Viper bites
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The ’13 Viper has a shorter overall length than a ’12 Porsche
911.
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The oil pan pickup spins freely, so when lateral force moves the
oil; it also moves the pickup in the same direction. This is a very simple
alternative to pricey dry-sump oiling.
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The viper has never offered cup holders.
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The biggest rumor was that the V10 was originally a truck engine;
dodge was developing a V10 for trucks while the Viper was first being produced,
but never used that truck engine in the Viper.
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Every new engine is run on a Dyno for 40 minutes checking for
torque at specific points.
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The fifth-generation Viper’s engine is 25 pounds lighter than the
fourth-gen.
’13 Viper - The
Beast Is Back
The viper is an anomaly. It’s a V20, not a V12 or a V8. The
car has too many amenities to be called a race car, but not enough to be a real
exotic. It has never offered cup holders, traction control or an automatic
option. When first introduced in 1992, the Dodge Viper was America’s middle
finger to the high-end sports car marker. Now the Viper is back for 2013, with
an SRT name badge and slightly less middle finger because now it has traction
control.
“I’m sick and tired of all the mess about the car. When you
have rumors it’s really hard to debunk them”, said President and CEO of SRT
brand Ralph Gilles during the media launch in Sonoma, California. After a
presentation in which SRT execs told us how refined and grown up this Viper is
compared with previous models, we were randomly paired with fellow journalists
and set free in the car. Our co-drivers was a German correspondent experienced
with Italian road rallies and classic Bugattis. His response to the Viper was
something like, “It is brutal, and the exhaust is too loud and doesn’t have a
very refined sound”. Our response? “Isn’t it awesome?”
The Viper still fits some of the stereo types SRT is trying
to kick. It’s loud in attitude – not just exhaust tone brutally fast, has a
snappy throttle, and the tight interior makes you feel like you’ve been shoved
into an escape pod.
The car has too
many amenities to be called a race car, but not enough to be a real exotic.
Our drive was in wet weather, and we though the traction control
was nothing more than a dummy button on the dash, but we discovered its real
talent once we hit the track. Engaging traction control will keep the power to
the pedal long enough to get you out of trouble, unlike other systems that
abruptly kill power at the first sign of tire spin, but it will keep you from
parking the car on a wall. Steering is nimble; thanks to the upgraded hydraulic
system, it’s smooth, tight, and responsive. Torque is everywhere; in Sixth gear
at 1,000 rpm, it still pulled. Despite its fearsome reputation, the car is
incredibly easy to manager around a racetrack.
This is the fifth-generation Viper but consider it Viper
2.0. The car was taken back to the drawing board but still kept its original
ideas. The now-expected 8.4L, 90-degree V10 has an entirely new block casting
with redesigned rods, stronger main caps, and forged pistons. The new plastic,
glass-reinforced intake lost 7 pounds over the previous generation’s aluminum
intake, the exhaust valves are sodium filled (saving I pound from the Val Vetrain),
and the flywheel is now aluminum (shaving 11 pounds).engineers have erased 150
pounds of extra wiring. Better cooling in the heads and block allow the rear
cylinders to run up to 40 degrees cooler than the previous generation. All these
upgrades mean more aggressive tuning, less knocking, and easier power upgrades.
The body looks a lot like the last generation’s. With the
long, aggressive nose, curvaceous doors, and roof bubbles, it still looks like
a really hot plus-size model, but every panel, vent, and scoop has a purpose.
The rear scoops behind the window feed the rear brakes, and the louvers in the
hood produce down-force. The engineering team started with a narrower front end
but winded it after research in the wind tunnel showed it needed more
down-force. The roof, hood, and deck-lid are carbon fiber, while the doors are
aluminum.
The car was taken
back to the drawing board but still kept its original ideas
Every inch of the car was thoroughly thought out and worked
on, but you’ll forget that quickly when driving it, because it’s easy, fast,
and you forget what kind of torture you’re really giving the car. We’re more
into muscle car than supercar, but the Viper made us feel comfortable and
unstoppable. The clutch is light, the shifter has a shorter throw than some
automatics, the seats keep you planted, the interior is strong and well made,
and we rarely found the over steering limit. The car tricks you into thinking
you’re a better driver than you really are, and some may claim the previous
generations were scary because they would bite back. This one made us feel like
we can conquer the beast.
Cam in cam
SRT uses a cam-in-cam camshaft design. This is a hollow cam
that features only exhaust lobes and slotted holes. A solid cam sliders inside
the hollow cam with intake lobes that poke through the slotted holes in the
outer exhaust cam. As rpm climb, the cam changes its lobe separation and value
timing, thanks to a phaser on the end of the cam. Viper engineers looked into
overhead camshafts, but scrapped the idea due to engine fitment issues.
