Viper ACR does Nurburgring in 7m22s

[nthfinity]

After Nissan announced in May of this year that its 480-horsepower, all-wheel-drive GT-R lapped Germany's infamous 20.8-km (12.9 miles) Nurburgring Nordschleife in a time of 7:29, Viper people became restless. Then, just a month later, following Chevrolet's declaration that its 638-horsepower supercharged Corvette ZR1 was the king of the hill, breaking the GT-R's record with a time of 7:26, Viper people became downright mad. Not the folks who work for Dodge, mind you, but the members of the Viper Club of America, a group of Viper fanatics that in fact stretches its arms well beyond America, as far as Japan and Germany. Sick and tired of hearing about other cars setting records at the Nordschleife, they wanted to see their pride and joy-namely, Dodge's new track-attacking 600-horsepower Viper ACR (American Club Racer)-take a shot at the record books. But what could they do about it?

Well, they could (and did) bug Dodge-specifically, the Street & Racing Technology team-to the point that SRT said, What the heck, let's go for it. So SRT rented the Nordschleife for a half-day (at a cost of $2000 Euro per hour), shipped two ACRs over to Germany, hired a pro driver through Zakspeed (a race team that runs Vipers in the ADAC Zurich 24h Race at the Nrburgring), and hoped for good weather and, more important, a lap time quicker than 7:26. And, for posterity, the SRT team figured having a media outlet on-hand was a wise idea, so they invited Motor Trend



1.Driver had never driven the ACR before.
2. He broke the record on his third lap in the car.
3. He missed two shifts (not just one).
4. He faced a pretty strong headwind on that final straight - so much so that the Viper's stock gearing and enormous down force made it impractical to use 5th gear.


Sad to see those expensive german cars so far behind....
love the michigan plate

[chedisme]

WHOOO USA! finally. I mean some of our cars are not that good and kinda boring, but not all of them. we can make good cars, and this is proof. I hope TG does a segment on this car.

[philip]

Congratulations Viper. The early cars are but ugly, but this latest car is good looking, a little to boy racer looking, but a good looking car.

[yg60m]

No wonder he touch the limiter so often as slow is the tranny .. They could certainly gain some time with a faster gearbox !
Thanks for the link.

[turpija]

Originally Posted by RC45 A sligtly taller final drive would result is a wash as you spend more time in the geras - the "longer" acceleration time while possibly significant in a 1/4 mile drag, will have little impact over a track such as the Nurburgring. I would bet that if the ACR was to be prepped for the VLN 24hrs at the 'Ring, it would not be set up to bounce off the revlimiter - afterall, if you are max revs you ar not accelearting but rather slowing. The ACR's gearing is not setup for open road or super long tracks but rather for shorter traditional race tracks - which only goes to show how hard charging the ACR is.

I know and I agree that this Viper was not properly setup'd for this track, but my question was would you gain more on that single long straight with longer gears or would you gain more with shorter gears in all those corners?

I know we can't know for sure but I think that slightly higher top speed wouldn't help it much if any

[nthfinity]

Originally Posted by yg60m No wonder he touch the limiter so often as slow is the tranny .. They could certainly gain some time with a faster gearbox ! Thanks for the link.

gearbox is a short throw, and has widely been accepted as a superior transmission compared to the Berg WArner unit in the Corvette.

The issue is that the gearing is too short for NS.

Originally Posted by turpija I know and I agree that this Viper was not properly setup'd for this track, but my question was would you gain more on that single long straight with longer gears or would you gain more with shorter gears in all those corners? I know we can't know for sure but I think that slightly higher top speed wouldn't help it much if any

for a torque monster like the viper, no. Longer gears are ideal for NS on the ACR

[RC45]

Originally Posted by turpija I know and I agree that this Viper was not properly setup'd for this track, but my question was would you gain more on that single long straight with longer gears or would you gain more with shorter gears in all those corners? I know we can't know for sure but I think that slightly higher top speed wouldn't help it much if any

I believe that a slightly taller final drive lifting the speeds everywhere would make a difference, as he is already banging the rev limiter in some turns - it seems he would be able to use a few more revs in those spots as well, which would translate to higher mid corner nd hogher exit speed, which translates to higher straight lne speed which translates to less time on the straight.

[turpija]

yea, might be, to bad they won't make a "nurburgring edition"

so what car is next to take the crown?

I heard that Porsche is coming with new Turbo with DSG and little more power, but I don't think it can beat Viper

[79TA]

Wow, good job Viper Club. Now when will the 'vette people get Chevy to redeem the Z06 with some sort of track package that comes with competitive tires?

[Woohoo]

Originally Posted by nthfinity The issue is that the gearing is too short for NS.

You mean it's long. He was in 4th on the back straight.

[fordgt84]

and to think dodge are gonna kill the viper off soon
man if only they had better gear ratios, that lap time is gr8 but frustrating in the sense that u know the car can do so much better

[philip]

Originally Posted by turpija yea, might be, to bad they won't make a "nurburgring edition" so what car is next to take the crown? I heard that Porsche is coming with new Turbo with DSG and little more power, but I don't think it can beat Viper

Porsche is going to have to make a new Carrera GT, wouldn't that be nice.

I'm going to miss it when a recession or super high gas prices stops all these new fantastic cars.

Enjoy it while its here.

[RC45]

Originally Posted by Woohoo You mean it's long. He was in 4th on the back straight.

Good observation - dunno why I did my calcs with a final drive of 3.70, which I thought was a crazy short gear for a Viper... when its still the 3.07 rear end.

With a 3.7 rear end and 27" tall tyres the ACR would have a top speed of 185mph at 6250rpm - which is what I was thinking.

But with the 3.07 4th gear has a top end of 165mph - which means the ACR was severly hampered.

[graywolf624]

gearbox is a short throw, and has widely been accepted as a superior transmission compared to the Berg WArner unit in the Corvette.

Uhhh... The Corvette has the same transmission as the Viper.. Up until 2007 it was the tremec T56. Both cars had it. Now both have the Tremec T6060. The corvette hasnt had a Berg Warner in at least 10 years.

[JoeHahn]

Originally Posted by nthfinity 1.Driver had never driven the ACR before. 2. He broke the record on his third lap in the car. 3. He missed two shifts (not just one). 4. He faced a pretty strong headwind on that final straight - so much so that the Viper's stock gearing and enormous down force made it impractical to use 5th gear. Sad to see those expensive german cars so far behind.... love the michigan plate

Waiiiit a second, he'd never driven the car before and done it after only 3 laps? This track looks closed would you agree?

and this picture here http://www.e40racer.be/images/ring/170808/23.jpg looks like the same helmet as the one used in the video would you agree?

and him driving yet another Viper? http://www.e40racer.be/images/ring/170808/15.jpg

and that looks like there is alot of traffic, on an open Nordschliefe.

Sounds like Chrysler has learnt some PR lessons from Nissan