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Diecast for today 3/12/22 - Onyx Dodge Viper

Forum 43

Last Post by Harv Goranson 4 years ago

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Harv Goranson

(@mg-harv)

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Joined: 29 years ago

Posts: 3426

Topic starter 12/03/2022 3:59 pm

Onyx (sub-brand of Vitesse) used to make some fair to pretty good F1, Indycar, touring car, and GT-type race car models. The only one I have is the Viper that placed 7th overall and 1st in the GTS class at Le Mans in 2000. I'm pretty sure the molds passed to Ixo when Vitesse was split between Sunstar and Ixo in 2001. With Minichamps and Eagle's Race pumping Vipers onto the market in the early 2000s, there seem to be quite a few on ebay these days.

Karl Schnelle, Ed Davis, Jack Dodds and 7 people reacted

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David Green

(@david-green)

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23/03/2022 10:41 am

This weekend while many of you were in Chicago, I took the time to dig out a few boxes in storage. After the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans, I tried to collect all the participants.

I got about 90% before getting diverted to other models. Here are all the rest of the Viper GTS-Rs that ran that year. The most successful was the Orca No.51 that won GTS class as Harv Gorman has pointed out in his fine presentation above.

Chrysler Viper GTS-R/T at 2000 Le Mans

Six Chrysler Viper GTS-rs competed for the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTS Class beating the Corvette C5-Rs that year which finished 10th (no.63) and 11th (No.64).

Oreca would also outperform Corvette at Le Mans, winning their third straight class victory with a seventh-place finish.The Oreca team's GTS class winning, seventh place, 333 lap finish with the Chrysler Viper was the best ever with that car. It faced serious competition within its class from Corvette Racing's new C5.R., which would within the next two years top the Viper's distance record and establish itself as the car to beat among the GT classes.

7	LMGTS	51	Viper Team Oreca	Dominique Dupuy Olivier Beretta Karl Wendlinger	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	333

See Harv's above.

9	LMGTS	53	Viper Team Oreca	David Donohue Ni Amorim Anthony Beltoise	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	328
9	LMGTS	53	Viper Team Oreca	David Donohue Ni Amorim Anthony Beltoise	Chrysler 8.0 L V10	M	328

12	LMGTS	52	Viper Team Oreca	Tommy Archer Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	324
12	LMGTS	52	Viper Team Oreca	Tommy Archer Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	Chrysler 8.0 L V10	M	324

13	LMGTS	57	Carsport Holland	Mike Hezemans David Hart Hans Hugenholtz	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	317
13	LMGTS	57	Carsport Holland	Mike Hezemans David Hart Hans Hugenholtz	Chrysler 8.0 L V10	M	317

DNF	LMGTS	56	Team Goh	Walter Brun Toni Seiler Christian Gläsel	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	210
DNF	LMGTS	56	Team Goh	Walter Brun Toni Seiler Christian Gläsel	Chrysler 8.0 L V10	M	210

DNF	LMGTS	54	Paul Belmondo Racing	Boris Derichebourg Guy Martinolle Jean-Claude Lagniez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	D	180
DNF	LMGTS	54	Paul Belmondo Racing	Boris Derichebourg Guy Martinolle Jean-Claude Lagniez	Chrysler 8.0 L V10	D	180

Corvette may have fallen short at Le Mans in 2000 but the won the 2001 Daytona 24 Hours that year. See my article in the Corvette Forum.

Harv Goranson, John Kuvakas, Karl Schnelle and 5 people reacted

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Karl Schnelle

(@karl)

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23/03/2022 11:04 am

I have a few ONYX - here is one of their touring cars. An Alfa Romeo 155 from the 1996 ITC. Love the graphics on these! Alfa supplied 11 155s to 6 teams that year for the International Touring Car Championship...