1994 Le Mans Dodge Viper

A LEGEND IS BORN Dodge Viper RT-10 Le Mans racecar 1994 VIN: 1B3BR65E0PV200381 Current Specification In compliance with BPR 1996 rules V10, 8000 cc. Borg Warner 6 speed transmission Full race with BME motor management Power with restrictor 580 HP Power without restrictor 800 HP Approx. 1200 kg The road to Le Mans In 1993 the well-known French Autosport journalist and race team owner Gilles Gaignault was one of the very first people to realize the race potential of the Dodge Viper and entered 2 Viper RT10’s for the 24-hour race of Le Mans. At that moment in time the Chrysler group did not have any intentions to enter the Viper under their own name and Gaignault had to attract sponsorship from “Rent a Car” and some other sponsors. He hired the legendary Luigi Cimarosti from “Luigi Racing” of Liege Belgium to prepare and run the cars. He was faced with the ambitious task to convert two standard road cars to full race Le Mans spec within a period of 6 months. Chrysler’s passive support consisted of engineering input from their Lamborghini subsidiary to Italian born Luigi and both cars were finished just in time for the infamous race at Le Mans. Most people who attended the race had never seen a Viper and the cars caused massive attention not in the last place because of their fluorescent orange and yellow colors. Radio Le Mans soon labeled them “L’orange” and “Le Canarie” and they became the audience’s darlings. “Le Canarie” was driven by Francois Migault, Denis Morin and Philippe Gache who fought an epic battle to the finish and a 19th place. In 1994 the attrition rate was huge and of the 76 cars at the start only 23 reached the finish. The entire story can be read in the copy of the official ACO Le Mans Book and the 30+ press articles that are included with the car. A legend is born Following the success of the cars at Le Mans The Chrysler Corporation realized that with the Viper concept they owned a potential class winner and developed the purpose built GTS-R that would dominate GT racing for years to come. BPR racing After the Le Mans race “Le Canarie” was only slightly modified for the then very popular BPR series and raced in China, Brazil, Nogaro and Brands Hatch. At the end of the 1996 season the car went into retirement.