The Crittenden Automotive Library

America Still Understands The Need For Speed

Topics: Dodge Viper

America Still Understands The Need For Speed

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
November 25, 2013

Now this is what you call a track-day special. Posting a fast lap time on a circuit requires a combination of driver skill and a properly balanced high-performance machine. The Chrysler Group’s SRT - Street and Racing Technology team - delivers half that equation with the 2014 SRT Viper TA (Time Attack). You provide the other half along with the brown trousers and the massive bank balance.

The street-legal (Yes, really - in the USA, at least) SRT Viper TA is specifically built for the performance enthusiast driver who likes to exercise their machines at the more than 150 road-race courses that are available around North America. Based on the SRT model - the lightest Viper in the line-up - the TA Special Edition Package builds upon the vehicle’s ultra-low centre of gravity, 50:50 weight distribution and largest contact patch in the production car world. The Viper TA uses chassis parts developed specifically by the SRT chassis dynamics team to attain the most out of the racing car-like chassis and create the most confidence inspiring Viper ever.

SRT developed new spring rates, shock absorbers, brake and other components, combined as a system with the Viper’s Advanced Aerodynamics Package, to create one of the most track-capable production cars in the world. The changes keep the SRT Viper TA glued to the tarmac, while the brake system is enhanced for improved balance and to resist overheating during track work.

This new car has been engineered for the serious speed-freak who needs a car that can be used as a daily driver yet has mind-boggling limits on a circuit that would rival many track-only cars. There’s a host of unique features including Bilstein shocks with tuned springs and Brembo brakes. Standard Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres are mounted on ultra-lightweight, multi-spoke Sidewinder II wheels. The list of goodies is very long but suffice to say it all adds up to something very special.

Under the bonnet (and this is where it gets serious) is the handcrafted, all-aluminium 8.4-litre, mid-front V-10 engine. That’s 640bhp and 600lb/ft. of torque to you, Sir. Production has begun and the car is now available to order in the USA. It’s gorgeous, it’s orange, it actually looks like a snake and, sadly, it’s not going to come here, is it? We can dream though.