Dodge might brand their cars as rock stars, but the story of the Dodge Viper can more readily be likened to that of an extreme metal band. Viper started out with some ferocious punk-influenced deathgrind that got everyone's attention. For their second album, they upped the ante and made things even more intense.

The third release saw them take a sharp turn stylistically to a more technical style, where the compositions became their most ambitious, the coordination the tightest - yet they lost none of the raw power that made them stars in the first place. The standout track on that last Viper “album” was the ACR Extreme. The Viper ACR Extreme is the automotive equivalent of technical death metal at its best; a vividly maniacal experiment finely tuned into an instrument of precise intensity.

2017 Dodge Viper In Green
via: Car and Driver

The Third-Generation Viper

The ACR had an excellent platform to work with. The third-generation Viper was the fastest, nimblest, most powerful and most refined the car had ever been. It had 645 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque, with made for 0-60 in roughly 3 seconds and an 11-second quarter mile, with a top speed of 206 mph. Even the styling was better, combining the swoopy ovoid contours of the 90’s version with the aggressive scowl and hood cuts of the 2000’s into a final result that looked significantly prettier than either. On top of all this, it only cost about $120,000.

For much of its life, the Viper was infamous for its poor handling. Dropping a colossal 8.4-liter V10 into the front of a roadster will do that, even if the mill is all-aluminum. Doing so with a manual RWD car that has no traction control, stability control or ABS will exacerbate the issue, in the same way that feeding your toddler a can of Red Bull the night before Christmas will exacerbate the issue of him not going to sleep.

The newer Viper handled significantly better, being capable of pulling 1.5Gs. It was easier to drive too, despite still being a manual. Having fixed its main weakness, Dodge set about making the Viper their own bonafide track weapon.

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Changes Made for the ACR Extreme

Notably, the ACR Extreme featured no engine tuning of any kind. All of Dodge’s modifications revolved around handling. In fact, the ACR’s top speed was reduced to 177mph from the base model's 206.

Kumho tires were carried over from the regular ACR. In true American fashion, they went big; the tires had the largest combined rubber footprint of any production car at the time. New adjustable suspension was fitted; the shocks were twice as stiff as those on the TA model. The amount of negative camber was also increased to help maintain grip during hard cornering. The new brakes had the biggest brake pad area of any Viper.

Mainly, however, the modifications for the ACR Extreme revolved around aero and downforce. Most obvious was the enormous rear wing. In fact, the Viper ACR Extreme set a world record for highest amount of downforce on a production car in 2017. Even the McLaren Senna, a car specifically designed by a world-class F1 racing company (and the reigning production car champion at Virginia International Raceway and Laguna Seca), does not make as much downforce as the Extreme.

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2017 Dodge Viper ACR Extreme In Blue Rear View
via: Barrett-Jackson

The Results

The Viper ACR Extreme is the eleventh-fastest production car at the Nurburgring Nordschleife to this day, with a 3-second lead over the 12th place contestant. The Viper is also the fastest RWD, fastest manual, and fastest American car at Nurburgring. It’s the 11th fastest car that Car and Driver have flogged around the Virginia International Raceway (less than a fifth of a second slower than the Huracan Performante- which, incidentally, will cost you $120k more). Famously, the Viper ACR Extreme set 13 SCCA track records before the end of its production run.

In truth, the ACR Extreme might be able to offer more. The Nurburgring run was entirely privately-funded, unlike most attempts, which led to financial issues. The current 'Ring lap record was a warm-up lap; tire failure ruined the official attempt.

One more thing. At $155,000, the Viper ACR Extreme was a bargain. Like other American upstarts, the Viper came at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. Of all the cars that outperformed it at Nordschleife, only the bare-bones Radical SR8 was cheaper - or even within $20,000 of the ACR Extreme’s cost.

Conclusion

Dodge beat all but the European manufacturers’ very best at their own game by coaxing this ornery enfant sauvage to evolve into an apex predator. The original Viper was frankly terrifying, but over the years Dodge created a genuine supercar with panache and a nice suit, on the level of near anything across the pond. In classic American fashion, it managed this on a budget – sometimes at a third of the price of its competitors.

It’s like a Chateau Montelena chardonnay 1973. The very idea that it, an American creation, could contend with the best seems shocking. Yet, for those who are willing to take it on its merits, it has no true equal.

2017 Dodge Viper ACR Extreme In Red
via: Autoblog

Sources: Autoblog, Drivetribe, Car and Driver, Car Gurus, Mopar Insiders, Nurburgring Lap Times, Road & Track, Top Gear, TopSpeed

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