This is the first ‘official’ image of a crashed 2013 SRT Viper showing what happens when you lose control and bin one of SRT’s 8.4-litre V10 monsters. Then again maybe it isn’t so official because the SRT Viper isn’t even on sale yet. Specifically, this image is of SRT’s new racing version, the Viper GTS-R.
The accident took place during the weekend practice for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in Baltimore. The no. 91 car was being driven by Dominik Farnbacher. “I was overtaking a GTC car on the right side going into the right turn. I took a little bit of a different line than before and I think on the inside there was a bump which upset the rear. I lost the rear and I counter steered. Then I lost it to the other side and the car went basically toward the wall. I could not save it. I’m just sorry for my team,” Farnbacher said.
The newest SRT Viper marks the fifth generation car since the original 1990s Viper and two models are hand-built at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit. Both SRT Viper and the SRT Viper GTS models feature a high-tech combination carbon fibre and aluminium construction. The SRT Viper GTS-R is the race version and under the long, serpentine, bonnet of both cars, lurks a massive all-aluminium 8.4-litre V10 producing 477 kW and 812 Nm.
This makes the SRT Viper the torqueiest naturally aspirated engine in the world, which also features a new, ultra-high flow and lightweight composite intake manifold, high-strength forged pistons, sodium-filled exhaust valves and new catalysts to reduce back pressure. All that power is harnessed by a simple 6-speed manual transmission in the road cars.
A new, driver-selectable, two-mode suspension system features Bilstein ‘DampTronic Select’ shock absorbers, with both street and track settings, which will come standard on the road cars. For the first time the Viper will also have electronic stability control and traction control as standard, as well as a steering wheel-mounted launch control switch, allowing for an American car to do what it does best, drag race.
Based on this crash where the car appears to have lost control over nothing more than a bump, we wonder if the Viper shouldn’t just stick to drag racing or maybe try traction control on the GTS-R racing car as well.
