Dodge Speed Cars

The Dodge Viper is one of the most distinctive sports cars ever made. It started in the 1990s, with the idea of recapturing the spirit of the 1960s Shelby Cobra and Carroll Shelby, himself, was attached to the Viper’s development. Sadly, the last Viper rolled off the production line in August 2017, and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a new one. And while prices have remained steady, one question remains: is it worth it? YouTube channel Raiti’s Rides gives a good answer.

Over the last decade, Dodge has been giving us all sorts of high-performance cars, based on the Challenger and Charger models. And while one of their most iconic models – the Dodge Viper – was retired a few years ago, Dodge wants to make up for it, by reviving an old performance program. It’s called Direct Connection and here’s what you can expect from it.

What has the world come to? Just a decade ago, you wouldn’t think much of pick-up trucks in terms of straight-line acceleration. Sure, we’ve had things like the Ford Lightning or the GMC Syclone, but nowadays, you can buy a pick-up truck with well-over 600 and even 700 horsepower out the box. On today’s drag racing video from Sam CarLegion, we have a RAM 1500 TRX going up against a Ford F-150 Roush. The goal is simple – to find out who’s quicker at the quarter-mile.

The YouTube channel Four Eyes is mostly known for the host’s 2007 Ford Mustang GT project car. However, he now has a new project – a 2000 Dodge Viper GTS. The goal is 700 wheel-horsepower without any form of forced induction, but while it’s stock, he decided to see how the 20-year-old snake measures up against some of the Muscle cars currently on sale. Can the old Viper still perform?

Until about a decade ago, when it came to high-horsepower builds, it was pretty much the Chevrolet LS engines, with the occasional 2JZ or RB26 builds making an appearance. Nowadays, people have started noticing the Viper V-10 as the next platform capable of massive horsepower figures. With this in mind, “That Racing Channel” is giving us an inspiring YouTube video that gives the story behind the “six-second kid” and his 1999 Dodge Viper GTS that makes 3,200 horsepower.

Following a number of teasers in the run-up to the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas, the speed gurus from Mopar, FCA’s in-house performance group, pulled the sheets on a brand-new, utterly custom Dodge Charger concept car, and with it, a new crate engine that puts last year’s “Hellcrate” package to shame.

It may not have succeeded in reclaiming the Nürburgring production car lap record from the Lamborghini Huracán Performante, but finally, the Dodge Viper got the proper send-off it so richly deserves, all thanks to the passion and determination of the Viper Owners Association. Relentless in their pursuit of Nürburgring glory, members of the group continued to bang in laps around the Nürburgring in an effort to unseat the Huracán Performante’s record lap time of 6:52.01. It failed to even get close, but that shouldn’t take away from the accomplishment of squeezing in a lap time of 7:01.3 around the 12.9-mile lap.

Yep. Against all odds, drivers Dominik and Mario Farnbacher and all the people involved in the endeavor managed to improve on its previous fastest lap of 7:03.23, coming a second over actually breaking the seven-minute barrier. The achievement is made even more impressive by the fact that these Viper owners had little to no help from Dodge or FCA to bring the Viper ACR to the famed German track. The collective relied on a fund-raising effort and a few sponsors to even come this far in their quest and while they did fall short of their ultimate goal (the Huracan was still nine seconds faster around the track) they have nothing to be ashamed about.

They did what FCA and Dodge should’ve done in the first place. They gave the Viper a proper tribute and had they not crashed out, who knows if they could’ve really broken that all-too precious seven-minute barrier. It doesn’t matter now, nor should it because the Viper Owners Association represented the Viper about as well as they could. Well done, guys.

Leave it to people power to get something done that an automaker of Dodge’s status wasn’t able to do. Most of you will probably remember a few months ago, a group of Dodge Viper enthusiasts started pooling their resources together to accomplish one goal: send the fifth-generation Dodge Viper to the Nürburgring to attempt a lap run. I didn’t think that it could happen, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong. The crowdfunding movement actually worked and a bone-stock Viper ACR found its way to the famed German race track. More importantly, it was able to set a lap time of 7:03.45, almost nine seconds quicker than the 7:12.13 lap time set by its predecessor back in 2011.

