://thesteeringcolumn.files.wordp...cr-x-press.jpg

C.

Shows the value of a lot of downforce. :D

Peter

The real cool thing about those cars is that you can feel them coming especially when in pack formation. Tremendous fun when a freightrain hauls @ss thru Bishops and you are next to it. For me just a few seconds but man you could feel the energy coming off those things.

:roflmao:

Oh, that's a good one! The ZR1's already knockin' on it's door... and if you think the engineers lack imagination on what to do with the car now... just wait...

:corn:

Bye the way Viper is one of the only brands that has been profitable (maybe not by large numbers ) for Chrysler. Thats why there were so many players that wanted to buy it

And the car at Sebring had the exact motor and HP that will be in the X production run. The new Viper series will have a Cup format and should be awesome.

Mmm-kay... :rolleyes:

And I'm sure the weight is exactly the same, too. :roflmao:






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

I know the SRT guys who were at Sebring (just met with them in Detroit Sat. night on there way back from Sebring) and the new pres/ceo the car was the real deal . Real motor and real weight as published. The car was insanely fast. Faster then was even expected

I am sorry if I have a dim view of claims made just as order books open. :rolleyes: There is too much of this in Nordschleife tests, too, with alleged "production" numbers that turn out to have been "enhanced" to get a publishable result that drives sales.

I mean...I am sure CEO's never ever shade the truth, do they?






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

I was at Sebring, that Viper was FAAAST!

Looks awesome and will do for the Viper brand what Cup cars and GT3's do for Porsche!
They were handing out sales packets, for 100K I think you get a fantastic deal.

All the interested parties and yet once Chrysler actually put a for sale sign up on the plant, they got nothing but a 5.5 million offer from a bread maker. Sorry but I you can buy that line if you want, Chrysler had gotten down to only asking 10 million for the whole brand, plant included and couldn't sell it.

Not only that selling 435 units in 07 and likely less in 08 and 09. How can you even recoup the development costs of the facelift with that let alone the complete redesign.

Not only that, they ATE a bunch of 05's and 06's that were sitting on lots when they released the 08's. (note that even after skipping a year of production they still had plenty of old inventory).

I don't know who's feeding the "profit" stats, but it wreaks of a lie. I am a fan of the Viper and hope it lives on, but lets be real here.

True. This particular halo car doesn't make money. The corporate guys (and I know because I am one) can "re-allocate" funds to make it appear profitable. For instance, R&D and SG&A specific to the car can be charged to corporate in the name of "halo" marketing, reducing the product's below-the-line cost.

The real truth is there were many buyers lined up that still would love to buy the brand and the dollar values you are indicating were just low ball numbers that would never be considered and were only thrown out for media sake by some upset individuals. For 5mil I know several Vipers owners that would have bought the marque themselves. If you read into it there were lease deals,royalties,licensing and parts deals all of which need to be considered.

By the way 09 was a good year for Vipers . If it was beneficial for Dodge to sell Vipers would there be this New ACR X and a series to race it and why would Fiat ok it?

On the same note, if Dodge were benefiting from Viper sales (not the sale of the brand), would they be discontinuing production with no solid game plan going forward? If the car is actually profitable, there is no reason to discontinue production. The Viper came out in 2003 it can go a few more years like the Corvette will do until releasing the C7.

There is no way all these buyers are lined up and none of them is willing to pay the 10million Dodge were asking. If they are only bidding 5m they aren't really that interested, just want a steal and therefore not real buyers.

I have a business producing things and I understand why it's not easy to just keep the assembly line running. There are thousands of things that need to come together, just one important thing (say the company that makes the right front sway bar bracket) can crash the whole project.