2008 Dodge Viper ACR Test Drive: Extreme, 600-hp Race Tuning Makes It Most Radical Yet (With Video!)

ROSAMOND, Calif. — According to Dodge aerodynamics engineer Mike Shinedling, that giant wing on the back of the new Viper ACR provides 1000 pounds of downforce at 150 mph. That's 10 times as much as you get on the standard Viper. And that's serious business. We're on the long track at Willow Springs Raceway, and even if 150 mph might be a little out of reach here, we're appreciating every bit of grip that big honkin' wing provides.

Turn Eight, the fastest corner on the track, can be pushed at well over 100 mph, and there's enough wind flow at that speed to pin the tail in a most reassuring fashion. Once, while accelerating hard out of the turn in a rival sports car—clearly with less downforce than this ACR—we had the tail out in quite a big way. There wasn't even a hint of that instability in the new Viper ACR. And that's exactly what its makers intended. This Dodge Viper is the perfect tool for track work.

Dodge decided that the V10 in the ACR would remain untouched. After all, the “normal” Viper for 2008 has 600 hp and 560 lb.-ft. of torque (click here for to watch video of the '07 Viper up against a 'Vette, Porsche Turbo and Audi R8). From where we're sitting, that's plenty of power. But the company's engineers did endow the ACR with significant suspension and aerodynamic improvements, along with some carefully allocated weight reductions.

The result is a car with less unsprung weight, a firmer ride and the kind of aero tuning you normally find only on real race cars. But the ACR Viper is still a drivable streetcar, with the usual elastic engine response only the 8.4-liter Viper V10 can offer—especially now that it has variable valve timing. The car eases off on just a dab of throttle, its two-piece clutch smoothly launching you away from rest. As you add throttle and allow the big motor to spin up, the sounds and sensations become more intense, but there's never anything frenetic about the Viper. You just grab new gears at about 6000 rpm and keep on truckin'. (Watch track video here; story continues below ...)