It’s true that the current-generation Viper ACR’s lap time is still a long ways away from the current production car lap record of 6:52.01 held by the Lamborghini Huracán Performante. But just because it’s still over 10 seconds away from the record, it doesn’t mean that the Viper ACR’s time at the ‘Ring was a complete waste. In fact, the lap time set by the American sports car placed it sixth-fastest of all time among production cars, faster than the Nismo-prepped Nissan GT-R, the Mercedes-AMG GT R, and the Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06. More importantly, driver Dominik Farnbacher and the team behind the attempt will make a go at the track a few more times this week with the goal of besting the lap times of the Porsche 918 Spyder and the Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce. Looks like the Dodge Viper ACR’s quest for Nürburgring glory isn’t done just yet.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

In case you missed our in-depth coverage of the Dodge Demon debut last month, here are the highlights: highest horsepower production V-8 ever, first production car capable of doing wheelies, fastest production car in the quarter mile (9.65 seconds at 140 mph), fastest production car 0-to-60 mph time (2.3 seconds), and highest g-force acceleration for a production car (1.8 g). Not too shabby, eh? If that list of achievements sounds like the sorta thing you want in your garage, now’s your chance, as Dodge has officially announced an MSRP for the Demon. Pricing starts at $84,995, which includes a $1,700 gas guzzler tax, but excludes a $1,095 destination charge. Compare that to the “standard” Hellcat’s MSRP of $64,195, and you’re looking at an extra $20,000 to get your hands on a Demon.

“Eighty-five thousand dollars is not just a number in a business case to Dodge,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Cars at Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and Fiat, FCA North America. “We know it’s a lot of money and a significant up-charge over a Challenger Hellcat. We worked very hard to build as much value into the Challenger SRT Demon as possible – features, performance and exclusivity that simply can’t be duplicated with a goal of maintaining, and possibly even growing, as much future value as possible.” Fair enough. But beyond the insane power and impressive performance, what do you get for the money? Read on for the details.

Continue reading for the full story.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a proverbial rock for the last few weeks, you’re most likely familiar with the specs for the newly released Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. Just in case, here’s a quick refresher – 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque from a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 running on 100-octane race fuel. 0-to-60 mph in 2.3 seconds. 200 pounds lighter than the Hellcat. 9.65 seconds at 140 mph in the quarter mile. 3-foot wheelies off the line. Dodge is quite clear on the matter – the Demon was built to do one job very, very well – traverse the quarter-mile run as quickly as possible while maintaining some semblance of street legality. At this point, it’s obvious this beast-mobile is quick, but there’s one tidbit of info Dodge has conveniently left out of the conversation thus far – how fast is it? To find out, we pulled out our calculator and did a little thought experiment.

Speculating on the top speed of a car like the Demon is actually a pretty complicated proposition, but if you’re looking for a quick and easy answer, here it is – 168 mph. That’s the maximum-rated velocity for the Demon’s Nitto NT05R drag radials, which means that’s pretty much the car’s top speed if you don’t swap out the rubber.

But let’s presume you did change the tires – given ideal conditions and a long enough track, how fast could the really Demon go? Read on to find out.

Continue reading for the full story.

We’ve seen the burnouts, the dyno runs and the quarter-mile times, but one thing we’ve yet to witness with regards to the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is a top-speed run to back up its claim of 204 mph. With Dodge getting ready to kick off sales of the Charger Hellcat, it released a video showing this sedan achieving its supercar-like top speed.

For starters, Dodge has the wonderful advantage of owning a 7.5-mile, high-speed oval track. It was here that the Charger Hellcat set its stunning top speed figure, on a cool, late-July morning last year with wind speeds ranging from 8 to 14 mph. It used a radar gun to clock the speed of the car with both a tailwind (206.9 mph) and a headwind (202.2 mph), averaging a top speed of 204.55 mph.

Most importantly, these runs were made with a Charger Hellcat in full production trim, with the exception of added safety items like a roll cage and racing harness. Despite the camouflage (this video was shot before the car’s introduction last August), Dodge says it made no modifications to the car’s aerodynamics, and it even used the stock tires that come on the Hellcat straight from the factory – a set of specially designed Pirelli.

What’s even more amazing is how stable this car looks at such a high speed, which is beyond impressive considering that at its core, it’s just a full-size family sedan.

