Chrysler Viper GTS-R
The Chrysler Viper GTS-R , more rarely referred to as the Dodge Viper GTS-R (Grand Tourismo Sport Racing), was a successful motorsport variant of the Dodge Viper . It was developed in collaboration with Chrysler from the United States, ORECA from France and Reynard Motorsport from the United Kingdom. The vehicle was first introduced at the 1995 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and has won several famous races and championships in its history. Some chassis are still used in motorsport today.
development
In the early 1990s, the Dodge Viper RT / 10 was modified by several motorsport teams and used in sports car races in North America and Europe without much success . Although the V10 engine was powerful, the vehicle was not suitable for motorsport and the teams lacked the financial means to build a vehicle that could compete against factory vehicles. A bigger problem was the fact that the Viper as a roadster did not have the torsional rigidity of a coupé. Due to the sales success of the first generation of the Viper, Dodge began modernizing the vehicle in 1995. In addition to improvements to the roadster, the model range was expanded to include a coupe known as the Viper GTS.
Although the first generation of the Viper sold well, Dodge wanted to demonstrate the potential of the new vehicle - especially in the area of handling. At the same time, Dodge hoped to increase sales in Europe, as importing the Viper was proving difficult there. Dodge's parent company Chrysler therefore confirmed the development of a racing program for the Viper GTS, which was still in development at the time. This further project allowed parts of the racing car to be used for the road car and vice versa, from which both versions benefited.
Chrysler believed it needed outside help to adapt the vehicle to not only North American but also European circuits. An agreement was reached with the French motorsport team and designer ORECA, which had many years of experience in sports car races and with whose support the Mazda 787B won the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1991 . ORECA designed and maintained the racing cars and operated Chrysler's works team in Europe. For North America, Chrysler selected the Canaska / Southwind team for the works outings.
While ORECA was developing the vehicles, the chassis and some other parts were manufactured by British designer Reynard Motorsport before they were delivered to ORECA for assembly. The Viper's engine was ideally suited for racing because it had a displacement of 7986 cm³ and was just below the limit of 8000 cm³. The V10 engine received minor modifications, with the injection system upgraded for more power and reinforcements made for more durability.
A large part of the body of the Viper GTS was retained in the racing version. To improve the aerodynamics, some important elements such as a rear wing, a rear diffuser and a front wing were added. Early models had concealed fog lights before being reinstalled for better nighttime visibility. For better lighting, additional headlights could optionally be installed in angular indentations above the radiator grille. The exhaust was led sideways out of the vehicle in front of the rear wheels. This property was already featured in the first generation of the Viper, but was no longer used in the Viper GTS. Openings in the bonnet have been added for better cooling of the engine, while additional intake openings have been placed on the roof and on the rear fenders.
After the production of five prototypes for test purposes by ORECA and Canaska / Southwind, 52 more vehicles were built. A total of 57 Viper GTS-Rs were produced. Although some vehicles were used by the factory teams, most were sold directly to customer teams. Since the end of production in 2005, ORECA has been concentrating on the support and maintenance of the existing fleet of Viper GTS-Rs.
Naming
Although the road cars are called Dodge Viper, the Viper was not sold under the Dodge brand in Europe. Since the racing cars called GTS-R were made in Europe, they are known as the Chrysler Viper GTS-R. Nevertheless, the vehicles used in North America were mostly referred to as the Dodge Viper GTS-R. The name difference depends entirely on the region. The vehicles themselves did not have a brand logo, just the Viper GTS-R lettering on the side of the bonnet .
At 24 Hours of Daytona in 2000 ORECA continued his vehicles as Dodge Viper GTS-R / T a. However, this was only done for marketing reasons for Dodge's R / T model line. These vehicles did not differ from the rest of the Viper GTS-R.
Homologation
In order to meet the requirements for several racing series in which the Viper GTS-R was to be used, a certain number of road vehicles similar to the Viper GTS-R had to be sold to the public. Although the Viper GTS-R was already very similar to the Viper GTS, an even more similar version was needed to meet the requirements for homologation .
This version called Viper GT2, because the Viper GTS-R was to be used in the European GT2 group , received the rear wing and the front splitter of the Viper GTS-R as well as its brake pads and a deeper dashboard. Replicas of the BBS racing rims were also used. The engine output has been increased to 460 hp (340 kW). Based on the paint scheme used by ORECA, all 100 vehicles had the same scheme with two blue stripes.
