The Dodge Viper holds a very special place in the world of performance and sport utility vehicles and in the hearts of automotive enthusiasts. When the first generation of this model went into production in 1991, it became a sensation in the market with its naturally aspirated V10 engine and impressive performance. The Viper’s last model year was 2017, though sample vehicles are still available at dealerships years later.
What better way to celebrate the life of one of history’s greatest sports cars than a drag race between two Vipers. However, this is no ordinary race – or, rather, the two competitors are far from factory Viper standards. The video at the top of this page is from Hoonigans active channel YouTube and shows us two very capable machines going head-to-head.
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The red machine is a 2001 Dodge Viper, which means it’s from the second generation model. This is a heavily updated version of the original Viper with the same 8.0 liter V10 engine under the hood. However, this particular example doesn’t have a V10 and instead, there’s a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 under the hood. The engine was from the Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye and developed 850 horsepower (625 kilowatts) after minor modifications. This power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.
Against it is the much newer 2016 Dodge Viper GTC. It had its stock 8.4-liter V10 factory, which had been modified to produce just over 900 hp (662 kW). Again, power reaches the rear wheels exclusively via a six-speed three-pedal transmission. The red car weighs 3,500 pounds (1,587 kilograms), while the white one weighs 3,350 lbs (1,519 kg).
As you can easily tell from the numbers, these cars are very well prepared for drag racing. But which one is faster? The video here contains three rounds of drag racing – see for yourself which gets the overall win.
