2008 Supercharged Dodge Challenger on 2040-cars

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Viper ACR privateers' Nurburgring runs detailed in new documentary

Discontinued in the summer of 2017, the Dodge Viper is out of production, relegated to the hearts and garages of those who love it. But as a last hurrah, a crowdfunded privateer team took two Viper ACRs to the famous Nurburgring racetrack to both celebrate the Viper's existence and to try and lap the long Nordschleife track in under 7 minutes. Going after the fastest recorded production car lap, they gunned for the Lamborghini Huracan Performante's 6:52 time, but hot August temperatures caused tire problems and the Viper remained on the wrong side of 7 minutes despite the best efforts of ex-Porsche cup driver Lance David Arnold and SRT driver Dominik Farnbacher. In essence, the team ran factory-spec Viper ACR Extremes on factory tires; showroom fresh, the cars were delivered straight from Texas. But despite not getting under the 7-minute mark, they still became the first non-automaker-affiliated team to set an official Nurburgring lap time — and the 7:01.3 they laid down on their best run made the Viper ACR the fastest RWD, fastest manual and fastest American-built car on the track. Now, a full documentary of the record attempt has been released to the public, detailing all the pain and exhilaration that goes into running this kind of cars on their absolute limit on one of the most demanding racetracks in the world. It's 24 minutes of pure excellence. You can also re-view the record lap here in its entirety: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Dodge Videos dodge viper acr

Dodge performance trio thrashed on Roadkill

Of all the shows that Motor Trend does, Roadkill is probably the last one we'd pick to evaluate the latest performance automobiles. That's not a slight against David Freiburger or Mike Finnegan, who host the show: they're certified gear-heads and the go-to guys when it comes to hot rods, rat rods and anything grungier than it is shiny. But as exemplary as they are of Detroit muscle, the Charger Hellcat, Challenger Hellcat and Viper are also shiny new pieces of metal. Still, since it will now be sponsoring the show, someone at Dodge apparently thought it would be a good idea to hand Freiburger and Finnegan the keys to the company's top performance models. So to ring the best out of them, they solicited help from some of their colleagues at MT, gained access to a closed-down air strip, devised as many ways as they could to destroy the tires, and proceeded to set about doing exactly that. Watch the grin-inducing mayhem unfold in the half-hour clip above. Related Video:

Ford Police Interceptors dominate Michigan State Police testing

Once again, Ford Motor Company builds the fastest police vehicles. The Blue Oval touted the news in an official release following Michigan State Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department testing. Ford did very well. Except for one acceleration metric – zero to 10 miles per hour – the Blue Oval's Taurus and Explorer-based cop cars were the quickest, with particular praise coming for the EcoBoost-powered models, which bested Chevrolet and Dodge's V8-powered variants. Dearborn's products also posted the fastest average times around MSP's vehicle dynamics course. But it wasn't all positive for Ford. The only four-cylinder in the contest, the 2.0-liter, EcoBoost Ford SSP Sedan, had both the lowest top speed, 120 mph, and the slowest acceleration figures. It was also the slowest in track testing. Ford's products also failed to match the braking and top speeds of its rivals from Detroit and Auburn Hills – the rear-drive Charger Pursuit posted the best braking stats of the entire test, while the V8-powered Chevrolet Caprice hit the highest top speed, at 155 mph. Ford did score a top speed award, among SUVs, but at 132 mph, the naturally aspirated Police Interceptor Utility had to share its award with the equally fast, rear-drive Chevrolet Tahoe. The LA County Sheriff's timing isn't publicly available, but according to Ford, the EcoBoost-powered police cars put on a similarly impressive show for cops on the West Coast. We've assembled a spreadsheet on Google Docs that offers an easy to browse comparison of the different stats assembled by the Michigan State Police, and divided the vehicles between standard V6-powered sedans, high-performance sedans (EcoBoost and V8 models), and SUVs. You can check it out here. Related Video: