First Drive Review
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The automotive equivalent of a circus tiger. (It’s even available in orange.)
Le Mans Viper driver Tommy Kendall summed up the SRT Viper TA perfectly in two sentences: “The best thing about this car is that it will do exactly what you tell it to do. And the worst thing about this car is that it will do exactly what you tell it.” He’s not kidding. Turn it too quickly, or get too deep into the 8.4-liter V-10 in the middle of a corner—in just about any gear—and the rear end will break loose, putting up a serious fight against the driver’s car control. This track-focused model is obedient, but it demands deference. It’s the automotive equivalent of a circus tiger; one wrong move and you’re going to be in a world of hurt.
A TA—it stands for “Track Attack,” so you can get your mind out of the gutter—starts life as a base Viper, and gets a host of alterations made with a single focus: lowering lap times. These include Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires, two small carbon-fiber splitters with a replaceable wear strip, new damper tuning, 20-percent stiffer springs, a 35-percent stiffer front anti-roll bar, a 31-percent stiffer rear anti-roll bar, a high-camber alignment, reworked brake rotors and pads, and a carbon-fiber engine-bay brace and rear spoiler. Orange stitching on the cloth interior doesn’t make you any faster, just feel that way. The engine, gearbox, and shifter are the same as those found in base cars.
Get Down with the Downforce
For those who have made such changes to personal cars, that list may sound a little skimpy considering the TA commands a $16,000 premium over the $104,480 base car, but the changes are certainly quantifiable. For example, those little splitters and the spoiler help produce a claimed 460 pounds of downforce at 150 mph. Compared to the base car’s 75 pounds at 150 mph, the additional downward push is not only significant, but very useful on a race track. The only downside to the extra downforce is its attendant increase in drag, which means the TA tops out at 193 mph, SRT says, 13 mph lower than regular cars.
The aggressive alignment, which we’re told is the maximum camber the stock suspension will allow, certainly helps mid-corner grip, but it also delivers whip-crack turn-in and reduced tire wear over extended lapping. Reaching the grip limit, however, requires a tender touch. We heeded Kendall’s words as we gently explored the car’s limits at California’s intimidating Willow Springs International Raceway; every lap, we braked later, entered corners faster, and built speed through the big track’s huge, fast sweepers. The key to mastering something as raw as the Viper TA is to steadily build on prior laps, rather than trying to lop off huge chunks of time.
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 3-door hatchback
BASE PRICE: $120,480
ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 20-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 512 cu in, 8382 cc
Power: 640 hp @ 6200 rpm
Torque: 600 lb-ft @ 5000 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 98.8 in
Length: 175.7 in
Width: 76.4 in Height: 49.1 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 3350 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 3.2 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 7.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 11.5 sec
Top speed: 193 mph
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 12/19 mpg
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