2016 Dodge Viper ACR is the fastest street-legal Viper. Ever

What you are looking at here is the fastest street-legal Viper track car, ever – the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR.

Developed by the SRT engineering team, their main focus was on aerodynamics, chassis and tyres to maximise grip and produce “never-seen-before handling capabilities and unprecedented lap times”.

“Our goal is to arm our enthusiasts with the ultimate Viper track car to dominate road courses around the world,” said Tim Kuniskis, President and CEO of Dodge and SRT brands.

Powered by a handcrafted, all-aluminium 8.4-litre V10 overhead-valve engine, it delivers 474kW and 814Nm of torque channeled to the rear wheels via a Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission. Unique exhaust tips has been added to the trademark side-mounted exhaust pipes for reduced exhaust pressure.

Dodge says the Extreme Aero package produces the highest aerodynamic downforce of any production car, delivering nearly one-tonne of downforce at the Viper ACR’s top speed of 285 km/h during testing.

The aero kit is consist of a massive 1,876mm wide adjustable dual-element rear wing, rear carbon fibre diffuser with six removable strake extensions, designed to rub against the track surface for increased straight-line stability and downforce, unique SRT bonnet with removable louvres to reduce air pressure in the front wheel wells for more downforce, detachable extension for the front splitter and four dive planes.

To rein in the massive power, SRT engineers have fitted the Viper ACR with new Brembo Carbon Ceramic Matrix brakes that is said to have “unprecedented brake fade resistance”, as well as benefitting handling through reduced unsprung weight. The brakes measure 390mm up front, and 360mm at the rear, both with two-piece rotors but clamped by six-piston calipers at the front and four-piston at the back.

It wears bespoke Kumho Ecsta V720s 295/25 R19 rubber at the front and chunky 355/30 R19 rears, which according to Dodge, is the largest combined tyre patch available on any production car.

The car sits on specially designed double-adjustable coilover Bilstein race shocks. They work in conjunction with ride height adjustment for optimal control of weight transfer and handling performance. Each shock provides independent 10-way rebound and compression adjustability, and the system allows for more than 76mm of ride height adjustment.

As befitting its sporty nature, the instrument cluster area and door armrest panels are covered in Alcantara. Other bespoke features include a new ACR-exclusive Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel with straight-ahead stripe and unique badging and a unique dash plague finished in carbon fibre. Customers can further customise their car with either silver or red accent stitching.

The hand-built Viper ACR will go on sale in the United States in the third quarter of 2015.