With a gargantuan pushrod V10, a classic cab rearward silhouette and a reputation for being one of the most savage and unforgiving cars ever built, the Dodge Viper will certainly go down in history as one of the most iconic American cars ever – if not one of the most legendary cars ever built, period.
Sadly, the Dodge Viper has been dead for a few years now, but the most recent iteration of the American performance icon is still a very relevant performance benchmark. The fifth-gen Dodge Viper ACR holds the production car lap record at numerous American race tracks, despite its relatively low asking price when new and six-speed manual transmission, and lapped the Nurburgring in a scarcely believable 7:01.30 by a group of ambitious privateers led by Viper Exchange Racing owner Ben Keating. Keating also plans on racing a privateer Ford GT at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans this year.
The Viper doesn’t just excel on the circuit, either. It can also hold its own in a drag race. Hennessey Performance Engineering recently published a video on its YouTube channel showing a perfectly stock fifth-gen Viper lining up up against a Ford Mustang GT350R tuned to with the HPE850 package for a roll race.
To keep up with the Dodge Viper, Hennessey strapped a 2.9L supercharger on top of the Mustang GT350R’s 5.2L Voodoo flat-crank V8 engine. With it comes higher-flow throttle body, fuel injectors, heat exchanger and air induction system. All told, the HPE850 system is good for 858 horsepower and 673 lb-ft of torque, and can run the quarter-mil in 10.8 seconds. 0-60 time on an HPE850 Ford Mustang GT350R is tested at 3.3 seconds.
We thought the Mustang would embarrass the Viper, as it has over 200 hp on the Viper – but the results may surprise you. Check out the video embedded above.