![]() ![]() An upgraded eight-speed automatic and a strengthened driveline with shorter 3.09:1 gearing send all 770 lb-ft of torque to the tires. The result: 808 horsepower on 93 octane, rising to 840 with the optional race-gas-tuned ECU. A fuel system that pumps as many gallons per minute as a hotel shower head, coupled with the largest hood scoop ever offered on a stock automobile, force-feed gas and air to this ravenous machine. SRT engineers fitted a huge new 2.8-liter supercharger-the largest ever offered on a modern gas-burning engine-to take the familiar 6.2-liter V8 beyond Hellcat power. Amazingly, the Demon delivers.Īnd hard they will be. Dodge hyped this Challenger the way your dad or granddad brags about his high school muscle car. But even at the hands of a neophyte, its speed is devastating. Mastering this beast takes experience and finesse. The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon isn't for amateurs. My faltering dragstrip performance barely tapped the Demon's potential-Dodge claims 0-60 in 2.3 seconds, quarter-mile in 9.54-but it's still quicker than nearly every car this magazine has ever tested. One hundred MPH took 6.9 seconds the quarter-mile fell in 11.1. Zero-to-60 on my botched run: 3.3 seconds. Idling back to the starting line, I scroll through the data captured on the Demon's Performance Pages dashboard app. It's my fifth time launching the Demon-or any car at a drag strip, ever-and I've slipped on a banana peel. I overcompensate, matting the throttle and scorching the tires to flee my balking failure. The car burps forward at school zone speed. Release one shift paddle, then let go the brake-the car stays riveted in place, engine straining, chassis flexing behind a load of potential energy fighting to become kinetic.Īll that's left to do is to release the second shift paddle, launching the car into motion as I add just enough throttle to rocket out of the hole without breaking traction. Following the dashboard's instructions, I rev the engine with the brake pedal floored. Pulling both shift paddles activates the Trans Brake. Windows rolled up per track rules, acrid tire smoke still seeps in. The air conditioner is running full blast, but it's chilling the Demon's intercooler, not my sweaty torso. Next, goose the accelerator, lighting up the rear tires in a ten-second burnout before releasing the button and easing into the staging lights. I tap the touchscreen to engage Line Lock, mash the brake pedal, and hold the steering wheel button to lock the front wheels. Demon launch procedure feels like it came from a NASA handbook, a series of instructions to be performed in exacting succession. I'm just trying not to humiliate myself on my first day at a drag strip. Executing the perfect drag racing launch is a delicate dance klutz up the steps, and you're in for embarrassment.īuckled in to a 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, I'm not gunning for a world record. ![]()
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