Racing history
When the Viper GTS-R made its motorsport debut in 1996, ORECA fielded it in the European-Asian BPR Global GT Series and in the Le Mans 24-hour race. Canaska / Southwind, however, also started in the North American IMSA GT Championship . The vehicle was first used in the 24-hour race of Daytona in the Canaska / Southwind team, which finished the race in 29th place. In the Sebring 12-hour race , the team improved by finishing in twelfth place at the end of the race. The Viper GTS-R made its debut in the ORECA team at the first round of the BPR Global GT Series in April, when the vehicle failed.
Both teams entered the Le Mans 24-hour race with two vehicles each, of which three of the four vehicles entered the finish line. Canaska / Southwind achieved the best result of the Viper GTS-R in tenth place. The two teams then returned to their racing series. Canaska / Southwind finished the season at Mosport , where it finished sixth and came second in its class. ORECA was next in the Suzuka 1000km race, finishing sixth, before finishing eighth at Brands Hatch , ninth at Spa and sixth at Nogaro .
1997 Canaska / Southwind no longer competed with the Viper GTS-R. ORECA was therefore the only team that took part in the IMSA GT Championship with a Viper. The only vehicle used in the Daytona 24-hour race reached the finish line in twelfth place. After Daytona, ORECA returned to Europe to focus on the new FIA GT Championship , which replaced the Global GT Series. There the team competed in the weaker GT2 class due to the strong competition from the Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR . At the same time, the Chamberlain customer team also competed in the FIA GT championship on a Viper GTS-R. ORECA started the season with a one-two victory over the Porsche 911 GT2 used by Roock Racing . In the other ten races of the season, six more class wins followed and ORECA won the GT2 championship. The team also entered the Le Mans 24-hour race with three vehicles. The best placement was 14th overall and fifth in its class. The Taisan customer team contested two rounds of the Japanese GT Championship with a Viper GTS-R , and achieved its best result of the season with eighth place.
ORECA consolidated its dominance in the FIA GT Championship in 1998 when the team won nine of the ten races. It also achieved its first class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished the race in eleventh place overall. Chamberlain Engineering continued to compete in the FIA GT championship and was able to gain some championship points. The team also took part in the 24-hour race in Daytona and finished the race in 14th place. In the meantime, Oftedahl Motorsport had bought a Viper GTS-R and achieved six class wins in the British GT championship with it. The team also achieved overall victory at Silverstone .
In 1999 ORECA expanded its commitment and was now active in two racing series: two vehicles each were used in the American Le Mans Series and also in the FIA GT Championship. The Viper GTS-R was victorious in each of the ten FIA GT races, nine of which went to ORECA and one to Paul Belmondo's team . While ORECA defended his championship title, Chamberlain improved to second place. In addition, with GLPK Carsport, a fourth Viper team took part in the championship. In the American Le Mans Series, ORECA also won the championship in the GTS class and won six championship races. ORECA also achieved its second class win at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The following five places were also occupied by vipers. Paul Belmondo's Viper competed in the French GT Championship, which won two races. Zakspeed achieved overall victory in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring .
For the 2000 season, ORECA decided to concentrate on North America and leave the FIA GT Championship to the private teams. The team started the season with great success when it won the Daytona 24 Hours by a narrow margin over the new factory-entered Chevrolet Corvette C5-R . ORECA won ten races in the American Le Mans Series, won the championship and was only beaten by the Corvette works team in two championship races towards the end of the season. The team also defended its second class win in a row at the Le Mans 24-hour race. In the FIA GT Championship, Paul Belmondo's team and the new Carsport Holland team won a total of four races, but were outdone by Julian Bailey and Jamie Campbell-Walter in the Lister Storm GT , who won five championship races. Therefore, the two Viper teams finished second and third in the championship behind the Lister Storm works team. In the French GT championship, the DDO, ART and MMI teams achieved a total of eight victories in the Viper GTS-R.
Chrysler's factory support for the Viper GTS-R ended in the 2001 season because Chrysler and ORECA had begun development of a Le Mans prototype , the Chrysler LMP , the previous year . ORECA therefore did not use any other vipers under their own name. So only American Viperacing remained in the American Le Mans Series on a Viper GTS-R. The team finished the championship in third place, but did not achieve any race wins. In the FIA GT Championship, however, eight different Viper teams took part in the course of the season. Larbre Compétition won three races, including the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race , and won the championship. Carsport Holland, the runner-up, took two races. Hayles Racing won the British GT Championship two points ahead of the Lister Storm works team, while Team DDO won five races in the French GT Championship and Zakspeed again won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Viper GTS-R could not repeat their past successes, as this time the Corvette works team won the class and only one Viper reached the finish.
