Last week, our question of the week looked at whether the newly announced 392 cubic inch Hemi in the 2014 Ram HD should have had more power and this week – we shift gears quite a bit as we look at the power output of the 2013 SRT Viper. The Viper is the most powerful production issue, road going Mopar performance car of all time but many Mopar lovers believe that the 2013 Viper should have packed more power when it was introduced.
Prior to being unveiled, rumors suggested that the “new” Viper would have a significant increase in power with numbers climbing as high as 700 horsepower but as we all know – the 2013 SRT Viper has “only” 640 horsepower. This gave the SRT Viper more power than the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 with which it most closely competes but as soon as the first publications began testing the 2013 Viper against the (barely) less powerful Corvette ZR1 with the GM supercar coming out on top – many began questioning whether the new Viper should have had more power to distance itself from the pesky Corvette.
Many Mopar diehards were quick to complain that the 2013 SRT Viper simply didn’t have enough horsepower. Regardless of how much of a jump that the 2013 Viper got compared to the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10, the fact that the “old” ZR1 has bested the new Viper GTS in any venue shows that perhaps Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology division should have added a little more to give the Viper a defined advantage in any venue. Having been fortunate enough to drive the new Viper on a closed circuit track, I can testify that the Viper is a remarkable piece of American automotive machinery that will happily go toe to toe with any supercar in the world and stand a very real chance of winning but the initial Viper was a car that wouldn’t just compete with its rivals – it would slaughter them. This new Viper is more than competitive with almost every sports car in the world but with “only” 640 horsepower, the Viper doesn’t offer the overpowering experience that its ancestors did in the 1990s.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
