28 Jan Viper On View

A new exhibit on view at FMM is a Viper GT2 Competition Coupe currently belonging to Cape Town’s Harp Motorsport.

Following Dodge’s official end of its factory-backed racing programme in 2001, as well as the redesigning of the Viper in 2003, the first generation GTS-Rs had been retired. Nonetheless, Dodge persevered in motor sport competition by backing a different type of racing endeavour. These racing vehicles, known as Dodge Viper Competition Coupes, would be sold to those customers who wanted a ready-made track car. Because they complied with the FIA GT3 regulations, these vehicles were prevented from exhibiting the same level of extreme performance characteristics of the earlier Viper GTS-Rs that ran in GT1. In this instance, Oreca ran the Viper Competition Coupe programme, building the cars for Dodge.

In 2006, Oreca subsequently uprated three cars to GT2 spec for Italian team Racing Box and Woodhouse Performance, of which apparently only two still exist. Oreca modified key areas of the cars including an uprated oil system, ABS deletion, competition pedal box, better brakes, revised aerodynamics, Inconel exhaust and chassis upgrades along with the fitment of the stronger Hollinger 6-speed sequential gearbox.

Weighing around 1 300 kg, this car, VCC 070, is one of the ex-Racing Box Vipers and has just undergone a complete rebuild that included an engine refresh with new spec cam and followers (all parts supplied by Exotic Engine Developments, Nevada), gearbox refresh with new bearings, damper overhaul, new Brembo brake discs and caliper overhaul, new Motec CDL3 dash, new Lexan windows throughout, two levels of silenced exhaust system and a complete body-off repaint.

The engine is an 8 200 cc V10 with Magneti Marelli electronic control delivering approx 520 kW at 6 200 r/min. After four races in early 2006, Rudolf Racing bought the car from Racing Box and it won the Dutch Supercar Championship in 2006 and 2007.

Visitor Note: The Viper GT2 is currently on view in Hall D.