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Here's the last Dodge Viper

The last Dodge Viper has rolled off the line. Ralph Gilles, FCA's Head of Design since April 2015, posted a photo gallery on Instagram with the caption "So long... #Viper." The gallery includes multiple photos of the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit, where the Dodge Viper has been built since 1995. In the gallery, we see a yellow unit with black stripes coming down the line, and Gilles is posing in front of it with Dodge/SRT Head of Design Mark Trostle. The yellow Viper is followed by a red car, with nothing else behind it on the line. That red Viper is "the ultimate last one," according to Gilles, adding that the automaker will be holding onto that unit for the company's heritage collection. You can click through the gallery here: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. When asked in the comments if the Viper was discontinued because of low sales, Gilles replied, "Not really as it sold well over the last couple of years at a great mix of mostly ACRs in the last 15 months. It has more to do with a new ejection mitigation regulation airbag that simply won't fit in our package." Despite the solemnity of the post, Gilles is upbeat about the Viper in general, saying "The Gen5 had a great 5 model year run and the Viper platform which has not changed that much over the years had a great 25 year run!" He says he has great memories with the car, and that "they are relatively robust so they will be around making memories for generations to come!" Still, we hope to see something that lives up to the Viper's wild, raw spirit come from FCA in the near future. Related Video: Related Gallery Roadkill Nights Dodge Vipers 2017 View 40 Photos News Source: Instagram: @ralphgilles Plants/Manufacturing Dodge Automotive History Coupe Performance Supercars FCA viper

2016 Dodge Viper ACR racks up lap records

With 645 horsepower and an adjustable spoiler nearly six feet wide, the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR would look at home on the runways of most any airport, air base, or aircraft carrier in the world. But it's not built for the runway. It's built for the race track. And it has positively mastered them one after another. In fact, the new Viper ACR has not only beat the lap times of its own predecessor as it set out to, but took the production-car lap record at 13 tracks across the country. The endeavor started out at the Inde Motorsport Ranch in Arizona, where development engineer Chris "The Wolf" Winkler set a lap time of 1:33.75 on the Configuration 4 track to beat every other street-legal vehicle to ever lap the circuit. Then it was off to Buttonwillow, the MotorSport Ranch (in Cresson, TX), Big Willow, VIR, Grattan, Pittsburg, GingerMan, the Motown Mile, Nelson Ledges, Waterford Hills, and Road Atlanta. And with the new American Club Racer, Dodge took the lap record at each and every one. The journey culminated just days ago at Laguna Seca, where track expert Randy Pobst climbed into the Viper ACR and set a lap time of 1:28.65. That's 5.27 seconds faster than the previous ACR's time, and 1.24 seconds faster than the Porsche 918 Spyder that held the record until now. The sum total is a bragging-rights sheet of lap records set at 13 tracks across these United States. And you don't have to take Dodge's word on that. The records have been certified by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), cementing the ACR's place in the record books. Nice work if you can get it, and you can scope it out in the video above and press release below. Related Video: 2016 Dodge Viper ACR Is Undisputed Track Record King - Ultimate street-legal race car sets new high-performance benchmark with more track records than any production car in the world - Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has certified lap records at 13 road courses, including world-famous Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta and Virginia International Raceway - With 645 horsepower and more torque than any naturally aspirated engine in a production car, the ACR is purpose built for weekend club racers who want the most extreme, but street-legal, track car available - Significant aerodynamic and suspension upgrades, new Carbon Ceramic brakes with six-piston calipers from Brembo and high-performance Kumho tires, specifically designed for the new 2016 ACR, set this Viper apart on any road course November 3, 2015, Auburn Hills, Mich.

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #317 LIVE!

We record Autoblog Podcast #317 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
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