Here are all 14 Zakspeed Vipers that ran at the N24h, from 1999 to 2008, made for RSS GT Vortex V10. There are different liveries for the VLN season, but this skinpack has focused on the 24h Ring race. These cars have a cool history, including dominance, unfair rules and unique plans. So now, a little story:
All started in 1999, when Zakspeed took delivery of the chassis C15 from Oreca and let it participate in the VLN Series. This car was applied with the legendary yellow and under race number 130 and claimed victory in every race during the championship, including the 24 Hours of Nürburgring as well under, this time under number 53.
But race officials found a problem here. They needed to prevent Zakspeed from obliterating all races again in the 2000 season, so they had to find a solution. They forced the Zakspeed to add air restriction to the engine to make it less powerful, but it wasn't enough. So, in addition, they Viper had an extra 500 kg of ballast, but this time without air restrictions. This was an unfair decision, but it allowed to unleash more than 850 hp that the 8.0L V10 could offer. The car was on the way to win the second overall win with the number #1 but, due to the extreme weight of the car, a damper failed and finally the car finished 2nd after a 7 minute repair.
In 2001, the car wore again the yellow livery in race number #33 at the N24h race. It's not clear in which configuration the Viper was running or even its restrictions, but it's clear it wasn't running at full power as the 911 rivals could overtake him at the straight. Anyway, it's consistency and reliability made #33 Zakspeed Viper win the race after mechanical issues of the Porsche and a later crash. Another Zakspeed Viper was running at the N24h race, chassis C36 with the number #34 and red/black livery with BFGoodrich backing, but it couldn't finish.
This chassis C36 ran the next year at the 2002 N24h race, again with the yellow Fujifilm livery and race number #1. This time, the race was less exciting as the Phoenix Porsche hit problems all during the race, claiming Zakspeed Porsche the overall victory with 141 complete laps and 2 lap lead.
Now 2003 was a special and crazy year. Besides the upgrades on many Porsche teams, many new manufacturers joined the party, with Audi and Opel with their adapted DTM TT and Astra, and BMW with their successful M3 GTR. Race officials forced Zakspeed to run a smaller fuel tank limited to 90L, trying to slow down the mighty Viper. But the team found a loophole: the rules didn’t say where the refueling should be done, so there was a plan: Zakspeed developed a quick-change tank for the chassis c36, which would allow reduce the refueling time to only 25-30 seconds, compared to a normal 2 minute time for a regular 120L tank, so while the Viper was running, the other fuel tank could be refueled in pits and ready to be replaced. This genius plan was tested at no surveillance areas on the circuit, but it was instantly banned before the 24h race as soon as race officials found out, as it could be dangerous for the crew members carrying the 90L tank around the pit area.
But again, Zakspeed had an ace up their sleeve. A new car pass was applied in winter, where the new Viper was homologated as a Dodge and not as a Chrysler, as the Viper was commercialized in Europe as Chrysler just because there were no Dodge concessionaires. Taking advantage of this change, the Zakspeed Viper ran without the fuel tank restrictions, as that official rule was specified for the ‘Chrysler Viper’ and not for the ‘Dodge Viper’ that was running. Again, the officials weren’t convinced with this tricky plan and the car was hit by a 5 lap/45 minute stop and go penalty (you read it right, 45 minutes). Despite the amount of time lost, the car came back into the top three again but officials, still unhappy with the result, gave the car another 45 minute penalty later in the race. In result, the car finished 5th, 9 laps back the winner. Due to both penalties, the Viper did 134 of the possible 144 laps that could make, unlike the 143 laps the winning Astra made. Zakspeed appealed but Deutscher Motor Sport (DMSB) finally disqualified the Viper to shut them up, so the team sent the case to the FIA, as the race became an international event, so the case turned into a more serious problem. Not only the Viper disqualification, now the FIA Court could have annulled the whole race, harming the image and reputation of the race and the German motorsport. Finally, Zakspeed team didn’t bring the case to Paris, remaining disqualified but earning respect and keeping the reputation of the 24h Nürburgring race.
