Dodge cars

Video: SRT Viper GTS Launch Edition debuts at Pebble Beach

The new generation SRT Viper was recently launched onto the market and already it has been joined by a stellar special edition. The Viper GTS Launch Edition was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours and since many of us did not get the chance to be at the show, here’s a video that shows the exterior and interior of the new Viper, along with some driving scenes.

For those who do not remember, the new SRT Viper GTS Launch Edition is painted in the company’s famous blue finish combined with bright-white racing stripes. Under the hood, this special edition maintains the same 8.4-liter V-10 engine that delivers a total of 640 HP and 600 lbs=-ft of torque. It will only be built in a limited run, so anyone interested may want to hurry up and send in a check!

Dodge Pulls Out of NASCAR

When Penske decided to drop Dodge in favor of Ford, Dodge was left on the outside of the NASCAR world looking in. They had no team to field their newly developed NASCAR Sprint Cup ride and things looked pretty bleak.

Things went from bleak to ugly, as Dodge failed to have its Charger ready for testing this week and reports indicate that this means Dodge is out of NASCAR for the 2013 season. There is no clear-cut reasoning for Dodge pulling out so abruptly, but many sources are pointing toward Fiat, Dodge’s parent company, having no interest in NASCAR and forcing the pull out.

Last time we checked, Chrysler – including Dodge – is what kept Fiat’s ass afloat this year and to take away NASCAR as a means of advertising seems a little odd by a company that knows nothing about the “sport.”

At the press conference held at 2:30 ET today, Dodge SRT and Motorsports CEO Ralph Gilles only confirmed that Dodge is dropping its NASCAR presence. "Following our thorough five month process weighing all options in the sport, we have decided to withdraw from NASCAR racing," he said in an opening statement during the news conference. "You have no idea how much we feel the pain," he added.

This announcement solidifies the elimination of the last rear-driven, V-8-powered factory car from the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Every other car on the circuit is now front-wheel drive.

Dodge’s last NASCAR withdrawal happened in 1977, and it did not return until 2001. By that pace, we should see Dodge return to NASCAR sometime in the 2030s... Actually, we are willing to bet that Dodge returns in just a few years, at the most.

UPDATE 08/07/2012: NASCAR followed up Dodge’s press conference with a statement of their own concerning Dodge’s departure. “Dodge has been a great partner to NASCAR for many years, and they have been part of numerous memorable moments throughout our history,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “They made a business decision not to return in 2013, as they did in 1977 before returning in 2001. We wish them well and hope they again will choose to return to NASCAR at a later date."

Click past the jump to read NASCAR’s presser.

Car Infographics: The Supercars of the 2012 Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics are in full swing now and medals are quickly adding up. We started wondering what about the varying cars of the world? There is no auto racing in the Olympics and a love of awesome cars is one thing that is shared throughout the entire world. So why not include them?

Here at Topspeed, we felt it was time to give our 4-wheeled friends a fair chance and display the top supercars from each of the countries participating in the 2012 Summer Games – those that produce supercars. So let’s have a look at what these countries have to offer. You may be surprised to find out what countries produce some awesome supercars and what ones don’t produce any at all.

We stand to learn a lot about the world of supercars while putting this piece together, so we are certain you will learn a ton right along with us.

Click past the jump to read our entire list and check out our full infographic.

Video: Watch as the Fun Part of This Crash Comes a Little Late

You’ve just gotta love rally racing. No barriers, limited pavement, a co-driver telling you where in the hell to go and high rates of speed all make it a blast... to watch, at least. Sometimes after a gnarly crash, the driver and co-driver have a little chit-chat about what went wrong and in this case, the co-driver and driver obviously have a good relationship as they joke about the track “drops outside,” which means the outside edge has a steep drop-off.

The fun starts with the Brakim Racing driver getting the co-driver’s “drops outside” warning a little too late and comes in a little too hot. The car rolls down an embankment and the two have a joking exchange before finally figuring out how to get out of their rolled over Dodge Neon.

The co-driver decides that his window is the best exit path and starts climbing out. Well, we guess the crash wasn’t quite over at that point, as the co-driver needs some pretty quick reflexes to keep himself from getting smashed.

What exactly happened? Well, you’ll have to check out the above video to find out. Keep in mind that some of the language in this video is a little NSFW, so you might want to save this one for when you are at home.

Photo of the Week: 2009 Dodge Viper ACR in the Mojave Desert

Our latest Photo of the Week is arguably the most artistic photo we’ve seen to date and was taken by none other than Notbland aka Webb Bland.

Taken in the Mojave Desert in early 2011, the impromptu photoshoot where this photo is featured took place in just a 45-minute session with no lights and no assistance. Yet to our amateur photography eyes, we can’t even begin to think of how this photo could have been improved.

Depicting an extremely unique 2009 Dodge Viper ACR, this particular image is so special because the Viper ACR’s masculinity has been captured beautifully with the setting sun in the background helping to pull this photo off. Then there’s the lovely wooden structures in the background of this generally abandoned desert and the juxtaposition between the technologically advanced Viper ACR and the surrounds.

