Posted on February 3rd, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
Chrysler Group’s Street and Racing Technology (SRT) brand has announced the 10-race 2012 season schedule for the newly named SRT Viper Cup Series Presented by Pennzoil Ultra – formerly the Dodge Viper Cup series. Entering its third year of competition in 2012, the series will visit five of the country’s most famous and challenging road courses at events sanctioned by the North American Road Racing Association (NARRA):
| Race Dates |
Track/Location |
| April 14-15 |
Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga. |
| May 12-13 |
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. |
| July 7-8 |
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va. |
| Aug. 25-26 |
Monticello Motor Club, Monticello, N.Y. |
| Oct. 20-21 |
Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y. |
A revised rule package for the 2012 season includes the elimination of race qualifying for the five scheduled Sunday races. Instead the Sunday race fields will be set in reverse order of the finishing field from each of the previous day’s races. This inverted start will create even more on-track action as the faster drivers will now have to move through the field to the front.
“The SRT Viper Cup Series continues to offer a fantastic way for road-racing enthusiasts to compete in our ultimate American sports car,” said SRT CEO Ralph Gille – President and CEO, SRT and Motorsports, Chrysler Group LLC. “The 2010 Dodge Viper ACR-X is designed and built specifically for the race track by taking all the performance attributes of Viper to an even higher level for a wide range of drivers starting with the grassroots racer all the way up to the professional. And with the rule changes for the 2012 season such as the inverted race field for Sunday races along with the continuation of our celebrity driver program, the next chapter of Viper racing looks to be better than ever.”
Celebrity Driver and Charity Payout Program: SRT selects each celebrity driver and professionally trains them for the competition. As many as two celebrity drivers will be invited to participate each race weekend. Guaranteed payouts to celebrity drivers of $2,000 for the highest finishing celebrity and $1,000 for the next highest will be donated directly to the series’ official charity of the series: the National Breast Cancer Coalition. Donations will be made following all 10 series races.
“We are exceedingly grateful to the SRT brand for selecting the National Breast Cancer Coalition as the official charity for its SRT Viper Cup Series in 2012,” said Fran Visco, president of the coalition. “These grassroots racing efforts play an important role in helping bring more national attention and support to Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®, our strategic plan of action to end breast cancer by January 1, 2020.”
Since the inaugural 2010 season, the celebrity driver program has donated close to $80,000 to various charities.
Making a return to the series in 2012 is the Lux Performance Group, which will once again be the “works” team behind the scenes managing the celebrity driver program.
“Our successful SRT Viper Cup Series celebrity driver program will continue in 2012 by offering Viper ACR-X rides to select media and celebrities for them to experience one of the best factory-built race cars out there,” Gilles added. “We’re lucky to have the Lux Performance Group managed by Cindi Lux back with us to not only safely convey the special message of what it’s like to race a Viper, but to expertly provide the best race car and driver instruction possible every weekend.”
Series Contingency Program: The series contingency program sponsored by SRT, Mopar and Michelin provides a number of payouts to the top-10 drivers. Drivers from each race will earn the following payouts in cash, Mopar vouchers for the purchase of Mopar parts and accessories, and Michelin Tire Bucks good for the purchase of Michelin tires.
| Driver Finish |
Cash |
Mopar Voucher |
Michelin Bucks |
Total |
| 1st |
$4,000 |
$1,000 |
$1,000 |
$6,000 |
| 2nd |
$2,500 |
$500 |
$500 |
$3,500 |
| 3rd |
$1,750 |
$250 |
$250 |
$2,250 |
| 4th |
$800 |
$200 |
|
$1,000 |
| 5th |
$600 |
$200 |
|
$800 |
| 6th |
$500 |
$200 |
|
$700 |
| 7th |
$400 |
$200 |
|
$600 |
| 8th |
$300 |
$200 |
|
$500 |
| 9th |
$200 |
$200 |
|
$400 |
| 10th |
$100 |
$200 |
|
$300 |
The 2012 SRT Viper Cup Series champion will win an additional $10,000 cash award. Series entry fees will remain unchanged from last season at $800 per car, per race.
