Watch a Bunch of Viper Enthusiasts Attempt to Break the Nürburgring Lap Record
Without factory support, a group of Viper enthusiasts beat Dodge’s official time at the ‘Ring by 11 seconds.
Last year, rumors were making their rounds that a group of Dodge Viper enthusiasts was going to attempt to beat the Nürburgring lap record. This week, FoxProFilms released a documentary, 7:01 - The Story of Viper's Return to the Green Hell, showcasing what it took to attempt the record and what happened at the Nürburgring.
Viper enthusiast Russ Oasis pioneered this Nürburgring effort by starting a GoFundMe page in January of 2017. Through GoFundMe, Oasis was able to crowdfund $201,740 for the attempt. The goal was two-sided; above all was to beat the Nürburgring lap record and by doing that they would beat the last record of Dodge's official attempt. In 2011, driven by driver Dominik Farnbacher, the Viper ACR set the production car record with a time of 7:12:13. If the third-party Viper group beat the production car record of 6:57:00 set by Porsche in the 918 Spyder at the time, they would beat the Dodge factory time by more than 15 seconds.
In the documentary, you hear from multiple people who helped execute the attempt. The trial was made using a pair of 2017 Viper ACRs in GTS-R trim and a team of drivers. In addition to other details, you're shown that time management is very important when attempting to get solo track time to set a record. You may think all they need is seven to eight minutes max, but that's not the case, especially given the conditions. The Viper group mentions that it takes roughly 25 minutes for one attempt including warm up and cool down laps.
Eventually, driver Lance Arnold set a Nürburgring lap time of 7:01.3, which did not break the record at the Nürburgring but did knock 11 seconds off of Dodge's factory attempt. You will have to watch the documentary to see what happened when Arnold attempted to beat his own time.
Check out FoxProFilms documentary, 7:01 - The Story of Viper's Return to the Green Hell, below to see more of the details.