As a reminder, the 2009 Dodge Viper ACR features a massive 8.4-liter V10 engine producing an incredible 600 horsepower and 560lb-ft of torque. It is consequently able to sprint around the Nordschleife in what was a record time of just 7:12.1 late last year after bettering the record which was previously held by the Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package.

On a side note, be sure to check out Notbland’s Facebook fan page, his flickr account and his personal website for more amazing work.

Travis Pastrana and His Dodge Dart Get First Win

Travis Pastrana and his 2013 Dart rally car have had a run of bad luck in this year’s Global RallyCross Championship, as a series of crashes have knocked him out of just about every race. Well, Travis’ run of bad luck appears to be coming to an end, as the Dart he pilots finally won a RallyCross race.

The win came on the New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend and it began nearly as well as it ended. Travis pulled in a 3rd place start, giving him an advantage over the majority of the field. He took advantage of his great positioning to overcome the two cars ahead of him and pull out the checkered flag in this heat.

Thanks to that win in his heat, Pastrana got a front-row seat to start the final race and managed to secure and keep hold of 1st place through the race. Needless to say, Travis has been rather disappointed with his results so far this year, as he was quoted saying “It’s been so long, I almost forgot what it’s like to win.”

Pastrana is definitely a TopSpeed favorite, thanks to his openness to hop in front of the camera and give us witty comments, awesome rally videos, or even challenge his own teammates, so to see him finally bring home a checkered flag is nice. Here’s to many more this year and we hope the worst is behind him.

Travis and his Dart tackle their next race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 28th and 29th.

You can check out the above video to see the summary of the entire event.

Video: Viper GTS-R Testing in Virginia

We absolutely love the new SRT Viper, and have since the second Chrysler’s performance arm started teasing it. We also love videos of racecars zipping around tracks with awesome flyby shots. Well, you can imagine our excitement when a video of the new SRT Viper GTS-R – the car set to tear apart the American Le Mans Series – was released, showing it ripping up Virginia International Raceway.

This isn’t the first time we have seen the Viper GTS-R in action, but this video is a very telling one. All of the testing videos of the Viper GTS-R were on random tracks that the ALS does not use in its series. Well, VIR just so happens to be a part of this year’s ALS, and SRT has promised us that the SRT Viper will debut this season, but haven’t given a date.

With the VIR race coming up in September, and the fact that the SRT Viper looks just about race ready in the video – sans a little paintwork – we are thinking that the VIR race on September 15th is the likely debut date for this new machine. We could be completely off base here, but on the surface it looks this way.

Regardless of its actual debut day, we do know one thing; we cannot wait to see this thing on the track. Many moons ago, the Dodge Viper used to dominate this series, and we certainly expect to see the Viper jump right back into the 1st place slot that other cars have been keeping warm in its absence.

Video: Jay Leno drives the 2013 SRT Viper GTS

Jay Leno had the pleasure of being the first civilian to drive the new 2013 SRT Viper GTS in the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. Beth Paretta and Mark Trostle were also on hand to offer a few more details on the one, the only, the pinnacle Viper pilot car, and the star of the new SRT lineup.

Leno’s review includes a side-by-side look at Vipers throughout the years, and he gets under the hood of the only new one in existence! So, what do you think: was he pleased with the new Viper, or does he still prefer the older generations? Watch the video and find out!

As a reminder, the new Viper is powered by a new 8.4-liter all-aluminum, V-10 overhead-valve engine that will deliver a total of 640 HP and 600 lb-ft of torque. The new engine is mated to an improved Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission.

SRT’s future line-up will include three models

Chrysler kicked off its new sub-brand, SRT, with the unveiling of the new generation Viper and the cars will just keep coming from here on out. The sub-brand’s second model will be the new generation Barracuda that will join the line-up for the 2015 model year and, according to MotorTrend, SRT is already working on a third model for their line-up.

Details on the third model are a bit unclear at the moment, but it could be either a successor to the Dodge Ram SRT10 or a small, two-seat sports car. Obviously, our hopes lie in a new sports car. Chrysler has already teased us with a Dodge Demon Concept designed as a competitor for the Mazda MX-5 Miata, and now that Mazda and Fiat have teamed up to build a new RWD sports roadster, we are hoping that Chrysler will consider offering a production version of the Demon.

Any thoughts on what this new model could be? Hit us up in the comments section below!

First SRT Viper sold for a whopping $300K

Last week, we reported that the first SRT Viper would be auctioned during this past weekend’s Barrett-Jackson auction in Orange Country with all the proceeds going to the Austin Hatcher Foundation. Apparently, the pleasure of driving the first model cost more than many of us anticipated; the new generation Viper sold for $300,000.

Despite this amazing sale, the SRT Viper wasn’t the most successful car at the event: the first 2013 Corvette 427 Convertible was sold for $600,000 at the auction, while a custom 2012 Mustang GT Blue Angels was sold for $400,000 last year.

As a reminder, the SRT Viper is powered by a 8.4-liter V10 engine that delivers an impressive 600 HP at 6,100 rpm and 560 pound-feet of torque at 5,000 rpm. The model will be offered in standard and GTS versions, while a GTS-R version will be offered for those who will want to enter the car in the racing competitions.