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Posted on January 31st, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
Chrysler has confirmed an Automotive News Europe report that Fiat and Chrysler will merge their parts and service operations under the Mopar brand. The brand, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary today, will unveil a new package design that incorporates the Mopar logo with the logos of ten of the vehicle brands produced by Chrysler and Fiat. Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional (light commercial vehicles), Jeep, Lancia, SRT and RAM are included. The Maserati and Ferrari brands are not part of the new rebranding and brand-specific packaging will be retained for Abarth transformation kits, SRT performance parts and Alfa Romeo engine parts.
The change is aimed at reducing costs and eliminating dealer and consumer confusion about which parts are correct for a given vehicle model or market.
“The ongoing Fiat-Chrysler integration and platform sharing makes it fundamental to pursue a similar integration from an aftersales point of view and Mopar is the ideal brand to become the global umbrella for our parts and services,” Gorlier said.
In keeping with its new global reach, Mopar’s “Genuine Parts” slogan is now translated into 28 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
Distribution of the new packaging will begin in the second half of the year and existing packaging will not be replaced, so Gorlier expects it will be a couple of years before all packaging carries the new brand.
Gorlier estimates it will take a couple of years to fully apply the packaging to the more than 500,000 parts and accessories which will be part of Mopar’s new global catalog.
Fiat will also merge its service diagnostic platforms into the Chrysler Wi-Tech Diagnostic system. Gorlier commented that the Chrysler system was in a more advanced phase so it made sense to implement it worldwide.
The Fiat Freemont, Lancia Thema, Chrysler Voyager and the recently introduced Fiat Panda are already set up to be recognized by the Chrysler diagnostic system.
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Posted on January 31st, 2012 • by David Zatz
Update: Allpar now has exclusive interior and exterior photography of these launches. See the pages below.
In a ceremony webcast on many sites (including Allpar), Mopar revealed four custom vehicles from its Center Line headquarters. The only one to be sold as a full Mopar-branded car is the Mopar ’12 300; the others are essentially packages for existing cars, the Dodge Dart “GTS 210 Tribute,” Fiat 500 “Stinger,” and Mopar Jeep® Compass “True North.” (Dan Minick pointed out that Dodge Stinger was Allpar’s suggested name for a Dodge B-segment, three years ago.) Of some note, with a free-flowing exhaust and modified computer, the Dodge Dart GTS tribute surpasses the Dart R/T’s normal 184 horsepower to reach 210 horsepower, a substantial gain and an indication of things to come.
The Mopar ’12 300 will be available this summer, while components of the Fiat 500, Jeep Compass, and Dodge Dart cars will be available in the fall as kits or á la carte from the Mopar catalog. They will also be shown in Chicago from February 10-19.
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Posted on January 30th, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
Mopar will celebrate its 75th birthday tomorrow with the unveiling of four new Moparized Chrysler vehicles. Don “Big Daddy” Garlits will be joining Mopar CEO Pietro Gorlier for the event that kicks off at 8:30 AM, Eastern Time. Allpar will be carrying the live webcast of the event or you can watch on the Mopar Anniversary website.
Mopar will be giving away a special 75th Anniversary prize: be sure to watch the webcast for a special promo code that is your chance to win.
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Posted on January 27th, 2012 • by Bill Cawthon
Mopar’s 75th anniversary is on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, and you’re invited to take a ride into a new and exciting future. Please join us for a 75th Anniversary Celebration and glimpse of what’s to come.
Event Highlights include: Unveiling of the Mopar ’12; a collection of Past, Present and Future Vehicles; Special Events Announcements and much more.
Be a part of the entire event and watch the Web Broadcast live right here on Allpar.com or at the special Mopar anniversary website. The event starts nest Tuesday, January 31, at 8:30 AM, Eastern, 7:30 AM Central, 6:30 AM Mountain and 5:30 AM Pacific.
SPECIAL NOTE: Watch the Webcast for a chance to win a special 75th anniversary prize pack. During the broadcast, watch for a special promo code that you can enter on Mopar.com for a chance to win. Winners will be randomly selected and will receive a Mopar 75th anniversary prize pack.
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