Larbre was able to defend his title in the FIA GT Championship in 2002, but only won the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race. Carsport Holland and Paul Belmondo also won one race each, while the new Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello of BMS Scuderia Italia showed its potential with four race wins. The only other race victories on a Viper GTS-R were achieved by DDO in the French GT Championship with four wins and Zakspeed with what is now his third victory in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. A Viper supported by ORECA achieved third place in its class behind the two works Corvettes in the Le Mans 24-hour race.
2003 began the dominance of the Ferrari 550 developed by Prodrive . The Viper GTS-R were unable to win races in the FIA GT championship. Larbre as the best Viper team finished the championship in seventh place. In the French GT Championship, however, Larbre won seven races and Force One Racing two more. Team Taisan achieved its first class win in the Japanese GT Championship in a race at Fuji Speedway . For the first time, Vipers competed in the Italian GT Championship, winning five of the eight championship races during the season. At the same time, Viper took part in the 24-hour race of Le Mans for the last time, which Larbre finished in fourth place in the GTS class.
In 2004 the time of the Viper GTS-R began to run out. Only Zwaan's Racing contested a full season in the FIA GT Championship and finished ninth in the team standings at the end of the year. The remaining Vipers, however, continued to dominate the French GT Championship with eleven wins. The car also won five races in the Italian GT Championship. In 2005, only one single Viper took part in the FIA GT Championship in the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race, which reached the finish line in twelfth place. Also in the Italian GT Championship there were only three Viper teams that did not win a race. The French GT Championship was the only racing series in which the Vipers were still competitive. Nine races of the season were decided by Viper teams, including a race by former Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost .
In 2006, the Viper GTS-R continued to compete in the French and Italian GT championships, although the number of wins continued to decline. In 2007, the homologation of the Viper GTS-R expired, as the production of the Viper GTS was seven years ago. Few private drivers took part in the French and Italian GT championships on the Viper GTS-R, while Red Racing used a Viper in individual races of the FIA GT championship, but was never able to finish a race. In 2008 the Italian team Lanza Motorsport took part in the FIA GT Championship in Italy with a Viper, but did not reach the finish line.
In 2007 a Viper GTS-R was used for the first time as part of the new GT90s series in a historic race in Magny-Cours . The vehicle used was the Viper GTS-R, with which Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta won the FIA GT Championship in 1999. The same vehicle was used at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed . In addition to historical racing series, some of the vehicles are still used in popular sport, for example in the Special Touring Car Trophy and mountain races.
successes
Since its racing debut in 1996, the Viper GTS-R has achieved numerous victories and class victories as well as won many championships.
Race wins
Overall victories
- 24-hour race on the Nürburgring - 1999, 2001 and 2002
- Daytona 24 Hours - 2000
- Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race - 2001 and 2002
Class wins
- Le Mans 24 Hours - 1998 , 1999 and 2000
- Sebring 12 hour race - 2000
- Petit Le Mans - 1999
- 1000 kilometers from Fuji - 2001
- Mil Milhas Brasil - 2004
Championships
- FIA GT Championship - 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002
- American Le Mans Series - 1999 and 2000
- French GT Championship - 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005
- Belgian GT Championship - 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009
- Italian GT Championship - 2003 and 2004
- German Endurance Cup Nürburgring - 1999
successor
After Chrysler withdrew factory support after the 2000 season, and after the new model Viper appeared in 2003, the Viper GTS-Rs were gradually withdrawn. Nonetheless, Dodge believed the new Viper was suitable enough for motorsport that Dodge sponsored a racing program for the new vehicle. In contrast to the Viper GTS-R, there are no factory teams for the new model. These new vehicles, known as Dodge Viper Competition Coupes, are sold direct to customers who want a fully assembled racing vehicle. The vehicles correspond to the GT3 group and are far less sophisticated and slower than the Viper GTS-R, which corresponded to the regulations of today's GT1 group . The racing program of the Viper Competition Coupe is again managed by ORECA, where the vehicles for Dodge are built.
