This Feral Engineer Is Building an Off-Road Rally Dodge Viper

What could go wrong?Screenshot: Superfastmatt via YouTube

Safari-style car builds are super popular right now. You take a cool car, often a sports car, and then you lift it by a couple of inches and toss some chunky tires and a roof basket on. Maybe some rally lights, too, if you’re feeling spicy. Of course, there’s a difference between a safari sports car build and what seemingly feral engineer and YouTuber Superfastmatt is doing. He’s building an off-road Dodge Viper.

Yeah, an off-road Viper and not just any Viper either – an RT/10. That means it’s the full-fat, plastic-fantastic, zero-safety American sports car with an 8-liter V10. He already bought the car, and it’s annoyingly kind of nice, too, and he’s not just going the safari route with this thing; he’s aiming for something between an ill-advised rally car and wildly impractical desert pre-runner.

Let’s Build An Off-Road Viper

To get his Viper into the dirt with some hope of it (and him) surviving, he’s got to address a few issues. The first and most obvious is the necessary suspension lift. He’s going for a total redesign that should give him, in theory, a 12-inch lift. Next, he’s ditching the Viper’s independent rear suspension for a much more off-road-ready solid axle which will probably come from a Bronco or a Jeep. Then he needs some roll protection, some frame modifications to make the suspension work, and a bunch of skid plates, bash bars and tire carriers to round it all out.

To call this project ambitious would be something of an understatement. Still, given his previous builds, which include a Tesla-powered classic Jaguar, a superbike-powered Honda S600 and a BMW motorcycle engine-powered land speed racer, it seems not only possible but probable that he’ll at least get it like 80% done. We’re stoked to see it happen.