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Automotive Lifestyle
AUTOS: Viper GTS-R Maintains Rich History
Latest competition version of the V10-powered super coupe recalls its notable past success story in GT racing.
Viper GTS-R chassic C27 was exercised at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
During the recent launch of the SRT Viper GTS at the New York Auto Show, it was announced that Viper will return racing, starting with the American Le Mans Series. That brings back lovely memories of the past Dodge Viper GTS-R, which was raced with great success between 1997 and 2001, winning almost every race in which it was entered.
Launched in 1992, the Dodge Viper was the spiritual successor of the legendary AC Shelby Cobra that had burst onto the scene exactly 30 years earlier. It was therefore hardly surprising that some of the first Viper owners took their cars racing.
Recognizing the sporting and marketing potential of a properly developed Viper, the factory started an official competition program. Taking no chances, partnerships with Reynard and Oreca were signed for, respectively, the development and construction of the racing cars.
The timing of the program was spot on, as for the first time since the heyday of the Shelby Cobra, production-based GT racers were taking center stage again. The field was split in two classes – GT1 and GT2 – with the latter having stricter homologation requirements. Chasing outright victories, a GT1 version of the new Viper GTS coupe was initially developed for the 1996 season.
With rivaling manufacturers, most notably Porsche, homologating purpose-built racers as road cars, it really was an uphill battle for the Viper in GT1, so that project was quickly abandoned.
Fortunately, a GT2 specification Viper had also been developed at the same time. In compliance with the tighter GT2 homologation requirements, the new GTS-R was remarkably similar to the road car on which it was based. Where allowed modifications were made to the chassis and suspension but most of the work focused on shedding weight and adding safety features like a roll cage.
At 7,986 cc, the Viper's all-aluminum V10 had a near perfect displacement considering the 8-liter limit set by the regulations. Engine development focused on reliability and adjusting the intakes and engine management to work with the mandatory restrictors.
Optimization of the aerodynamics was another key focus area during the GTS-R development. At the front, a full-width splitter was fitted while a sizeable wing and diffuser were added to the tail. Further tweaks to the road-going Viper's design were additional lights on the nose, cooling vents and side-mounted exhausts.
Although the competition version followed the Viper GTS very closely, some of the aerodynamic changes did require further homologation. To meet these requirements, Dodge built 100 Vipers equipped with a rear wing and a slightly revised nose.
The GT2 specification, the Dodge Viper GTS-R – or Chrysler Viper GTS-R as it was known in Europe – debuted in early 1997. In addition to the factory Oreca team, the Viper was run by a large number of privateer teams. It quickly became the car to beat in the GT2 class.
The first season was concluded with the FIA GT Championship trophy in its class. This feat was repeated the following season. In 1998, an Oreca Viper also placed 11th overall and first in class during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
At the start of the 1999 season, the regulations were re-shuffled with the existing GT2 regulations being adapted for the GT1 class. For the Viper GTS-R, little changed as it continued to dominate, now winning the FIA GT Championship outright, and again in 2001 and 2002.
At Le Mans, the V10-powered machine took back-to-back GT1 victories in 1999 and 2000. It was also very successful in the other major endurance races, scoring outright wins in the Daytona 24 Hours and Nürburgring 24 Hours, and class wins at Sebring and in the Petit Le Mans.
Launched in 1992, the Dodge Viper was the spiritual successor of the legendary AC Shelby Cobra that had burst onto the scene exactly 30 years earlier. It was therefore hardly surprising that some of the first Viper owners took their cars racing.
Recognizing the sporting and marketing potential of a properly developed Viper, the factory started an official competition program. Taking no chances, partnerships with Reynard and Oreca were signed for, respectively, the development and construction of the racing cars.
The timing of the program was spot on, as for the first time since the heyday of the Shelby Cobra, production-based GT racers were taking center stage again. The field was split in two classes – GT1 and GT2 – with the latter having stricter homologation requirements. Chasing outright victories, a GT1 version of the new Viper GTS coupe was initially developed for the 1996 season.
With rivaling manufacturers, most notably Porsche, homologating purpose-built racers as road cars, it really was an uphill battle for the Viper in GT1, so that project was quickly abandoned.
Fortunately, a GT2 specification Viper had also been developed at the same time. In compliance with the tighter GT2 homologation requirements, the new GTS-R was remarkably similar to the road car on which it was based. Where allowed modifications were made to the chassis and suspension but most of the work focused on shedding weight and adding safety features like a roll cage.
At 7,986 cc, the Viper's all-aluminum V10 had a near perfect displacement considering the 8-liter limit set by the regulations. Engine development focused on reliability and adjusting the intakes and engine management to work with the mandatory restrictors.
Optimization of the aerodynamics was another key focus area during the GTS-R development. At the front, a full-width splitter was fitted while a sizeable wing and diffuser were added to the tail. Further tweaks to the road-going Viper's design were additional lights on the nose, cooling vents and side-mounted exhausts.
Although the competition version followed the Viper GTS very closely, some of the aerodynamic changes did require further homologation. To meet these requirements, Dodge built 100 Vipers equipped with a rear wing and a slightly revised nose.
The GT2 specification, the Dodge Viper GTS-R – or Chrysler Viper GTS-R as it was known in Europe – debuted in early 1997. In addition to the factory Oreca team, the Viper was run by a large number of privateer teams. It quickly became the car to beat in the GT2 class.
The first season was concluded with the FIA GT Championship trophy in its class. This feat was repeated the following season. In 1998, an Oreca Viper also placed 11th overall and first in class during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
At the start of the 1999 season, the regulations were re-shuffled with the existing GT2 regulations being adapted for the GT1 class. For the Viper GTS-R, little changed as it continued to dominate, now winning the FIA GT Championship outright, and again in 2001 and 2002.
At Le Mans, the V10-powered machine took back-to-back GT1 victories in 1999 and 2000. It was also very successful in the other major endurance races, scoring outright wins in the Daytona 24 Hours and Nürburgring 24 Hours, and class wins at Sebring and in the Petit Le Mans.
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