Features

American Dream
American Dream

Scott Dahlquist's closed case on the 450-horse Viper GTS Coupe. Photos by the author.

Ever since I shot the Viper GTS Coupe showcar for SCI's September '93 issue I've been foaming at the mouth to drive the real thing. Back then our GTS cover car was one of only two Viper coupes in existence, and the Chrysler guy assigned to babysit it with us protected it like a sullen mother grizzly. Not only was driving strictly verboten, even hungrily ogling the Coupe seemed a dangerous proposition.
I did get to sit in the car, at least, which brought vroom-vroom daydreams of hot-lapping my home track, Willow Springs. Nahhh, too ugly...Angeles Crest Highway was maybe more like it. Or actually, since it's fantasy anyway, why not the Nürburgring?
As everybody and his hund knows by know, someone at Chrysler must have shared in this fantasy, because that's exactly where they invited the press for the Viper GTS' production intro: Through Germany, Belgium, and France to take in the 'Ring, Spa, and Reims.
Nobody complained about the track selection, of course, but in a way this focus on the glory of the old GT era took away from the GTS' true forte-which I soon learned is high-speed touring with a couple of camera bags stuffed in back.

Insure Domestic Tranquility

The Coupe provides the same driving exhilaration as the Viper RT/10 roadster but offers infinitely more sophistication and usability. Instead of a crude, rough, and noisy-albeit tremendously fun-hotrod, the GTS is the kind of car you could drive every day and always get out of refreshed. The brute power and controlled aggression of this chassis seem, quite frankly, happier and more usable in the Coupe's calmer and less hurried environment.
Which is not to say that there's anything dull or even particularly soothing about driving this car. Even on slow corners the Coupe's 490 lbs.-ft. of torque (10 more than the roadster) make it very exciting to power out of an apex. Massive rubber on the front and rear ends keeps the car planted during hard acceleration and turn-in, and all 450 bhp (35 more than the current RT/10) are usable once the nose is pointing straight ahead and travelling more than 30 mph.
American Dream The cast-aluminum wheels are 17x10 inches up front and 17x13 in the rear, and Chrysler has dialed in some additional understeer for the Coupe in part by experimenting with different wheel/tire combos. They found that Michelin Pilot MXX3s sized at 275/40ZR17 front and 335/35ZR17 rear gave the enclosed car enough push to eliminate the roadster's twitchy turn-in feel. This lets the driver pound harder and deeper into corners without experiencing debilitating levels of pucker. Any car capable of 0-60 in 4.1 seconds demands your respect, but after a few days you begin to learn how to push the GTS with confidence.
During testing on the Nürburgring I hooked up with another Viper GTS that was working the track fairly well. As we nose-to-tailed through some of the faster turns I almost became transfixed by the graceful lines and motions of the car ahead of me. Any race instructor will tell you to follow your own line, not that of the guy ahead of you, but the Viper's muscular haunches, fat rear tires, and dual white racing stripes covered in track grime simply forced me to envision two Daytona Coupes battling for FIA championship points in 1964. (Of course having Competition Editor Peter Brock, who penned those FIA World Champion cars, right next to me yelling "Keep it nailed!" didn't hurt, either.)
Down the track a bit farther we entered the Hohe Acht, a fast, decreasing-radius sweeper that runs uphill into the Karussel. Going into Hohe Acht both Coupes instinctively went into a slight trailing-throttle oversteer right through the apex, shifted up a gear, and then piled on great gobs of V10 horsepower to rocket into the Karussel.
During heavy braking, heel-and-toeing is much easier in the GTS than the RT/10 due to another advance that makes the closed car more livable-an adjustable rack that gives the driver four inches of fore/aft adjustment to the clutch, brake, and gas. Though the Coupe conspicuously lacks a dead pedal, the adjustable pedals, tilt steering wheel, and superior fore/aft adjustability of the new lighter seat give the GTS an outstanding driving compartment.

