6 Astonishing Dodge Vipers That Make Us Sad The V10 Beast Is Getting Axed

Despite the fact it never came to our shores officially, we’ve always been fond of the Viper. A big engine up front, classic coupe looks and the sort of drive that requires a dedicated pilot. What’s not to love?

Unfortunately though, sales haven’t been so great lately, despite efforts to prop them up with price cuts and a massive customisation programme with all sorts of weird and wonderful options. These poor sales mean that in 2017, it’s looking almost certain that FCA will stop building the Viper. Of course, Viper production has been stopped and re-started before, but it’s certainly not looking good.

Rather than mourn, we thought we’d look back at the best times of this ballistic Dodge with a selection of our favourite Vipers. So long, you V10 maniac…

1. The original

It seems fitting to start with the very first Viper. Arriving in 1992 and causing quite a stir, it was a disarmingly simple brute. A curvy fibreglass body hid a tubular steel frame, with a dirty great V10 stuffed under the long bonnet. Traction control? Nope. ABS? Forget it. Creature comforts? Not a chance.

The 10-pot engine was a relatively unsophisticated thing too, being of a push-rod two-valve design, but then Chrysler-owned Lamborghini was on hand to design parts of the engine. The result was an aluminium block and cylinder head and 400bhp, making 0-60mph possible in around 4.5 seconds.

2. The GT racing celebration special

In 1997, Viper Team Oreca won the FIA GT2 Championship, prompting this GTS-R celebration special. Just 100 were built, featuring an extensive aero package inspired by the car’s GT racing cousin, plus Oreca-badged five-point harnesses on the inside. Oh, and blue racing stripes.

3. The one in drag

The cars above both look like Alfa Romeos. But they’re not. In reality, both are the the work of Zagato, paying homage to the Giulia TZ while celebrating the Alfa Romeo centenary. The one on the right is the Alfa 8C-based Zagato TZ3 Corsa - built in 2010 - which was followed up a year later by the car on the left, the TZ3 Stradale.

Peel away the gorgeous body of the latter and you’ll find - as you’ve probably guessed - a Dodge Viper. Specifically, an ACR-X. Just nine were built.

4. The 'because race car' Viper

While we wanted to stick to road-going production cars for this list, the 2000 GTS-R Concept deserves a mention. Why? Because unlike most concepts, this was a fully-working prototype, and a stonking one at that. The body of this ‘street legal, race inspired concept car’ is made from a single moulding of carbonfibre, and the whole car sits two inches lower than the standard Viper of the time. It’s three inches wider too, and has a longer wheelbase.

The familiar 8.0-litre V10 lives under the vented bonnet, although here, it’s a dry-sumped version producing around 50bhp more, which brought the total up to 493bhp.

5. The orange one

If you’re really serious about track driving, this is a Viper worth considering. Dubbed the ‘Time Attack’ or ‘TA’, this orange monster received significantly stiffer suspension, sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres with an enormous contact patch, plus a carbonfibre boot spoiler and front splitter. 93 cars were painted in TA Orange, with 33 finished in Venom Black and another 33 in Bright White.

The effect of the aero bits is quite significant because they increase downforce by almost 700 per cent at 150mph. A tweaked version of the car appeared for the 2015 model year, dubbed TA 2.0.

6. The one with all the wings

Upping the ante of the TA 2.0 even further, and resulting in the most bonkers road-going Viper ever, is the 2016 ACR with Extreme Aero. And extreme it certainly is. As we found out from our man Engineering Explained recently, with this aero package option box ticked, it produces more downforce than any other production car: 545kg at 150mph, and 800kg in total. The top speed takes a bit of a beating thanks to the extra drag - down to 177mph from 206mph - but it’s worth it for that lovely downforce.

Is your favourite iteration of the Viper missing? Let us know what it is in the comments!