While this news shouldn’t come to much of a shock to any diehard Mopar fan, Motor Trend has reported that the new American Club Racer package (ACR) for the new SRT Viper will debut sometime during the 2014 calendar year. As has been the case with previous generation ACR models, we can expect that the 2014 (or 2015) SRT Viper ACR will be a street legal supercar with track ready capabilities – serving as the highest performance option in the SRT lineup that is designed for road use as well. The new ACR will be the Viper that hits tracks like Laguna Seca and the Nürburgring to defend or reclaim the records set years ago by the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR.
Provided that the 2014/2015 SRT Viper ACR arrives in the first quarter of the 2014 calendar year, it will come almost two years after the 2013 SRT Viper and Viper GTS debuted at the 2012 New York International Auto Show. Why the delay, you ask? Well, according to Motor Trend, the Street and Racing Technology engineers are hard at work on coming up with a set of tires that is fitting of a car of this magnitude.
Evidently, after seeing the incredible performance capabilities of the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires found on the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Chrysler Group engineers aren’t comfortable with the Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires found on the current 2013 SRT Viper and Viper GTS. Because of that, the SRT team has called on the folks at Pirelli to come up with a tire that will go head to head with the ZR1’s Michelin tires and win. In those head to head shootouts between the ZR1 and the 2013 Viper GTS, the Corvette’s tires have been a major reason behind the narrow victories posted by the ZR1.
Should Pirelli be able to come up with a tire for the 2014 SRT Viper ACR that is at least equal to the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires, that alone could be enough for the new ACR to beat the ZR1 in a head to head battle – leaving the rest of the ACR modifications to just serve as icing on the high performance cake. According to Ralph Gilles, simply plugging a driver into the SRT Viper will be enough for the new GTS to beat the Corvette ZR1 but even with driver Randy Pobst (who has been openly been questioned by Gilles) at the helm, a Viper with improved tires could take down the supercharged ZR1.
"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.
