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Watch a 920-HP Viper Race a Hellcat-Powered Viper

hellcat viper vs nitrous viper
Watch a 920-HP Viper Race a Hellcat-Powered ViperHoonigan on Youtube

Most people wouldn't think to call any generation of Dodge Viper "underpowered" from the factory. The V-10 monsters are better known for accidental powerslides, snap-oversteer crashes, and rolling burnouts than they are for needing any sort of power modification. But, more is always more, so of course someone put a Hellcat motor in one.

The 797-hp 2022 Hellcat Redeye supercharged 6.2-liter makes considerably more grunt than the 450-hp V-10 that came in the 2001 Viper. In case that 350-hp gain isn't enough, though, the builder of this project also swapped the supercharger pulley and upgraded the fuel injectors, pushing peak power on E85 to 850 hp. In a car infamous for being a handful with just over half of that power, that sounds terrifying. And when you see it on a drag strip, it looks terrifying, too.

In this case, it's up against an even more overpowered Viper. Hoonigan's latest video pits the Hellcat Viper against a 2016 Viper with the stock engine block. That engine block is running with a tune and a 300 shot of nitrous, though, so maximum output is a gut-punching 920 wheel horsepower with 1050 lb-ft of torque. Like the Hellcat Viper, that power is still handled by a six-speed manual transmission, so the driver better be smooth.

The race sounds tight, but there's an important distinction. Though 150 lbs lighter, the newer Viper is using ACR-spec 355-width performance tires, while the Hellcat Viper has drag-specific bias-plys. In the end, that's enough of a grip advantage to overcome the 2016's raw power in a 1000-ft drag race. But given how sketchy the first run of this straight-line race looked in the Hellcat Viper, we think we'd probably prefer a stock Viper that's tame enough to handle winding road blasts. Which would you pick?

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