Viper spits venom on lap record

The 2010 Dodge Viper zoomed round the 3.6km course in 1min 33.915sec - a new record.

The Street and Racing Technology (SRT) team from Chrysler Group LLC arrived at California's Laguna Seca raceway on a mission - to recapture the production car lap record on the road course.

And last week the team did just that. Chris Winkler, an SRT vehicle dynamics engineer, piloted a black and red 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR (American Club Racer) to a lap record of 1min 33.915sec around the 3.6km, 11-turn course, shattering the previous lap record by more than 1.1 seconds.

"It was definitely exciting but a somewhat uneventful lap overall from behind the steering wheel," said Winkler, who had spent only one other session on the course before the record run.

"The Dodge Viper ACR has amazing power and handles like a dream, so following my first practice here, I came away pretty confident that we'd be able to set a new record."

In 2008, professional road racer Randy Pobst drove a 2008 Dodge Viper ACR to a one-lap production car record of 1min 35.117sec.

That record stood until August 6 this year, when a one-off exotic prototype recorded 1min 35.075sec.

Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of the Dodge brand, said: "After our record-setting lap at the Nurburgring circuit, we're excited to set a second performance benchmark record at another world-famous road course.

"I've been closely tied to this car my entire career and even after owning one myself for some time, I'm still amazed with what the Dodge Viper can do on and off the race track."

The Dodge Viper is going into the final year of production for the current-generation model. About 500 Vipers will be built next year.

"We're going to keep Dodge's performance icon alive and well by not only producing some of the most special Vipers ever built, but we're also investigating what the next-generation Viper is going to be," said Gilles.

"When we have partners across the ocean [Fiat/Ferrari/Alfa] who are known as the best sports carmakers in the world, the future opportunities are huge."

The 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR will make its worldwide debut at the Los Angeles motor show.

New for the 2010 model year is a shorter fifth-gear ratio for improved high-speed acceleration and higher straightaway speeds.

Dodge says this improvement is a direct result of SRT's experience at the Nurburgring in Germany.

The Viper ACR also receives a new short-throw gear-shift in 2010. The rear wing profile has been redesigned to improve aerodynamics, a change that Dodge says results in an increase in top speed of 6km/h to 300km/h.

Powered by an 8.4-litre V10 engine with 448kW and 750Nm of torque, the Viper ACR sprints to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds.

The Viper ACR and its optional Hard Core package is more than 36kg lighter than the production SRT10.