FEATURED BUILDS - Ned Dunphy (TT Viper)

FEATURED BUILDS & CLIENTS

Ned Dunphy

“VIPER WITH A VENGEANCE”

WORLDS FASTEST Gen 5 Viper (Auto & Manual) in the Quarter Mile

What is a Viper doing at the nation’s top GM Performance Shop? We used to ask ourselves the same thing, but once you meet Ned Dunphy you would understand why we jumped at the opportunity. Ned likely won the “most likely to succeed” and “most charismatic” awards in high school. He is just one of those guys that can turn any situation into a great time….. To know the full story you have to rewind to 2015 when Ned first contacted Vengeance Racing. Ned and Ron (our owner) emailed back and fourth several times “interviewing” one another before actually meeting in person. Ned was local to Vengeance and knew of our accomplishments in the racing world and thought it would be a cool twist to see VR modify something other than our GM norm….. Ron on the other hand was a bit nervous about stepping out of the GM world, especially with the value of Ned’s limited production 2014 Viper TA. Fortunately Ned made the visit to Vengeance Racing in person one Saturday afternoon and both knew within minutes of talking this would be a great opportunity for all involved.

Ned had realistic goals for his Viper…. He wanted to double the engines output with a modest twin turbo system and supporting modifications. For this we agreed upon an in house custom fabricated twin turbo system utilizing Precision 68/70 turbo chargers and air to water intercooler system. We added an RPS/Nth Moto Triple Disc Clutch/Pro EFI 128 ECU and a D3PE Triple in tank fuel system as well. The V10 was left untouched, for now. The end result was a completely streetable 1060RWHP on pump E85. Check out the video below for an overview of the build as well as a bit of action on the street.

OCTOBER 2016

Ned spent the next year on the street getting used to all of the additional horsepower and having some fun with his Vengeance built Viper. He was able to join us at a local ½ mile event WannaGOFAST was hosting in Clayton Georgia. Ned ran several 180mph passes, which was quite a step up from his previous best of 144mph when the Viper was still stock. Ned tells us this was a day that “is cemented in his mind and that he knew he was hooked on more power. Unfortunately (not really) the stock Viper V10 long block experienced a bearing failure within only a few thousand miles. This was a risk we took when we originally modified the car knowing there was an issue from the factory with the V10 rod bearings. Ned knew from the start he would want to upgrade his engine and he really didn’t want dealership technicians tampering with his Viper so he opted out of their “fix” prior to us even building the turbo system. As I said above Ned can turn any situation into a great time and this engine failure was no different. We reached out to our friend Bryan Neelan (owner of Late Model Engines) to see if he would be willing to build us a badass V10 that could take some serious abuse. Bryan agreed and said he had the recipe for success. A few weeks later our new V10 arrived with a laundry list of upgrades (see below for details). Jey Clegg, our shop foreman and lead fabricator, who had turned every wrench on the Viper to date quickly got to work yet again working his magic. Just days later our fully forged, solid roller, dry sump equipped V10 was in place and purring like a kitten.

Knowing we were going to produce quite a bit more power and the fact Ned expressed interest in participating in several ¼ and ½ mile events with us we took the time to fabricate a custom chromoly eight point roll cage, parachute, and fire suppression system. Once completed it was time to hit the chassis dyno and put this new LME mule (and Jey’s tuning ability) to work. The new combination produced an obscene 1497RWHP/1416RWTQ using all the Precision 68/70s had to offer.

Ned has been full of surprises since the day we met him. The next surprise for us was that he could actually drive the hell out of his Viper. There aren’t too many people out there who can throw quick shifts with a manual transmission in place and 1400+RWHP on tap, but Ned proved to be one of them as his first outing to the drag strip he claimed the Gen V Viper ¼ mile World Record running 9.28@162mph. Did we mention this was done on a 19” Nitto Drag Radial??? Needless to say Ned blew us all away with his ability to go from “suit & tie” businessman by day to a fire suit wearing race car driver by night. This was only the beginning……..

AUGUST 2017

Ned spent the next year dominating ¼ mile and ½ mile events around the country racing with us. During this time we added a custom Driveshaft Shop 9” set up and Calvo 15” Kit so we could really put the power down. By now Ned had also gotten bored with his current power level so we stole the 76/75mm Precision turbos off of our shop race car known as “Fatman 3.0” to give him a boost in power. This picked up a couple hundred additional horsepower. Obviously with the added power and the ability to launch this car the way it should be it was time to head back to our friends at Carolina Dragway. Ned yet again proved to us he indeed has a Super Man cape tucked in his fire suit as he broke own world record AGAIN right off the trailer… By the end of the night he had broken his record four times and run a new personal best of 8.66@174mph. In case you missed it, the factory manual gearbox is still in place at this point. Ned is banging gears with the best of them and making us all look good with his driving ability. Knowing we had the record buried pretty deep for ¼ mile racing it was time to hit the ½ mile scene again. A quick swap of the third member from our 3:55 gears to a 3:00 gear set would allow us to run 215mph at WannaGOFAST in Dallas Texas that same year.

