This Viper is by AUTOart who made a range of racing viper's, including the 1998 LeMans GT2 class winning car which I also have. I'm not sure at the time of writing this (January 2006) if their racing Dodge Vipers are still being made, but I don't think they are, hence they are getting harder to find on sale now. This car was raced at Daytona in 1997 according to AUTOart, although I can't find any details of how well it performed at Daytona that year. Justin Bell (son of multiple LeMans winner Derek Bell) and his team-mate Tom Archer won the FIA GT2 Championship in 1997 using this Team Oreca Viper GTS-R. It it based on the roadgoing Viper GTS Coupe, as like all GT2 class cars, it has to be based on an existing production car model. Hence it also has an aluminium V-10 engine as found in the Viper coupe and roadster.
This is a quality model and has lovely wheels and a good paint finish. However, it is probably not the best model AUTOart have made to date. It is very light, and hence lacks a certain "quality feel". Also, the red rollcage, which is meant to look like red painted metal tubing, looks like the red plastic tubing it is made from. A good looking model nonetheless.
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