Discussion

 The only visual change is a new hood with functional vented gills, and this achieves the seemingly improbable feat of making the Viper look even more aggressive. The LS7 V-8 in the Z06 might be down on power compared with the Viper's V-10, but it revs more freely to its 7000-rpm redline. The corvette's power comes on more explosively as well, which is handy for sliding sideways through corners but nerve-racking on a conventional hot lap. The Chevy is a bigger handful than the Viper on the track, and slightly slower in a straight line, but the Corvette Z06 is no slouch. Its 0-to-60 time of 3.7 seconds is only bested by ultra-expensive exotics and, of course, the Dodge Viper. But the fact is that the Corvette Z06 does not hurt for speed or comfort, and its exhaust note is one of the best in the business. If we had to choose between the Viper and the Z06 for a modern-day Cannonball, the Chevy is the easy choice. Plus, the corvette is almost $14,000 cheaper, the price of a Chevy Aveo. Even at 77,000 the Z06 is one of the best performance bargains going.

The result is 600 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque, improvements of 90 horses and 25 pound-feet. At 2500 rpm, the Viper makes more torque than the Z06 does at its peak. The Tremec T56 six-speed manual gearbox gets a revised shift linkage, triple-cone synchros, and a twin-disc clutch that has 18-percent-less rotational inertia than the previous single-disc setup. At the rear there's a new speed-sensing limited-slip differential. On the suspension front, the Viper gets new Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires set up with more negative camber, new shocks, higher spring rates, and a solid rear anti-roll bar replacing the previous hollow one.