Soundtrack of the century
FROM THE MOMENT the Dodge Viper concept appeared at the North American International Auto Show in 1989 it was clear that productionising V10s in road cars would be swimming upstream against the V8s and V12s. Yet it is still surprising that, when the possibilities were seen – and heard! – more manufacturers didn’t jump on the bandwagon. As the sun sets on the roadgoing V10 35 years later, the applications may be myriad (as we explore on pages 58-59) but the actual number of different V10 motors designed and built for production road cars is pretty low, even if you include diesels and people-carriers. Glorious noise aside, what I like best about them is the way that, just when cars globally were becoming depressingly homogenised, the V10 came along and reignited,…
