so as some of you know that have heard my posts in the past i work for a dodge dealer but owned a Z but now own a caliber srt-4(don't worry this thread is not about that car)

i was invited/chosen to go to the srt immersion event in detroit last week, it was to give information about handling of srt owners/vehicles and highlight was to familiarize us with the new 2013 viper.

we had classroom stuff the first day at chrysler headquarters and 2nd day was a track day of sorts at chryslers private proving grounds in the middle of nowhere in michigan. got to drive 2 autocross tracks, one with the challenger and one with the jeep srt8. then drove a challenge event where there were to mirror image auto-x tracks with 2 of the same cars and you start the same time and whoever finishes first wins. that event was with the 300 srt8. i did about 3 or 4 of those and won each time.
then we did the same thing with the charger superbee srt8, had more time available and did about 8 or 9 of those and i won those as well. had no cones or offs all day-was pretty happy.

after lunch we got to drive the new viper-unfortunately is was only a short ride of about 2-3 miles on some backroads in the facility. got up to 104 mph. car feels really good compared to old one, handling is 150% better, interior is way improved, looks great, car is lighter, more power, all around better just more expensive-base price $99k grand, up to $140k with options. i would say it is a bargain, you are getting a ferrari killer for 1/2 price.

then the instructor took us out for a hot lap on chryslers 1.7 mile road course in the compound at full speed, hit 150mph on the straight, and was giving it almost all it had in every corner and the car still could have done more.

i wish i could have gotten pictures but we were not allowed to have cameras at all for the 2 days. (one person did get a photo and got in huge trouble for posting a photo on allpar.com-dude got arrested, fine, fired from his job and his dealership got in trouble with chrysler)

 

I had to My buddy does this for Porsche. He has some good stories as well.

Chris

 

did you not read the section about i was not allowed to have pics?

hardly say it was worthless. offered info about some cars and driving, pretty relevant to this section of the discussion board.

 

Broham. I did read. If you read my response its says "I had to". its an eweb thing(internet) to post if one says I can't post pics, I will later...

No worries. "Looks" Like you had fun

Chris

 

I missed the i had to thing, sorry

yeah had a blast, you know what is crazy? i went on the drivesrt.com website the other day and there are pics and article about us being there, but the pics were of things they want the public to see, not the stuff we saw on the sidelines and behind closed doors.

 

How was autox'ing the Jeep?! lol. come to think of it, all of those cars seem like cows (challenger, 300, charger). I know SRT is all about power delivery and turning tires into a smokey haze the color of sweatpants; you said viper was a "ferrari-killer" and "giving it all in the corner...with more to give." Do the other SRT vehicles handle relative to their power? weight?

I dont mean to say a SRT-8 300 will cut a corner like a viper....

 

I personally did not like auto-x in the 2012 jeep, the previous model seemed better to me, this one felt heavy and i never got comfortable with it where i felt like i was in control. i liked the charger superbee, it seemed like a lot of fun for its size, 300 was nice but not quite as stiff. i did not like the early model challenger 08-10 (too sloppy)but the 11 and up was much better. one of my clients just bought a 12 superbee and we installed a cold air intake and diablo programmer-it felt strong and drove well in corners.