50th Anniversary Hurst Viper revealed, to be auctioned for charity

Hurst is on a roll, first bringing out the Hurst Challenger and now a Hurst version of the Dodge Viper. The Hurst Viper has been built to celebrate the brand's 50th anniversary of building specialty performance vehicles under the brand of Hurst Performance.

Since adding more power to the already adequate 600hp 8.4L V-10 is a little silly (well to some anyway), most of the upgrades are purely aesthetics. The Hurst/Viper, of which only 50 will be made, comes only in two color combos that commemorate the official colors of the company: Black with Gold stripes or White with Gold Stripes.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Hurst car without a Hurst shifter, so these special Vipers will be fitted with the company's new HARD-DRIVE gold anodized pistol grip shifter. Also from the company catalogue are Hurst 19- and 20-inch polished aluminum wheels wearing Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires. The interior is shrink wrapped in Katzkin charcoal leather that's embroidered with the Hurst logo and touched off with gold stitching and perforated leather inserts.

A little has been done in the performance category, as Hurst added a Corsa exhaust and Moton Club Sport adjustable coil-over suspension. The first of 50 examples of the Hurst Viper will be auctioned off this week at the Barrett Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to Victory Junction, which runs a camping facility for chronically ill children.

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HURST RELEASES FIRST PHOTOS OF THE HURST/VIPER

Irvine, Calif. (January 9th, 2008) - Hurst Performance Vehicles today releases photos of the 50th Anniversary Hurst/Viper. This very special Viper is SERIAL #01 of only 50 to be built by the legendary Hurst Performance Vehicle Group. It features unique flat gold paint with gloss black stripes and black chrome Hurst wheels and detailing. This vehicle will be auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction on January 17th, 2009 with the proceeds donated to Victory Junction, a year-round camping facility for children for chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses.

The production Hurst/Viper vehicles will feature the new Hurst HARD-DRIVE® gold anodized pistol-grip shifter, Hurst 19" and 20" polished aluminum wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires, Corsa exhaust and Moton Club Sport adjustable coil-over suspension with Eibach springs. The interior features a special Katzkin charcoal leather with Hurst embroidered logos, gold thread detailing and perforated leather inserts. In honor of the Golden Anniversary the vehicle will be available exclusively in Hurst's legendary color combinations of Black with Gold stripes and White with Gold stripes. HURST/Vipers are available for individual order though Hurst Performance Vehicles and Woodhouse Dodge.

About Hurst Performance
Founded in 1958, Hurst Performance is one of the most recognized and revered names in the automotive performance arena. The Hurst brand has long been synonymous with speed, performance and quality, with an impressive track-record of pioneering high performance products and vehicles for all forms of motorsports and hot-rodding. Hurst was one of the first specialty companies to partner with the OEMs and bring enthusiasts limited edition performance vehicles like the legendary Hurst/Olds 442. For more information please visit www.Hurst-Performance.com.

About The Woodhouse Auto Family
Woodhouse Auto Family is a successful family-owned business which has sold vehicles in all 50 states. The Woodhouse Auto Family consists of 7 dealership franchises in the Omaha, Nebraska metro area. Woodhouse Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep have consistently been in the top 10 sales position for the Pentastar Corporation. In addition, Woodhouse has been a leader in new Dodge Viper sales for the past 8 years. With an extensive background in racing and performance Woodhouse also leads in performance modifications of the Dodge Viper SRT10.

About Victory Junction
Victory Junction is a year-round camping environment for children, ages 6 to 16, with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses. Founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in honor of their son Adam, the camp is located in Randleman, N.C. with a second location opening soon in Kansas City, Kan. Victory Junction offers programs for 24 disease groups and maintains strong relationships with 22 partner hospitals. Victory Junction's mission is to provide life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering, in a safe and medically-sound environment. As a not-for-profit organization, the camp operates solely through the support of generous donors to provide this experience at no charge to children and their families. For more information, visit www.victoryjunction.org.

Switzer Performance Porche 997 911 Turbo - 1000 horsepower with bolt ons

Tym Switzer of Switzer Performance Innovation of Oberlin, Ohio is all about pushing the limits. Pushing the limits of a stock internal engine, that is. What he has created here is a Porche 997 911 Turbo with nothing but bolt ons for the 3.8 liter flat 6, bolt ons that push the limits of what can be done without tearing an engine apart.

The shop has recorded 850 horsepower and 727 lb-ft of torque on the rolling dyno, equating to over 1000 horsepower at the crank. Real world performance should be mind boggling, with the car reportedly reaching 60 miles-per-hour in the mid two second range, blowing through the 1/4 mile in just 9.79 seconds at 146 mph.

Pricing looks to be just as fierce, with the Sledgehammer package retailing for $49,990. While that's a lot of coin for a suite of bolt-ons, the performance would appear to speak for itself. Check out the videos above for the dyno run and 1/4 mile pass.

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Tym Switzer has been quietly running Switzer Performance Innovations (SPI) in Oberlin, Ohio for several years, building show-quality exhausts and bolt-on performance products for twin-turbo Porsche 996 and 997 models.

With his latest project, Tym and the crew at SPI wanted to test the limits of what would be possible with stock 997 internals. "When the customer first came to me with his 997, we talked a lot about about pushing the limits the new engine and what might be possible using stock internals. I had already been inside the 997 turbo engines, and felt that 700 wheel horsepower seemed well within reach on pump fuel, and that we might be able to go a bit further."

That "bit further" eventually led to what Switzer calls the SLEDGEHAMMER. Named after candid comment from an SPI tech, the SLEDGEHAMMER is a bolt-on performance package for 997 twin-turbo Porsches that delivers over 850 all-wheel horsepower on race fuel. That's over 1000 hp at the crank!

Getting Bugatti-baiting performance figures from a bolt-on prepared 997 is no easy task, though. Switzer explains he and his crew "have always prided ourselves on attention to detail and delivering exactly what we promise to our customers. We have a saying around here: performance, not excuses. So during the original SLEDGEHAMMER build we looked at every part of the system, constantly metering and testing every component, on our in-house chassis dyno."

A finished Switzer SLEDGEHAMMER is certainly an amazing car. Switzer reports that (despite backing off the throttle early) the first SLEDGEHAMMER (pictured) went almost 195 mph at the Texas mile. Additional performance figures read like the stuff of legend: consistent 0-60 times in the mid 2's, less than 5 seconds to go from 60-130 mph, and 9.8-second quarter mile elapsed times with trap speeds regularly in excess of 145 mph. "With performance like that, these cars really speak for themselves - I have another one on the dyno now, and expect to post the results of those runs shortly."

In addition to extensive ECU tuning, the SLEDGEHAMMER package includes SPI's in-house developed headers and sport exhaust, as well as SPI's MONSTER intercooler package (shown) and SPI-massaged GT30R turbos. More details on Switzer's SLEDGEHAMMER conversion can be found on SPI's website. The SLEDGEHAMMER package retails for 49990USD, and is available through SPI. Contact SPI for more information.