In 2004, a new rule was introduced, aimed specially at Zakspeed and his Viper. The new rule established that cars had to run the engine they were homologated with and an engine size displacement to 6.2L, less than the 8.0L Viper engine. Anyway, Zakspeed thought their car was still competitive, so they kept the V10 engine and Caldwell Development came up with an idea: disable two cylinders to transform the 8.0L V10 into a 6.2L V8, meeting all the standards and still producing 600hp, so chassis C36 was able to run on the Ring with race number #66 in a checkered black/white/green Ecosoil livery. Problems in the early part of the race brought the Viper back on the grid in a 39th finish overall.
Next year, seemed like it was the final season for chassis C36, sharing the same Ecosoil livery and race number #66 with a few modifications, but it couldn’t finish the race. Also, in 2005 chassis C15 Viper participated under number #77 in a red livery with white stripes, new bodywork and 6.2L V8 engine package. The car managed to finish 3rd overall and 1st in its class.
For the 2006 season, Zakspeed would take charge of chassis C52. However, despite being in front of the pack in VLN races, the car (or drivers) had terrible luck and failed to finish a race for the entire season, including the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where the car wore number #3 in a red livery. On the other hand, there was chassis C15 running too, which became Zakspeed’s customer car driven by amateur drivers. With a very cool Ecosoil livery next to blue dots and red stripes under race number #33 on the Ring, the amateur drivers achieved an incredible 3rd place overall and 1st in its class.
For 2007, Zakspeed rebuilt the chassis on C52, including floor splitter and wing to increase aerodynamics, along with a sequential gearbox. This change worked, showing good results during the season and achieving 2nd place overall in N24h and 1st in its class under race number #3 in a white/red Dodge colors. There was also chassis C15, which made its final appearance this season. The car came back on the checkered black/white Ecosoil livery, making it’s final run at the N24h under race number #5, but it did not finish.
Finally, 2008 was the final season for C52, maintaining previous year livery but would wear number #2 on the Ring. Unfortunately, the car was involved in several problems and crashed during the night.
And that's it, long but cool story. In some of these years, the Viper had blue fog lights, so I tried to replicate them. It's not easy to make a blue light, so it looks like the light appears green. Also fog lights and endurance lights shares UV map, so both have to be in same color configuration. If you don't like that blue/green config, just copy the file "EXT_lights.dds" from any skin with yellow lights and paste into the desired skin.
Enjoy, hope you like it.
All started in 1999, when Zakspeed took delivery of the chassis C15 from Oreca and let it participate in the VLN Series. This car was applied with the legendary yellow and under race number 130 and claimed victory in every race during the championship, including the 24 Hours of Nürburgring as well under, this time under number 53.
But race officials found a problem here. They needed to prevent Zakspeed from obliterating all races again in the 2000 season, so they had to find a solution. They forced the Zakspeed to add air restriction to the engine to make it less powerful, but it wasn't enough. So, in addition, they Viper had an extra 500 kg of ballast, but this time without air restrictions. This was an unfair decision, but it allowed to unleash more than 850 hp that the 8.0L V10 could offer. The car was on the way to win the second overall win with the number #1 but, due to the extreme weight of the car, a damper failed and finally the car finished 2nd after a 7 minute repair.
In 2001, the car wore again the yellow livery in race number #33 at the N24h race. It's not clear in which configuration the Viper was running or even its restrictions, but it's clear it wasn't running at full power as the 911 rivals could overtake him at the straight. Anyway, it's consistency and reliability made #33 Zakspeed Viper win the race after mechanical issues of the Porsche and a later crash. Another Zakspeed Viper was running at the N24h race, chassis C36 with the number #34 and red/black livery with BFGoodrich backing, but it couldn't finish.
This chassis C36 ran the next year at the 2002 N24h race, again with the yellow Fujifilm livery and race number #1. This time, the race was less exciting as the Phoenix Porsche hit problems all during the race, claiming Zakspeed Porsche the overall victory with 141 complete laps and 2 lap lead.
