Ralph Gilles is not a man who takes kindly to being slighted, especially by the automotive press corps. He is a passionate man, especially when it comes to the SRT brand, and Gilles went into attack mode when Motor Trend posted a story that showed the outgoing Corvette ZR1 beat the 2013 SRT Viper around Laguna Seca by a matter of a few seconds. 

It was from Gilles’ fury that the 2014 SRT Viper TA, or Track Attack, was born, and it was on full display at the New York International Auto Show.

This extremely-limited-edition Viper is slotted between the standard Viper and the range-topping GTS model, though it really has just one purpose: beat the Corvette ZR1. And as we already reported, it did that, albeit by the barest of margins, and only because Chrysler’s SRT engineers worked their butts off to make the Viper TA a true track car.

The work began with the suspension, borrowing the two-mode Bilstein suspension from the Viper GTS to significantly improve handling, along with Pirello P-Zero Corsa tires to provide extra grip. Braking power also received an upgrade from Brembo, and a carbon fiber X-brace under the hood provides extra chassis stiffness. A new spoiler provides up to 300 pounds of downforce on the track at high speed, which is the only speed this Viper knows.

Just 33 Viper TAs will be built, and they’ll all come in the same Crusher Orange paint job with a black interior. Also joining the party is the 8.4 liter, 640 horsepower V10 engine found across the Viper lineup. As impressive as the Viper TA is though, we’re pretty sure Gilles and the SRT crew have plenty of other tricks up their collective sleeve…and we can’t wait to see what else they have in store for the new Viper.