Video: SRT Viper GTS-R turns its wheels in anger

Dodge’s revamped Viper (now badged SRT for Street and Racing Technology) barged in at April’s New York motor show, and now the race-prepped GTS-R version conceived for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT Class has had its first track outing at Carolina Motorsports Park in the US.

Created by SRT’s motorsport division, the brand-new racer will be up against the existing heavyweights in the series fielded by the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin and BMW… not to mention its own cross-town archrival, namely the Chevy Corvette.

The accompanying footage shows the car being pedalled in anger by team driver Marc Goossens, and the wailing V10 soundtrack alone provides great entertainment value.

As reported earlier, the road-going Viper is propelled by an 8.4-litre V10 that kicks out a hulking 478kW and 814Nm, yet the new model is said to be a lot more refined and sophisticated than its crude (but effective) predecessor.

Even though its nuts and bolts are all-American, the latest-gen car is believed to make extensive use of know-how sourced from its Ferrari cousin (courtesy of the Fiat Group’s buyout of Chrysler), and the speed of the sequential gearshifts in the accompanying video lends credence to this.

After the test, driver Goossens was asked what he liked about the Viper GTS-R, and he responded: “It’s definitely the handling. We all expect to have good power from the engine; you can feel it on the straightaway. The car has great potential in any type of racing situation. But what amazed me was that we had everything together when it comes down to electronics in the car.

“I’m talking about shifting procedure; it all worked from day one. We got the traction control working in a proper way. Those are things that I experienced in the past as a development driver that are not always the easiest things to get going from day one.

SRT Motorsports Road Racing manager Gary Johnson added: “From our standpoint it was a pretty historic day. It was pretty exciting for everybody to see a new Viper GTS-R roll out and go on the track for the first time.

“I think the test was an incredible success. To basically build that car, start it up the first time like the day before and have it run around the whole day and do everything it was supposed to do was a huge achievement.”

“Basically, we created a car from the ground up only using a few production-based components so for all of those systems, the engine, the drivetrain, the body, the brakes, the suspension, for everything to kind of come together and interact like it was supposed to was the amazing part for me.”

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