Texas was the end of the manual transmission…. Our triple disc clutch had enough abuse by this point. Ned being the soldier he is said he was done with the manual as he felt he had gone as fast as he could.. It was time to get even more serious. We reached out to RPM Transmissions and ordered their lock up TH400. Pro Torque was the obvious choice for our torque converter. While we worked thru the conversion Ned instructed us to “add more boost” yet again so out came the 76s and in went a pair of 80mm snails. Once complete we attempted to dyno the car, but it proved pointless on our Dynojet 224X LC as no matter what we tried we could not get traction. We have graphs making over 1900rwhp, but tire spin would keep us from seeing all that the combination truly had. With that said, it was time to get back on track. Ned raced numerous ½ mile events including WannaGOFAST, and Shift S3ctor. His best run was at Shift S3ctor Indiana with a 221mph pass. Ned also raced numerous ¼ mile events including Streetcar Takeover and Speed Addicts Racing Events. It seemed everywhere Ned raced, he won…. The orange Viper had gained quite a bit of popularity by this point and folks continually approached Ned to discuss his accomplishments and see “what was next”. He may have signed a few autographs along the way too. I am sure if you ask him, he will tell you.

I believe the most notable experience to date was a private test session at Carolina Dragway. Jey (builder/fabricator/tuner) was unable to attend the event, but Ned wanted to race anyway. Our owner Ron got a bit carried away with the laptop while softening traction control in the Pro EFI 128 ECU. The result….. Well just watch the video below. If Ned wasn’t famous before, he sure as hell was now. Ned’s Viper “Took flight” that night and took quite a bit of paint off the back bumper as it slid down the drag strip with all four tires off the ground. Ned says this was his biggest and most fond memory so far, but has no problem keeping the tires on the ground moving forward. The good news is that the only damage that was sustained was a cracked radiator. Ned drove the car into the trailer that night and was back on the drag strip two weeks later, but this time Ron would not be allowed to touched the laptop.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Our next outing we would shatter all previous records and personal bests. Having run 8.60s with the manual and numerous mid 7 second passes with the auto we were now shooting for a 6.99 pass. While we didn’t quite get there we did BURY the Gen V Viper World Record with a 7.26@196mph!!!!!!! As a matter of fact Ned made nine passes that night and eight of them were sub 7.50s. Needless to say it was a night of celebration, but not just because of the new record/personal best. This night marked the last time the V10 would see a drag strip or runway. Not because of failure, as we drove into the trailer that eve, but because once again Ned had his eyes set on bigger sights.

DECEMBER 2019

Bigger sights you say??? What is bigger than a fully built V10 with twin 80mm turbochargers running nearly 200mph in the ¼ mile while still being street driven several days a week??? Well I warned you about Ned in the beginning and once again he proves us all right… What started off as a joke quickly turned into a reality. To fill you in, Jey and Ron were joking when they sent Ned a group text with a picture of a 481X and said this should be Ned’s next step. Little did either of them know Ned would do a bit of research on the 481x and agree this indeed would be the next step. Ned wanted to stay true to the V10 Viper community so he decided to beef up the existing Orange Viper combo going with larger turbos and a refresh on his LME built V10. He decided to purchase ANOTHER Gen 5 Viper for the 481X which. The “Spare” Viper will be “under construction” for several months, but you can rest assured that when it debuts it will be an insanely capable combination. Think Tom Bailey Drag Week…….

4,500+HP Full Water Jacketed PROVEN Endurance Pro Mod Engine!

NOT Just For Cooling In Between Rounds

This Is Real World Drive This Engine Anywhere Even On Pump Gas!

MANUAL TRANSMISSION

QUARTER MILE
8.66@174MPH

HALF MILE
215MPH

AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

QUARTER MILE
7.26@196MPH

HALF MILE
221MPH

ORIGINAL BUIILD:

LME built V10

RPM Transmissions Lock up TH400

Pro Torque Converter

Twin 80mm Turbochargers

Driveshaft Shop 9” Conversion

Calvo Motorsports 15” Kit

Pro EFI 128 ECU with all supporting sensors/hardware

Motec C127 Dash

Full Cage/Parachute/Fire Suppression

LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Hagaman Tribute award Charlotte SCT

King of Bakery Winner Charlotte SCT

Street Racer Runner Up Charlotte SCT

Fastest Overall Shift Sector Indiana

Street X Class Winner Speed Addicts SGMP

Fastest Overall Ocala WGF

Beat an airplane and Dallas Performance Lamborghini racing at Heavens Landing SPEED ADDICTS RACING Event

Fastest Gen V Viper in the world Manual Transmission in ¼ mile

Fastest Gen V Viper in the world Automatic Transmission in ¼ mile

We opened this story talking about Ned’s character and will close it doing the same as Ned is MUCH more than a capable/accomplished racer. Ned is the guy who lets children sit in his Viper during events. He is the guy who shows up with random gifts for our entire shop for no reason other than he wants to. He is also the guy who likes to take self portraits and hide them EVERYWHERE so you are constantly reminded of him even when he is not around. Ned has a true passion for this hobby and is certainly respected by all of his peers. We are truly fortunate to have Ned as not only a client, but a close friend as well. We would like to thank his wife beautiful Stacey and his two amazing daughters for sharing their time with such an awesome guy. 2020 is going to be an epic year…… Stay Tuned!!!!