Now 2003 was a special and crazy year. Besides the upgrades on many Porsche teams, many new manufacturers joined the party, with Audi and Opel with their adapted DTM TT and Astra, and BMW with their successful M3 GTR. Race officials forced Zakspeed to run a smaller fuel tank limited to 90L, trying to slow down the mighty Viper. But the team found a loophole: the rules didn’t say where the refueling should be done, so there was a plan: Zakspeed developed a quick-change tank for the chassis c36, which would allow reduce the refueling time to only 25-30 seconds, compared to a normal 2 minute time for a regular 120L tank, so while the Viper was running, the other fuel tank could be refueled in pits and ready to be replaced. This genius plan was tested at no surveillance areas on the circuit, but it was instantly banned before the 24h race as soon as race officials found out, as it could be dangerous for the crew members carrying the 90L tank around the pit area.
But again, Zakspeed had an ace up their sleeve. A new car pass was applied in winter, where the new Viper was homologated as a Dodge and not as a Chrysler, as the Viper was commercialized in Europe as Chrysler just because there were no Dodge concessionaires. Taking advantage of this change, the Zakspeed Viper ran without the fuel tank restrictions, as that official rule was specified for the ‘Chrysler Viper’ and not for the ‘Dodge Viper’ that was running. Again, the officials weren’t convinced with this tricky plan and the car was hit by a 5 lap/45 minute stop and go penalty (you read it right, 45 minutes). Despite the amount of time lost, the car came back into the top three again but officials, still unhappy with the result, gave the car another 45 minute penalty later in the race. In result, the car finished 5th, 9 laps back the winner. Due to both penalties, the Viper did 134 of the possible 144 laps that could make, unlike the 143 laps the winning Astra made. Zakspeed appealed but Deutscher Motor Sport (DMSB) finally disqualified the Viper to shut them up, so the team sent the case to the FIA, as the race became an international event, so the case turned into a more serious problem. Not only the Viper disqualification, now the FIA Court could have annulled the whole race, harming the image and reputation of the race and the German motorsport. Finally, Zakspeed team didn’t bring the case to Paris, remaining disqualified but earning respect and keeping the reputation of the 24h Nürburgring race.
In 2004, a new rule was introduced, aimed specially at Zakspeed and his Viper. The new rule established that cars had to run the engine they were homologated with and an engine size displacement to 6.2L, less than the 8.0L Viper engine. Anyway, Zakspeed thought their car was still competitive, so they kept the V10 engine and Caldwell Development came up with an idea: disable two cylinders to transform the 8.0L V10 into a 6.2L V8, meeting all the standards and still producing 600hp, so chassis C36 was able to run on the Ring with race number #66 in a checkered black/white/green Ecosoil livery. Problems in the early part of the race brought the Viper back on the grid in a 39th finish overall.
Next year, seemed like it was the final season for chassis C36, sharing the same Ecosoil livery and race number #66 with a few modifications, but it couldn’t finish the race. Also, in 2005 chassis C15 Viper participated under number #77 in a red livery with white stripes, new bodywork and 6.2L V8 engine package. The car managed to finish 3rd overall and 1st in its class.
For the 2006 season, Zakspeed would take charge of chassis C52. However, despite being in front of the pack in VLN races, the car (or drivers) had terrible luck and failed to finish a race for the entire season, including the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where the car wore number #3 in a red livery. On the other hand, there was chassis C15 running too, which became Zakspeed’s customer car driven by amateur drivers. With a very cool Ecosoil livery next to blue dots and red stripes under race number #33 on the Ring, the amateur drivers achieved an incredible 3rd place overall and 1st in its class.
For 2007, Zakspeed rebuilt the chassis on C52, including floor splitter and wing to increase aerodynamics, along with a sequential gearbox. This change worked, showing good results during the season and achieving 2nd place overall in N24h and 1st in its class under race number #3 in a white/red Dodge colors. There was also chassis C15, which made its final appearance this season. The car came back on the checkered black/white Ecosoil livery, making it’s final run at the N24h under race number #5, but it did not finish.
Finally, 2008 was the final season for C52, maintaining previous year livery but would wear number #2 on the Ring. Unfortunately, the car was involved in several problems and crashed during the night.
And that's it, long but cool story. In some of these years, the Viper had blue fog lights, so I tried to replicate them. It's not easy to make a blue light, so it looks like the light appears green. Also fog lights and endurance lights shares UV map, so both have to be in same color configuration. If you don't like that blue/green config, just copy the file "EXT_lights.dds" from any skin with yellow lights and paste into the desired skin.
Enjoy, hope you like it.
