Autoblog

Click above for a gallery of Viper carnage

Imagine making the purchase of your dreams - a brand new 2008 Dodge Viper with only five miles on the odometer. It's sitting safely in the showroom without a scratch just waiting for you to drive it off the lot. The only thing it needs is a tank of gas, which of course the dealership offers to pay for. Here's where the story goes terribly wrong. A member of SRTForums.com and employee of a Southern California Dodge dealership says that the Viper was headed back from the gas station and only about 1/8 of a mile from the dealership (!) when the driver lost control of the 600-horsepower beast and crashed into four parked cars. The result is one severely smashed up snake. We'll be watching eBay Motors for a low miles, slightly scratched 2008 Dodge Viper with a full tank of gas. Thanks for the tip, Ian!

[Source: SRTForums.com]

Click image for hi-res gallery

This is the part we love. It's when the OEMs and tuners start throwing haymakers at each other by releasing cars capable of bending the space/time continuum, so gaudy are their horsepower and performance numbers. The flurry comes in advance of the Corvette ZR1, which is poised to blow everyone away with what are certain to be obscene performance capabilities. The Nissan GT-R is now on record with a 3.3-second 0-60 time, a quarter mile in the elevens, and the handling capabilities its AWD system brings to the table. Dodge's '08 Viper puts out some impressive numbers to begin with, and now, ahead of the super-duper Vette's arrival, Hennessey has announced the 650R upgrade for all of Dodge's 2008 snakes - coupe, 'vert and ACR. The kit, which includes new headers, a 3-inch exhaust, performance cats, a K&N filter, and a brake upgrade, boosts power from the stock 600 hp to 678. At the dragstrip, the added juice translates into a 0-60 of 3.3 seconds (same as the stock GT-R), and a quarter mile time of 11.3 seconds at 131 mph. Swap out the street tires for drag radials, and the quarter drops to 10.7 seconds at 132 mph. Top speed for the coupe is estimated to be 211 mph. So, how will the Corvette ZR1 stack up against the newest batch of street monsters? We don't know yet, but let's just say that you might want to click back here one last time tonight before you start counting sheep, capisce?

[Source: Hennessey Performance Engineering]

Click image for high-res gallery

With the new 600-horsepower 2008 Dodge Vipers starting to hit the streets, it was only a matter of time before someone put one on a dyno to see what kind of juice the snakes are sending to the rear wheels. That someone, in this case, is longtime Viper tuner Hennessey, and their new car made 546 horses and 516 lb-ft of torque in stock trim. According to DragTimes, if you factor in a 13% drivetrain loss, the new Viper is actually making around 615 horses. Not shabby, to say the least. Hennessey dynoed the car a second time after making some exhaust mods and was able to raise those numbers to 574.95 rwhp and 537 lb-ft. Head over to DragTimes to see the graph. We'll take one in green, please.

Thanks for the tip, Fiske!

[Source: DragTimes]

click above image for more live shots of the 2008 Dodge Viper ACR

Seeing the 2008 Dodge Viper ACR in person makes you wonder even more how this thing is legal to drive on public streets. The carbon fiber front spoiler and winglets have more of a visual effect up close, and the rear wing would be absolutely ridiculous if it weren't functional... but it is. The asymmetrical paint scheme back up the race car look even more, although it looks a little goofy from straight on. We've added another 18 live shots to the 2008 Viper ACR's gallery for you to closely inspect the car, as well.

Click image for hi-res gallery including 30 new pics!

Chrysler has announced the official manufacturing launch of the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 at the Connor Ave Assembly Plant in Detroit. In the press release after the jump, you'll learn that the Viper is hand-assembled by a team of 48 UAW "Craftspersons" (political correctness is wonderful, isn't it?) as the supercar traverses 26 stations on its 705-foot assembly line. Of course, some of you might find the car itself a lot more interesting than the manufacturing process behind it. 600-horsepower 8.4L V10s tend to do that, at least for us. Along with today's announcement, Dodge released a mess 'o new pics of its most potent snake yet, so click the gallery below for a look. That's the work of a master craftsman craftsperson. We're totally liking the green, too. (Well, except for Shunk.)

[Source: Dodge]

Man, and here we thought that the 600-horse Bentley Continental GT Speed was a bargain at $199K. Dragtimes.com has reportedly obtained the pricing info for the revamped, more powerful 2008 Dodge Viper. The news is good, as The New Chrysler's flagship tire-melter will start at just $83,145 for the Viper SRT10 Roadster. Want the coupe? Pony up a little more: $83,895. Bang-for-the-buck, thy name is Viper.

[Source: DragTimes.com via Jalopnik]

UPDATE: Thanks to Ray over at Jalopnik we have a little bit higher res shot of the Viper in question.

It's like the buff books aren't even trying to keep embargoed information a secret anymore. The cover of Road and Track's February issue has recently been loaded onto the dead-tree journo's website as a small thumbnail. Though super tiny and pixelated, a picture of what appears to be the 2008 Dodge Viper is located in the lower left-hand corner. From what we can make out, above the pic in bold white lettering it reads, "Supercar Superfast 600-BHP Dodge Viper SRT-10". We can't tell you where the Viper will find that extra 90 horsepower under its hood, but it appears the 2008 Dodge Viper will significantly raise the bar for domestic supercars.

If you look really, really close at the Viper, you'll also notice some dark pixels on the hood, which are likely the hood vents we've been seeing in recent spy shots of the 2008 Viper SRT-10. Hmm... Don't you think a 600-hp Viper pratically guarantees that a real Blue Devil Corvette is a done deal?

The embargo on information and photos relating to the 2008 Dodge Viper is technically in effect until 12AM EST on January 9th, the day the vehicle debuts at the 2007 NAIAS. Of course, with the way things have been going we should expect the February issue of Road and Track to be in our mailbox as we speak. Regardless, we'll have more concrete info about the car for you later, as well as verification that we've translated this pixelated cover correctly.

[Source: Road and Track]