The 1200bhp ‘White Snake’ Dodge Viper Just Became A Fireball

The 'White Snake' Dodge Viper had become a cult hero on the US drag strip circuit, regularly pulling 190mph-plus half-miles, but this snake just bit itself

Matt Kimberley

11 Dec 2018

The well-known ‘White Snake’ Viper that could pull over 190mph on a half-mile drag course is in pieces after a nasty crash on a strip.

The V10 monster had a reputation for giving highly-tuned rivals a head-start but easily pulling them back in over the length of a course, thanks to over 1200bhp at the wheels and perfect gearing to make the most of it.

Despite being a manual, the cult hero could still top 160mph on the quarter-mile and had previously run a 9.83-second pass, according to that strip’s timing gear.

But, at an unnamed quarter-mile drag venue earlier this month, it finally broke something catastrophic. As it was chasing down another Viper that had been granted a lead away from the line, the engine threw a con-rod through the crankcase.

Con-rod number nine had had enough, and made its own exit

Escaping oil caught fire and the mixture sent the White Snake slipping and smashing – hard – into the concrete sidewalls of the strip, which did their job admirably. We’re glad to see that the driver walked away but the car… well, that’s too heavily damaged to repair.

Interestingly, the car’s builders report that every stock Viper rod failure they know of has been the ninth rod. Previously, the ‘White Snake’ Viper has eaten a stock gearbox.

Comments

Jesus Christ! if that isn’t american than i dunno what is

What the fact that it blew up and crashed or how crazy cool and fast the Viper was?

Engine: Can I have more power?
Tuner: More power?
Engine: yeas, so I can go faster
Tuner: mmmk
Engine: actually blows up like a boss

Explodey time

Vipers are amazing tuner cars… this one here is running 1360hp on stock pistons, gaskets, everything (unopened) with a bolt on twin-turbo setup. Calvo Motorsports also has cars with full interiors, factory 6-speeds and E85 tune that runs 220mph+ with 19” wheels in the half-mile! The price of entry is pretty high… but the potential they have is insane. With just heads and cams they’ll put down 770hp N/A reliably too.

And the RWD 1/2 mile world record belongs to a full-interior streetable Gen II with a 2-speed powerglide and a stroker setup. 2500hp, and 244mph… at its first ever half-mile. Same engine has been putting in 7-second quarter miles without fail since 2007. For an aluminium block, they’re incredible.