Ezra Dyer wrote an article for the New York Times about the SRT Viper where he begins with an interesting tale of a race. It was a 5.2 mile up-hill road race where the winner was in a Chevorlet Corvette ZR1. But the twist on this story is that while the Vette won the race, it didn’t have the fastest time. That symbolic victory belong to the Viper ACR which the organizers of the race didn’t include due to a technicality with the tires. Nevertheless, it was the Viper that was the fastest out of all the cars that day.
The reason Ezra recounted this story is due to him being given the chance to take the new 2013 SRT Viper GTS for a spin. His impression from the new supercar is that the engineers at SRT are trying for one thing, speed. The Viper wants to set the fastest record.
It’s certainly getting close. The SRT Viper is the second-fastest production car to ever to race at the Nürburgring track. The only thing between the Viper and that much desired number one spot is a Porsche; one that costs $845,000 to have.
We’ve recounted before in this blog about the Viper’s power. Mr Dyer noted the same thing, that the cost of power is the need to be careful around the beast. For starters, the Viper is only available in manual, there is no automatic option. When it comes time to shift, Dyer warns to not touch the metal or else you’ll be leaving with a nasty burn. This same burning sensation is also applied to when stepping out a Viper as the exhaust is located underneath below the door. So be warned when driving with shorts on. “I imagine that the Viper Club of America includes a lot of guys with missing patches of leg hair on their calves.”
It’s an entertaining piece overall and really gives the impression of how the Viper strives for power. It understands that it is a super car and isn’t trying to be anything but. While it might never reach the point where it’s widely seen on every road and in every parking lot, that’s okay for the folks behind the Viper. They don’t want to wind up like the Corvette. “The difference between the Corvette and the Viper is that the ’Vette wants to be a new Ferrari, while the Viper wants to be a 1965 Shelby Cobra. Either that, or a big rock on a catapult. It hasn’t decided.”
So if you’re interested in learning more about the power of the SRT Viper, contact a sales rep at Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge for more information.