"Except for an SR-71 Blackbird or a Saturn V rocket, the Dodge Viper is the absolute last vehicle that needs any more power. So naturally, the sick bastards at Chrysler's SRT unit (that's Street and Racing Technology) have given the 2008 Dodge Viper more power. A lot more power. When it's unveiled at the 2007 North American International Auto Show on January 8, the already absurdly quick and hairy Dodge Viper will be packing a larger version of its V10 pumping out another 90 horsepower and 25 pound-feet of torque. That brings the underhood totals for the 2008 Dodge Viper to 8.4 liters, 600 hp and 560 lb-ft of torque. In the words of the great philosopher Tony Montana, "Say 'allo to muy wittle fwend." It probably shouldn't come as a surprise. We do, after all live in a time when any Tom, Dick or Dieter can roll into his local Mercedes-Benz dealer and drive away in a sedan with more than 600 hp. Let us repeat that and this time we want you to think about it for a second: more than 600 horsepower! Still, it wasn't German sedans that inspired Dodge to bulk up the Viper so much as the recently introduced Chevy Corvette Z06. The top Vette's 505 hp comes out of a teeny-tiny little 7.0-liter V8. With 8.3 liters split among 10 cylinders, the Viper should have been making much more than the paltry 510 hp it was putting out. That's only about 400 more horsepower than the Honda Accord we drove in college.
It is the particular problem of the Viper SRT-10 that it must be outrageously powerful — not just very, very powerful. The whole appeal of the cartoonish Viper is its absurdity. And with the rest of the world becoming increasingly absurd around it, well.... So now with an even 600 hp, Dodge says the Viper will be able to rocket from a standstill to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds. In truth, Dodge always said the 2007 Dodge Viper could rocket to 60 mph in less than 4 seconds. So now, it must be able to hit 60 mph in even less than less than 4 seconds. Think of the extra time owners will accumulate over the years! Dodge also says the 2008 Viper will be able to go from 0-100-0 mph in just above than 12 seconds. This, well, this is illegal. The secret to all of this is that huge blast-furnace of an engine bolted immediately in front of the car's two passenger seats. The aluminum V10 was bored out by 1 millimeter, raising overall displacement from 8.3 to 8.4 liters. With the help of McLaren Performance Technologies and Ricardo, Inc., the boys of SRT also designed new cylinder heads with larger valves and added variable valve timing to the exhaust side. SRT claims this to be the first use of VVT in a high-performance cam-in-block engine.
