(May 8, 2015) AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The next chapter in the history of the ultimate street-legal, track-focused, hand-built American supercar begins with the return of the new 2016 Dodge Viper ACR.

Certified for public roads and engineered to wring every last hundredth of a second out of road course lap times, the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR combines the latest in aerodynamic, braking and tire technology — a recipe designed to carry on the ACR's lap-time busting reputation that has made it a legend on race tracks around the world.

"The Viper has always been more of a street-legal race car than a track-capable streetcar, and the new 2016 Dodge Viper ACR is the fastest street-legal Viper track car ever," said Tim Kuniskis, president and chief executive officer. "Our goal is to arm our enthusiasts with the ultimate Viper track car to dominate road courses around the world."

The SRT engineering team that developed the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR is well-stocked with members who race their own cars, as well as learning from the factory-based racing Viper GTS-R that competed in the American Le Mans Series and IMSA United SportsCar Championship from 2012-2014, capturing the GTLM class driver and team championships in 2014. For the new Viper ACR, the team focused its efforts on three areas: aerodynamics, chassis and tires to maximize grip, producing never-seen-before handling capabilities and unprecedented lap times.

The 2016 Dodge Viper ACR with the available Extreme Aero package produces the highest aerodynamic downforce of any production car. During on-track testing, development engineers have experienced nearly 1 ton of downforce at top speed of 177 mph. The Extreme Aero Package includes a huge (1,876 mm wide) adjustable dual-element rear wing, rear carbon fiber diffuser, unique SRT hood with removable louvers, detachable extension for the front splitter and four dive planes.

The Extreme Aero rear wing, specifically designed for air flow around the Viper's body, stands taller, sits further rearward and features unique end-plates and gurney lip to produce maximum downforce while minimizing straight line drag.  The Extreme Aero package delivers more than three times the downforce of the Viper TA (Time Attack) 2.0 package.

The rear carbon fiber diffuser extends forward of the rear axle. It includes six removable strake extensions, designed to rub against the track surface for increased straight-line stability and optimized downforce.  Removable hood louvers over the front tires reduce air pressure in front wheel wells to provide additional downforce. The detachable front splitter extension and dive planes work with the rear aero treatment to provide outstanding grip and balanced performance on the track.

Track duty can punish the brakes. The 2016 Dodge Viper ACR features new Brembo Carbon Ceramic Matrix brakes for optimum braking performance with unprecedented brake fade resistance, and greater handling capability through reduced un-sprung weight. The system uses 390-millimeter (15.4-inch) two-piece front rotors and 360-millimeter (14.2-inch) two-piece rear rotors.  Front brakes use six-piston Brembo calipers while the rear brakes use four-piston calipers.

The new Carbon Ceramic Matrix brakes have the largest brake pad area ever on Viper. The brakes work in conjunction with ABS and ESC specifically tuned for ACR to take into account the extra grip provided by the additional aero and specifically designed Kumho tires. Detachable front brake ducts provide additional cooling to the brake calipers for optimum track performance.

At the heart of the 2016 Viper ACR is the handcrafted, all-aluminum 8.4-liter V-10 overhead-valve engine, rated at 645 horsepower and 600 lb.-ft. of torque — the most torque of any naturally aspirated sports-car engine in the world. Unique exhaust tips have been added to the side-mounted exhaust pipes to provide reduced exhaust pressure.

All Vipers are engineered to withstand severe track duty in ambient temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit with a professional driver. Power reaches the pavement through the standard Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual transmission.