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Dodge Viper saved from crusher by students, but will it last?

The saga of the Washington state community college hoping to keep its allegedly pre-production Dodge Viper out of the maw of the crusher is going strong. Not only does the school still have the car, but there's a chance that the college might even get to keep it.
The whole situation flared up in March when the South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, WA, received a notice from Chrysler Group that requested that the school's Viper be destroyed. The automaker had loaned the muscle car to it about a decade ago to use for educational purposes in its auto tech classes. With the Dodge growing long in the tooth, "it is unlikely that these vehicles offer any educational value to students," the company said in its press release on the matter.
However, the college balked at destroying its Viper, despite the fact it had signed a contract with Chrysler Group to do so. The school further claimed that its car was incredibly special because it was a pre-production example and just the fourth one made back in 1992. Although, as we pointed out at the time, the photos of the school's vehicle showed a coupe that looked like a newer Viper GTS.

Only in Japan: Dodge van one-make racing series is a thing

Japan seems willing to embrace a level of automotive insanity that many other places lack. Whether it's 1,200-horsepower Nissan GT-Rs blasting through tight, tree-lined mountain roads or advertisements with dances for the Toyota Prius Plug-in, the country definitely has a unique way of expressing a love for autos. The D-Van Grand Prix might be one of our favorite examples yet of crazy Japanese car culture, because the annual, one-make race at the Ebisu Circuit is exclusively for heavily customized Dodge vans. Like many great things, this wonderfully crazy idea came from a little rule breaking. D-Van Grand Prix organizer Takuro Abe was at a track event for a motorcycle racing school, and vans were used to haul the bikes around. During lunch someone came up with the idea for a race. Ignoring that the big machines weren't actually allowed on the circuit, the drivers headed out. The popularity has just grown since then. These days, the racing vans absolutely aren't the stock machines from the event's inspiration. In addition to stripped interiors and track rubber that you might expect, the list of mods for them is a mile long. For every possible advantage, the racers fit them with things like Brembo brakes, cross-drilled rotors, heavy-duty transmissions, and much more. Seeing vans lumbering around the track is very weird at first, but the racers take the competition very seriously. These folks even employ all sorts of little tricks to coax the most from the machines. This is a fascinating motorsports story, but be sure to turn on the subtitles to understand the interviews with the competitors.

Follow along for the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon live reveal

Updates: Live Demon premiere in Times Square and a viewing party on Woodward Ave. here in Detroit. The first Hellcat sold for about $800k at a Barrett-Jackson auction. New Pennzoil video with the last Dodge Viper premiering tomorrow. "Making the suits nervous is how we know we're on the right track." No love for accountants. "A modern day version of the Ramchargers." "The harder car companies work to take the driver out of the equation, the harder we work to keep them in." "We want to impress the NHRA more than the PTA." "It would have been easy to take a Hellcat and make it a bit faster." SRT says tuners have it all wrong. This is the way to build a performance drag car. Every Demon comes with a leather-bound manual that shows how to properly set up the car for tracks. 2.3 seconds to 60 mph 9.65 second 1/4 mile 840 horsepower This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Original Post: The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is coming tonight, and we'll be bringing you live coverage and updates from New York. There have been months of teasers, trailers, and hints, but some of the big questions have yet to be answered. Dodge is showing the reveal live on the Demon's promo site, ifyouknowyouknow.com. Watch the stream and follow along here for the latest Demon info. The hype started back in January with the first video, "Cage." At the time, all we knew was that the Demon was going to be a hopped-up version of the already juiced up Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. After that, we learned that the Demon would be significantly lighter thanks to optional - yes, optional - passenger and rear seats. In addition to the seats, the Demon comes with lightweight wheels wrapped in sticky 315/40R18 Nitto drag radials at all four corners. Dodge showed off the Demon's crate of goodies, but it was a few more weeks before we learned what was inside. The Demon comes with a jack, an electric impact wrench, torque wrench, and a tire pressure gauge. The kit will be used to swap skinny front tires for use on a drag strip. As cool as those 315 section tires look up front, they hurt far more than they help on a drag strip.