A while ago a bloke on a website caused a bit of a stink suggesting a manufacturer was in the habit of tickling its press cars to score favourable results in magazine tests. And more recently there was a bit of a fuss about claims that the Pagani Huayra's Top Gear test track time may have had a helping hand from some illicit racing rubber.
No replacement for ... a specially built car
SRT
boss Ralph Gilles got a bit hot and bothered when Motor Trend tested the
all-new Viper
Corvette
ZR1 (the 'old' Corvette remember) and tame racing driver Randy Pobst scored a production car lap record with the latter, beating the all new Viper into second place. There were complaints that the 'vette was on Pilot Cup Sport rubber, accusations that Pobst was 'scared' to push the Viper hard enough.
Not for SRT a 'special' remap or trick set of tyres to reclaim honours. Nope. When you build a car with an 8.4-litre V10 at its heart, half measures aren't an option. It built a whole special edition car for the job, hence the bright orange SRT Viper Time Attack we saw last week at the New York Show. You can see Motor Trend's original head-to-head here - it goes on a bit but if you've got the time it's worth a look. And going by the onboard footage, we wouldn't blame Pobst for being a little nervous of the Viper on the limit. Here, however, is his return in the TA version, complete with pretentious orchestral music and lots of gratuitous slo mo.
Hands up, we've had a bit of a thing for Stateside automotive excess this week. But this seems like a nice note to close on. God bless America!