Sub5Zero |Ralph Gilles

SRT Viper TA Exacts Its Revenge [Video]

You don’t want to mess with Ralph Gilles. Oh sure, he may be an accomplished automotive designer and the head of Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology (SRT) brand. But if you try to besmirch the reputation of him, his coworkers, his company, or the products made by his company well, may Walter Chrysler have mercy on your soul. When Donald Trump parroted presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s, uh, factually-deficient proclamation that Jeep was moving all of its production to China, Ralphie G made a beeline to the Twitterverse to disseminate his opinion of the reality TV host, provocateur and sometime real estate kingpin.

While the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1’s defeat of the freshly minted SRT Viper GTS in a recent MotorTrend comparison test wasn’t quite the same genus of trolling as The Donald’s jaw-flappings, Mr. Gilles still found it irksome. So irksome, in fact, that he and the SRT team moved the development of the new Viper TA – as in Time Attack – ahead of schedule. By at least half a year. And when the more hardcore Viper was ready for review by the motoring press, which outlet do you think Ralph called first? (Hint: It wasn’t us. Not that we’re bitter or anything…) As you can see in this video from MT, the results of the TA’s upgrades speak for themselves (with a bit of help from our bud Jonny Lieberman and the magazine’s tame racing driver Randy Pobst).

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Limos, Barbecue, and Drifting at the Seventh Annual Spring Festival of LXs

LXcover Limos, Barbecue, and Drifting at the Seventh Annual Spring Festival of LXs

The 7th Annual Spring Festival of LXs is a huge gathering of LX owners (LX is the code name for the chassis for the 300, Charger, and Magnum) from 25 states and 5 countries, which started out as a small forum meet. The Chrysler group eventually made it official, this time bringing out their executives to meet and greet their fellow LX enthusiasts, and unveiling their new Challenger model. Needless to say, it was a great time, with hundreds of amazing cars, chill vibes, drifting, and good music.

When I first walked into the event, I felt pretty lost. Originally being from the import/euro scene, I wasn't exactly sure what I was seeing as I walked across the initial set of cars. When the new retro vehicles started coming from Chrysler and Dodge, I was excited by the new design direction starting from the 300. Then came the arrival of the Charger, Magnum, and the Challenger, which I was also very excited to see. However, on the rare occasion I did see them on the street, most of them weren't modified. This was very disappointing for me because a car like the Challenger has a lot of potential.

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