At last, a Viper you can take to Daytona or Le Mans-to race, not just to park and watch.
Chrysler President Bob Lutz has fulfilled his dream to produce a Chrysler vehicle for racing competition, a Dodge Viper coupe that can be outfitted with up to a 700-horsepower, V-10 engine to take on the challengers at the 24 Hours of LeMans or the 24 Hours of Daytona or even those who may be trying to stay on the track in turn 5 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Next spring a racing version of the Viper coupe called the GTS-R will go into production. Only about 40 are expected to be built, but Lutz said even if there are only five customers, he plans to build them.
The Dodge Viper roadster that bowed in the 1992 model year will be joined by a hardtop coupe for 1996 called the GTS, a vehicle shown in prototype form so often in the last few years on the auto-show circuit that you’d almost expect it to be ready for a styling change, although it hasn’t been built yet. The GTS-R is the racing version of the GTS.
Besides having an open top roadster and closed top coupe, and redirecting the side-mount exhausts under the car for 1996, there have been some engine changes on Viper. The 8-liter, V-10 gets a 15-h.p. boost to 415 in roadster and coupe, and three variations of the V-10 are going to be unveiled in the GTS-R for the racing enthusiast.
The GTS-R will come with a 525-h.p. version of the V-10. You also can opt for a 650- or a 700-h.p. version of the V-10 to install in that car. While the 525 h.p., V-10 comes wrapped in the car, the 650- and 700-h.p. versions are sold separately, and you have to install them.
Chrysler says the GTS-R will sell for “comfortably under $200,000,” and emphasizes “comfortably” because race engines typically exceed that amount by, well, a comfortable margin. The street legal roadster and coupe start for around $60,000.
Chrysler says the GTS-R is simply for the track, and like Ford with its limited-edition (only 232 built for sale at $38,000 per copy), super high performance (300-h.p., V-8) 1995 Mustang Cobra R, expects only those with racing licenses-and $200,000-to purchase one.
However, Chrysler said if a wealthy nonracing collector simply wants to buy one for display in his or her garage, the automaker will sell it.
Viper will have an unusual production schedule for 1996. Initially only roadsters will be built until the first of the year; then the GTS and GTS-R coupes will be built for a spring introduction in time for the GTS to serve as the pace car at next year’s running of the Indianapolis 500. Only about 300 roadsters will be assembled, no word yet on how many coupes.
Viper production has been moved to a Detroit warehouse for 1996. It has been handbuilt at Chrysler’s Mack Avenue plant in Detroit, but that’s being converted to engine production.
Word is that in addition to Viper, Chrysler will assemble the long-awaited Plymouth Prowler modernization of a ’50s hotrod alongside Viper next year in preparation for its launch as a 1997 model. Prowler, GTS, GTS-R and Viper are all projects of Lutz.
Another new vehicle set to arrive next spring from Chrysler is the Sebring convertible. Though named for the two-door coupe in Chrysler’s lineup, Sebring is built off the larger Chrysler Cirrus/Dodge Stratus sedan platform.
It will be offered in base JX with 4-cylinder and top-of-the-line JXi with V-6 engine versions. The Sebring convertible replaces the LeBaron drop top in the Chrysler lineup.
