2 seats, 6 speeds, 10 cylinders, 645 HP, and one big - - wing can only mean one thing… the Dodge Viper GTC / ACR American Club Racer edition.
Yeah, the 2017 Dodge Viper is a sports car and not a Muscle Car, but we hope you don’t mind going along for the ride on this one. 2017 marked the end of a 25 year run for the 2-seat, 10 cylinder super coupe, even though it took a few years off along the way. But Dodge didn’t just let the Viper slither off into obscurity when it came time to wrap up the program. No, the 2017 models pack the most venom of any of the earlier snakes, spitting out 645 HP and 600 lb-ft. of twist from 512 cubic inches of aluminum V10.
Viper GTC / ACRs are highly capable track cars, and a 2017 model holds the record with the fastest American street legal lap time on the Nurburgring in Germany, with a time of 7:01.3. The ACR cars were built to be ready-to-race, and they lacked some of the accessories of their streetier counterparts, like no air conditioning or radio to save weight. Body panels are carbon fibre, and the functional spoilers and splitters of the Extreme Aero package help generate 2000 lbs of downforce at speed. This reduced the top speed to 177 MPH from 190 and change, but enhanced stickiness and stability like crazy.
The GTC / ACR rides on a 4-wheel short / long arm suspension design suspended by coil springs and Bilstein 10-way adjustable shock absorbers. ACR rear spring rates are more than double the regular Viper at 1300 lbs, the fronts are triple at 600 lbs. Kumho Ecsta V720 P295/25R19 and 355/30ZR19 tires glue the Viper ACR to the streets. Stopping is a serious ordeal with Brembo carbon ceramic matrix rotors grabbed by 6 and 4 piston calipers. It all results in 0-60 times in the mid 3s, ¼ mile in the mid 11s, and 60-0 in just 101 feet.
We’ve talked about the “glory days” of Muscle Cars when you could special order just about anything to end up with a “1 of 1” car of your own. Well believe it or not, that philosophy applies to the GTC / ACR, with 8000 color choices, 16 interior trims, 10 wheel choices, and 24000 stripe options, you could totally spec your own.
In fact, once a buyer chose the color, stripe, and option combination for their new ACR, that specific design was made exclusive, and no other Viper would be built the same way.
One of the car review websites gave these awesome bullet points on the ACR:
Ride quality is very stiff
Outward visibility is poor
Firm seats can be uncomfortable after time
Entry/exit is extremely difficult for drivers and passengers
Poor fuel economy, even for a high-performance sports car
Sounds about perfect to us.
Sadly, this 2017 Viper GTC / ACR represendts the last of the breed, but we’re happy it landed here in The Brothers Collection. And not just because we got to play with it! We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we did, and we’ll see you next time on Muscle Car Of The Week!