488 and Viper ACR

Beautiful cars. I bet it was a blast to hear them rip by.
How did you like driving the track? I'm thinking about doing a track day up there the end of January with the FastToys group.

 

I used to race Vipers.. absolute best streetable tack cars on the market IMO. And excellent support from the manufacturer. Dodge was always at the track lending a helping hand and if anything broke on the track they apologized for wrecking your track day and fixed it with no questions asked. They loved seeing their cars on the track and never accuse a driver of "abusing" the car on the track.. that is what it is built for.

Obviously, I'm a Ferrari guy now but I really do like the Vipers for the track.

 

I'd expect 488 Vmax to be higher than the Extreme Aero. Downforce has a price and I think the Extreme has a top speed probably 30 mph below the 488, which probably translates to lower top speed on track.

 

vMax at MRLS is moot. Neither can stretch their legs, so it comes down to traction and acceleration off T2, T5, T8A and T11.

I would expect Extreme Aero to help at the several medium speed corners present at MRLS.

Road America? The Glen? Now, we're talking, Keith!

 

Luckily theres a ton of other track where the ACR slaughters the 488.

 

The ACR beat the 918's record at Laguna Seca, doesn't it beat the 488 as well?

 

Horses for courses. ...or streets. I'd take the 488 as a track AND street car any day over any Viper, especially the ACR.

 

The 488 is three times the price of the ACR. Don't get me started on depreciation cost and wear items cost.

 

Where and why? Ignorant and curious : )

 

That's pretty awesome to hear with regard to Dodge.

 

The acr holds 13 lap records on numerous tracks. Hell even at Laguna Seca it holds the record even beat out the 918 with the same driver driving both the 918 and 918.

 

The Ferrari is great and all, but its a knife at a Gunfight compared to the ACR. The ACR's faster than even the LaFezza @ Laguna Seca I'm willing to bet.

 

I hear what you guys are saying, but I was more asking the why of it, not the results. So took a look at some stats. Pretty interesting:

Viper ACR
645HP/600lb-ft 8.4L V10
~3400 lbs
Brembo Ceramics
ACR specific Kuhmo Ecsta V720 - 295/355
1800lbs of downforce at 177mph

488
661HP/561lb-ft 3.9L V8 twin turbo
~3300-3500 lbs? Hard to find the facts
Brembo Ceramics
Michelin Pilot Super Sports - 245/305
717lbs of downforce at 155mph


So does most of it come down to more downforce and more mechanical grip through larger contact patch and better tire compound?

 

Both

 

If your objective is to go fast on track, only a fool would think that a 488 will outrun an ACR Extreme Aero, especially if the 488 still wears Pilot Super Sports.

 

I don't know LS super well, but I thought T11 was a very slow, somewhat non-aero corner and I'd think the 488 might have a good chance of close to the same T11 Vmin and out accelerating the ACR over the top of the hill as aero drag kicked in, provided both cars could stay flat over the top of the hill. Of course the ACR can stay in power and brake later. It would be interesting to see.

 

I cant think of too many street cars exceeding 170 if even 160 at the Glenn.
Even Monticello with its big straight, some people claim to exceed 175 but I am not so sure of that.

I do think that through the esses at the Glenn, and the various other corners the ACR will carry so much more speed, that any few mph terminal velocity a 488 might gain over an acr on the straights will be more than made up trough and out of the bends by the acr.

Its always interesting that people look at street metrics like 0-60 and think that has a solid extrapolation to a cars track time. No car starts at a standstill on track, accleration from 40-140 is more important than 0-60, accelration and traction out of bends, even more important still, ability to carry speed, and corner entry speeds, along with brake performance, overall chassis balance, and aero/mecanical grip are all the big picture pieces for laptimes.

Weight is crucial here too, my bet is that a 488 wet weight is significantly more than an acr. What makes the 488 stand out is that its also a very useable and civilised streetcar, whereas the acr is honed for track. When ferrari hones a 488 speciale or whatever its called for the track, comparisons may be valid.Even then the driver will be the biggest factor between the two.

The ACR as people have pointed out is actualy useable on the track for the meerly well off or even fiscaly sound Billionaires , its durable, not ruinous to run in terms of consumables, parts, and depreciation. The drawback tot he ACR is you have to be into the viper schtick, which is a narrow bandwidth of peopel.

 

Well stated. Same for Corvette Z06's. The ACR is a track car that is barely street legal. The Ferrari is a street car that has track cred, but is essentially an exotic street machine. Now if Ferrari comes out with a 488 CS or Speciale, let's see a comparison!

 

You know they will when sales start to get soft.