SRT (Page 4)

The folks from Hennessey Performance have a long history of building ultra high performance versions of the Dodge Viper that bear the “Venom” name but with the introduction of the 2013 Hennessey Venom 700R and Venom 1000 Twin Turbo – the Texas supercar tuning company has raised the bar for the 2013 SRT Viper aftermarket.

The SRT Viper isn’t resting on its laurels as one of the best handling sports cars on the planet, and the 2013 fifth generation model gets major suspension enhancements.

The recent pricing announcement for the 2013 SRT Viper and SRT Viper GTS including all of the options revealed a great deal about the new Mopar supercar but skimmed over by many was the fact that the limited production Launch Edition version of the 2013 SRT Viper GTS will cost buyers somewhere in the range of $150,000.

A memo came across my desk this morning that revealed that some state Dealers Associations are reaching out to Chrysler Group dealerships around their state, asking dealership owners for their opinion on the $25,000 fee being demanded by the Chrysler Group in order to earn the right to sell the new 2013 SRT Viper – claiming that these financial requirements could violate state franchise laws.

Chrysler has announced the 2013 SRT Viper and 2013 Viper GTS will be available with more options than ever before for customization.

The 2015 SRT Barracuda could be replacing the Dodge Challenger and it may also give the 2015 Ford Mustang major competition.

TorqueNews reported a few weeks ago that when the 2013 SRT Viper begins hitting dealers, only 1 in 5 American Chrysler Group dealerships will earn the right to sell the new supercar but new information indicates that the number will actually be much lower – with as few as 100 of the 2,300 US dealerships offering the new Viper.

The 2013 SRT Viper is within a few months of entering the first phase of production but the newest (and possibly the most complete) details on the new Mopar supercar have come to us via the devout Chrysler Group enthusiasts at Allpar.com – including more details on the color choices, interior options and package details.

The Chrysler Group has announced the pricing for the 2013 SRT Viper and the 2013 SRT Viper GTS with a starting price for the “base model” SRT Viper of $97,395 while the higher performance SRT Viper GTS carries a starting price of $120,395 – neither of which includes the $1,995 destination fee.

There has long been speculation that the Chrysler Group would replace the Dodge Challenger with a new model from the SRT brand named Barracuda but new reports indicate that both Mopar muscle cars could co-exist after the high performance “Cuda” is introduced sometime in 2014.

When the 2013 SRT Viper pack arrived in Forza Motorsport 4 a few months back, we were more than a little surprised that the race-ready Viper GTS-R was not included but Mopar gaming enthusiasts are about to jump for joy as not one – but two examples of the 2013 Viper GTS-R are available in the September Pennzoil Car Pack for FM4.

August 2012 was a good month for the Chrysler Group with an improvement of 14% marking the 29th consecutive month of year over year gains thanks to all five of the Group brands posting positive gains – helping the smallest of the Detroit automakers to post its best August since 2007 while leading the Big 3 in sales growth.

The Chrysler Group announced today that they will introduce the new 2013 SRT Viper GTS Launch Edition at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey California – fitted with the same blue and white paint scheme that has adorned the launch models of the previous generation Viper coupes.

The Chrysler Group’s high performance Street and Racing Technology (SRT) brand continues to make sure that their presence is known in the motorsports world as the American LeMans Series has announced that the Grand Prix of Baltimore will be presented by SRT and the ALMS stop in Baltimore in September will be named the Baltimore Sports Car Challenger Presented by SRT.

The hoards of faithful Dodge loving NASCAR fans around the country received some very bad news this week as SRT Motorsports President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Gilles announced that Dodge would be pulling out of the NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after the current 2012 racing season.

Saturday afternoon brought about the debut of the 2013 SRT Viper GTS-R race car in the American LeMans Series in Mid Ohio and while their 10th and 12th place finishes are a far cry from the win collected when the original GTS-R debut in the 90s – Team SRT is happy with the performance of their brand new race cars and they will make their next attempt in two weeks at Road America.

Today began Day Two for the new SRT race program featuring the 2013 Viper GTS-R and while Day One brought a disappointing set of slower lap times – today brought about a much more serious problem as the #91 Viper ran into engine problems during the first practice session that kept them out of qualifying.

The two new 2013 SRT Viper GTS-R teams completed their first official practice with the American LeMans Series a couple hours ago with both teams turning in mediocre times – putting them both in the lower end of the GT Class field after very short practice sessions.

TorqueNews recently brought you the news that the 2013 SRT Viper GTS-R would make its return to racing at the American LeMans Series event on August 4th at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and today we have a full look at the four drivers who will help reintroduce the Viper to endurance racing.

When the 2013 SRT Viper reaches full production later this year, the Chrysler Group plans to impose strict requirements for carrying the new supercar – meaning that less than 20% of the company’s dealerships around the country will have the new Viper on their showroom floor.

News has poured out of various German news sources this week that the famed Nürburgring race course is facing some 13 million Euros in debt with no way to pay said debt unless the managing group finds some massive infusion of money – money that the European government has said will not come from them – leading many to believe that the ‘Ring’s days are numbered.

This past Saturday, our spy cameras caught a 2013 SRT Viper GTS out cruising Metro Detroit area roads in a dark metallic blue that harkens back to the blue featured on the debut of the original Viper GTS Coupe in 1996 – a color choice that will almost certainly be a big hit with Viper enthusiasts should it become a production option.

The 2013 SRT GTS-R is set to return to competition at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug 4 in the American Le Mans Series.