Pit (Viper) Boss: How a 125-hp Passion Informs SRT Engineering Head’s 640-hp Profession

A 125-hp Formula Ford race car is everything that an SRT product isn’t. But it is a part of deciding what SRT products will be.

In this new series, we peek into the personal stables of the people behind our favorite cars. Russ Ruedisueli (roo-duh-SELL-ee) has been racing in Formula Vee and Formula Ford for more than 20 years and, at 54, continues to successfully compete in SCCA events. That experience cross-pollinates with his day job as the head of Chrysler’s SRT and motorsports engineering.

C/D: How did you get started racing?
RR: Tom Wilkinson [now communications manager at Chevrolet] started racing out of Waterford Hills, Michigan, in a Formula Vee, and that was like my introduction to heroin. He got me out there crewing with him and then got me into the car and through driver’s school. A couple years later I moved up to Formula Fords, and that’s where I’ve kind of  landed.

C/D: Those are very different from the cars SRT sells.
RR: Yeah, they are. But the basics of making a car handle and respond so that the driver is comfortable still apply. If the driver is comfortable, you get better lap times and better race results.

• Comparo: 2013 SRT Viper GTS vs. 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
• Instrumented Test: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT
• Name That Exhaust Note, Episode 194: 2013 SRT Viper GTS

Support Vehicle

Ruedisueli’s tow rig is a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. He’s usually the only guy at the track who tows his race car with a vehicle he engineered. Usually.

C/D: Is there anything on the new Viper that was directly influenced by your racing?
RR: The shifter on the old Viper was very tall. Almost an arm, shoulder, and elbow shift was required. [Race cars] have very small shifters that you click with your wrist. We worked hard on shortening the shifter, lowering the efforts, and dialing in the detents so that you can shift that thing with your wrist now.

C/D: A skinny-tired race car likes to move over its tires, to be a bit loose. Does the racer in you want to make SRT cars similarly loose?
RR: We set the SRT stuff up so it can move around a bit, so you can drive a little bit with the throttle. We’re proud of that. Our dynamics team that put the basic packages together is all ex-racers. We’re all anti-push; we’d rather have a little oversteer than understeer.

Source: CarAndDriver