FCA Head Designer Ralp Gilles Goes Wild in His Viper ACR, Fights Another ACR

Fiat Chrysler's head designer is well known for his track day passion, so, for the weekend, the man put the pencil down, jumped in his Dodge Viper ACR and hit the circuit.

His destination? The Pittsburgh International Race Complex, which has recently added a long configuration. Ralph was obviously not shy when it came to exploring this in his track-savvy V10 beast and you can check out the result in the second video below.

However, we prefer to pay more attention to the first clip, which shows the former SRT helm man duking it out on the track with another ACR. As he explains, his Dodge was wearing fresh Kumho rubber, while the other driver, a man named Luke McGrew, used old full slicks.

Speaking of which, Luke's YouTube account spills the beans on the cars he's owned over the past decade. Aside from the ACR seen here, we're dealing with a 2008 Dodge Viper, a 2010 and a 2002 M3, an also-2002 Land Rover Discovery and a 2010 Mercedes C63 AMG. We don't know how many of these are still in his garage, but the collection isn't too shabby.

Also using the long track setup, the two drivers seem like they have their antivenom at hand throughout the run - this isn't your average promotional-purpose parade. Oh, no. Instead, we're dealing with the kind of track stint that makes us sorry Ralph Gilles doesn't spend more time in Germany. Sure, the Instagram post at the bottom of the page may have some PR aroma, but, given how capable the current ACR is, it's difficult to hold something against such a post.

"Working hard on a Labor Day weekend keeping up with Luke! He was on old DH slicks and I was on fresh Kumho's. He also had a passenger! This man is not a pro but he is fast, safe and a pleasure to track with," the designer explains.

We're inviting you to hit the "play" buttons below and enjoy some rubber well worn.

 

Had an incredible time dog fighting with this #Dodge #Viper #ACR owned by @lukemcgrew. My second and his first time at the new full course #pittrace , we were neck & neck the whole weekend. Since I started tracking the Gen5 it is hard to find much out there to "play" with! Was a pleasure to watch Luke in his zone and the Viper doing its thing so well MýÁ

A photo posted by @ralphgilles on Sep 4, 2016 at 7:15pm PDT