In the tidal wave of Hellcat news that we’ve been swimming in for a few months now, one Dodge product in particular has been left out in the cold: the Viper. With admittedly slow sales, things haven’t been great for Mopar’s sports car. But having been Dodge’s halo car since 1992, it would be a damn shame to let it die quietly. And if the word on the grapevine is to be believed, even partially, then brace yourselves, because the best might be yet to come.
Allpar has reported that two different and “reliable” sources have seen supercharged V10 engines being delivered to Chrysler for testing. It’s too early to guess power estimates, but the target reticle isn’t focused on the Hellcat twins, but instead the Corvette (and we’re willing to bet, any incantation of ZR-1 that GM is working on). The Viper has the chassis but the Corvette has edged it on power and controllability. Chassis tuning isn’t the focus here, it’s power, and lately Mopar has been drunk on the stuff. Don’t expect some psychotic number like 1,000hp, either: the problem is transmission survivability, and none of the six-speed manuals that will bolt in will survive over 650 ft/lb, and the one that does, the Tremec “Magnum XL” (snicker) can go up to 700 ft/lb, but will require some major working to fit in the Viper.
Supercharged Hemi, supercharged Viper V10. We’re beyond the surprise…we’re waiting to see what else (aahhh-DART!!!-choo!) they will tweak on next.
That is about the most sinister photo of the latest Viper I have seen.
The transmission thing is an excuse.
We need at least one of the OEMs to fund the R&D necessary for the next generation of aftermarket high-torque manuals. So why not FCA’s Viper as the transmission development “mule” for 100s if not 1000s of “power drunk” Bangshifters?
If they want to increase sales they’ll make 3 total viper based vehicles: Viper “Mamba” (Supercharger or turbo + current viper+ Awd + unique body) for super rich dudes, the current Viper for rich dudes, and the Copperhead a hellcat hemi V8 powered viper for people with only slightly more money than me.
…Ok a lot more money than me, but you know, like base corvette money.