Checks and Balances

Even with the addition of a roof, roll-up windows, and front and rear spoilers, the GTS is some 60 pounds lighter than the RT/10 roadster. While the frame remains in essentially the same configuration, lighter-weight suspension components and new castings for the aluminum block and heads drop the GTS' weight to 3345 pounds overall. Then the twin-blistered roof and its substructure add 25% more torsional rigidity, which allows more finely tuned spring rates, shocks, and antiroll bars. As a result, the GTS corners more accurately, puts the power down more confidently, and blasts over rough surfaces with newfound stability. Another aspect of the GTS' outstanding high-speed handling is the Coupe's vastly superior aerodynamics. Put bluntly, the Viper RT/10 roadster is, well, blunt. The open shape suffers from considerable drag and lift, and little short of enclosing the entire rear deck area and adding spoilers on either end can do much about it; that, of course, is exactly what the GTS does. The result is a 0.39 Cd figure, which is nothing too phenomenal until you remember that the roadster pulls a whopping 0.50 Cd. More importantly, the rear spoiler puts up to 150 pounds of downforce into the Viper's formerly tail-happy chassis, planting the car's butt at any speed over about 100. This duckbill is also, not coincidentally, perhaps the prettiest line on the whole car.

Pursuit of Happiness

On the Nürburgring's long final straight the Coupe's impressive stability was especially appreciated as Comp-Ed Pete and I tried to plumb the top speed by redlining each gear in search of the ultimate rush. Lap after lap, however, we ran out of straight before sixth gear ran out of pull, never approaching the Coupe's promised 185 mph. It seemed only the nearby autobahn would be a suitable test site.
Fine: Headlights on, trip the left turn signal, and kiss the 'Ring goodbye. The initial acceleration blast onto the unlimited section of autobahn was outstanding, and soon our closing speed on some of the slower right-lane vehicles was at least 100 mph. Again we took the Coupe to redline in fifth then quickly shifted to sixth, and this time we had a clear field ahead. Alas, the 6-speed's top cog proved predictably over-tall. Even whopping great slugs of the GTS' torque couldn't pull the engine past 3000 revs in sixth, which works out to a cool 165+ but is still far short of advertised. As with the ZR1 Corvette, the GTS' top speed is more readily approached in fifth.
Despite this disappointment, the Coupe's behavior at these nevertheless-heady rates was exemplary. The ducktail rear spoiler is balanced by a functional front unit and louvers over the front wheels to prevent pressure buildup under the nose.

Speedy and Public Trial

Brock and I continued blasting down the autobahn until we fetched up in Belgium with a bump. Most of the EC countries' border checkpoints have been eliminated, of course, and if it weren't for the decrepit Belgian road surface we might have blasted right out of Germany without noticing.
Belgium seemed considerably toastier than Germany, too: The hot afternoon sun soon created the need for some heavy air conditioning, and it does have to be admitted that the GTS' cockpit tends to warm quickly. As in the traditional RT/10, the Coupe's exhaust runs through the lower rocker panels on its way out of the car, though on the GTS (and the latest roadsters as well) the pipes continue all the way back and exit in the rear. Not only does this cut down on leg burns, it largely cures the old roadster's miserable, flatulent engine note; with tailpipes in place, the muscular V10 sounds more like a big-block of yore than a delivery van with digestive problems. The GTS' a/c kept us frosty and pleased, and of course any power the compressor robbed from the engine was a drop in the ocean.
Then, as we entered one small village, a kid about 12 years old saw the procession of Viper Coupes and went nuts. He jumped through hedges lining the town square, hopped over benches, and ran after our caravan cheering and yelling as if the Allies had liberated his village (again).
I watched him as we rumbled past. It was like seeing an old Super-8 of myself the first time I saw a Daytona Spyder on the road.
Running and falling and hollering, the kid followed us all the way out of town until we disappeared over the next rise. If he's really the same way that I was, seeing these monsters prowling through his village was an image that will stay with him forever.
Not many cars will do that to a boy.

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