This Mini-Viper Is Our Dream Sports Car
We want to see Dodge leverage Italian power to make a new sports car.
We’ve been lamenting the death of the Viper for far too long. It will forever stand as one of America’s greatest automotive achievements, but the Viper we know and love today, just can’t exist anymore. We are now in a world where an 8.4-liter V10 engine just isn’t feasible. But that doesn’t mean the Viper can’t evolve, adapt, and return to showrooms. So we indulged ourselves, had some new “mini-Viper” renders made, and set off to create our dream sports car.
First, we have that design. The Viper has always been an aggressive thing to look at, and we want to carry that forward. We also need to think of the future, so this design features a narrower, more sloped nose that gives the Viper a touch of supercar flair, and it increases aero flow. That means better performance. The large grille design also helps with cooling, and the lateral cuts allow for direct brake ducting.
Out back things look more traditional, but there is some science at work. The large open venting under the taillights could allow for some aerodynamic trickery. Coupled with the right diffuser design, we could have a new Viper that produces tons of downforce without massive wings on the back. Think of it as a stealth version of the ACR wing.
Of course, the most important thing for making any new Viper is performance. The current naturally aspirated V10 in the Viper is one of our favorite engines in the world. But in the grand scheme of things, its 645 hp number isn’t mind-blowing considering the size and weight of the motor. So we need something smaller and lighter, but with a lot of punch.
Thankfully, Dodge is part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and that means that our new Viper could steal engines from Italy. Maserati just announced a new Ghibli that features a 3.0L turbo V6 that produces 430 horsepower. That isn’t good enough for us though. This is a Viper after all. It may be more compact, but 430 horsepower is Camaro and Mustang territory. We have heard that Maserati is prepping a 560 hp motor for a Ghibli GTS model, but until that appears we need to look somewhere else.
That leads us to Alfa Romeo to power our ideal modern Viper. The Giulia Quadrifoglio makes use of a Ferrari-derived, twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 that makes 505 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. It’s not mind-blowing power, but it’s a solid boost of 50 ponies over the Chevy Corvette. The smaller size of our new car design also means a pretty dramatic decrease in weight. We think a sub 3,000 pound weight is possible, and that would give our new 500 horsepower Viper almost identical power to weight when compared to the old one.
A smaller, more nimble Viper with the haunting wail of an Italian engine sounds pretty damn good to us. But what do you guys think? Are we onto something here, or do we need to ease up on the breakfast whiskey?
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