Click past the jump to read more about 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat .

Sometimes there’s no replacement for displacement. That’s surely the case here as this heavily modified Viper with its twin-turbocharged, 8.4-liter V-10 rockets past the competition. Though the other cars running beside the Viper have boost-adding features as well, none of them seem to touch the V-10’s hunger for victory.

The car comes from the guys at nth Moto who specialize in building extreme setups like this one. The event was the Texas Invitational held October 3rd through 5th in Dallas. The Viper competed in 10 full passes, each of which was within four to five miles per hour of another with top speeds nearing the 200 mark.

Unlike drag racing that relies heavily on traction off the line, roll racing allows the cars to get up to speed before crossing the starting line. As turbos spool and superchargers whine, the cars are able to maintain grip and run.

The nth Moto Viper uses huge, 70-mm twin turbos to force-feed air into the 8.4-liter V-10. With custom-built billet intercoolers and wiring harness, full traction control, and a set of wide drag slicks, the Viper is made to run.

Enter full screen, turn HD on and the volume up, and enjoy.

As we all patiently wait for the new generation SRT Viper to debut in April at the 212 New York Auto Show, the previous generation Viper ACR-X has just established a new record at the Nurburgring race track. The sports car managed to lap the ’Ring in an impressive 7:03.058. This is a 10-second advantage over its road-going sibling – the SRT Viper ACR.

The Viper ACR-X is powered by a 8.4 liter V10 engine that delivers a total of 640 HP - a 40 HP increase over the standard model. The model is also 160 lbs lighter than the standard. It comes equipped with a roll cage, a lone racing bucket, Momo Corse steering wheel, and self sealing fuel cell.

Enjoy the video and stay tuned for the official unveiling of the new generation Viper.

Put back the champagne in the freezer, Lexus; you’re just-set record lap time of 7:14 around the Nurburgring has been broken. How’s it feel to hold one of the auto world’s most famous titles for less than a month?

You can blame Chrysler’s SRT team for that because the latter went to the ’Ring with only one thing in mind: get under 7:14 in one lap. And just as records are always meant to be broken regardless of how fresh they are, Chrysler’s Dodge Viper ACR blasted around the Nurburgring in a blistering time of 7:12. The exact time has yet to be released - there are tenths of seconds in that equation - but make no mistake, it’s more than a second faster than the 7:14.6 time the Lexus LF-A Nurburgring Package achieved earlier this month.

We are sure there are people over at the Lexus camp that are clearly not happy with this latest development. But like we said, records are meant to be broken. The Dodge Viper ACR has raised the bar and dropped the gauntlet on everybody else. Now its up to one of the rest to answer back.

UPDATE 09/27/2011: Chrysler has finally brought out the official confirmation for the Nurburgring record set by the Viper ACR on Sept. 14, 2011. "We’re extremely proud to set the lap record for a second time at the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife," said Ralph Gilles, President and CEO – SRT Brand and Motorsports, Chrysler Group LLC. "Our team returned to Germany knowing we’d left some time on the track when we set our first lap record, so this effort shows the incredible depth and capability the Viper ACR has by running a full 10 seconds faster than we did in 2008."

During a recent test drive, the Dodge Charger Pursuit established a new record time at Michigan State Police’s (MSP) annual Police Vehicle Evaluation tests. The car ran the Grattan Raceway in an impressive time of 1:33.70.

That wasn’t the only feat either. The new Charger Pursuit also scored impressive sprint times during its evaluation: 0-to-60 mph in 5.83 seconds, 0-to-70 mph in 7.38 seconds, 0-to-80 mph in 9.18 seconds, 0-to-90 mph in 11.43 seconds, and 0-to-100 mph in 13.65 seconds.

"Achieving the fastest-ever lap time at the Michigan State Police’s annual Police Vehicle Evaluation test reflects the mission of the Dodge Charger Pursuit Team to equip our law enforcement officials with the absolute best combination of vehicle performance and tactical equipment," said Peter Grady, Vice President of Network Development and Fleet, Chrysler Group LLC. "Even more impressive is that all four Michigan State Police Vehicle Test Team drivers averaged their fastest times in the Charger Pursuit – reinforcing the driver confidence provided when world-class acceleration, braking, handling and dynamics are combined."