2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon: An 840-HP Monster!
For years, the Big Three have been selling parts-counter specials that are purpose built for haul racing: Cobra Jet Mustangs, COPO Camaros, and Haul Pak Challengers missing VINs that you order like an oil filter. These are cars only in the sense that they have four wheels. You can’t legally drive one to the corner store for milk or bait teenagers on Woodward Avenue any more than you could in an IndyCar racer. But Dodge is switching that with the Challenger SRT Demon.
SRT head honcho Tim Kuniskis admits that the company dreamed to go in a different direction than the Challenger’s visible competition. Ford and Chevrolet clearly targeted the road-course demographic with their ultimate pony cars, the Camaro ZL1 1LE and the Shelby Mustang GT350R. To be different, SRT zeroed in on a target one thousand three hundred twenty feet long—a quarter-mile—and packed this Hellcat-cum-Demon with legit drag-racing technology normally reserved for purpose-built trailer queens.
By fixating on a single objective, Kuniskis and company claim to have ruined not only crosstown rivals, but all competition, in quarter-mile races—including the Porsche nine hundred eighteen (the quickest production car we’ve ever tested)—with a 9.65-second elapsed time at a sweeping one hundred forty mph. That’s quick enough that the NHRA says “no, thank you” unless the Demon’s possessor installs a roll cell.
A nine-second production car that we expect will cost one-tenth the price of a fresh 918. Let that drown in.
So how did SRT do it? Details have been released in a form of Chinese water torment over the last three months. Very first we learned of all the weight SRT cut to get the Demon as trim as possible, most notably by undressing out every seat save the driver’s (the front passenger seat and the three-place rear bench can be optioned back in for $1 each). Then there was a mysterious box utter of parts and instruments, a peek at the rubber hood scoop, the wrinkled-sidewall haul radials, some suspension details and transmission specs, and on and on. Thirteen teasers in total, which included more than a half-dozen cryptic hints that Chrysler has eventually decoded. The campaign almost caused our interest to wane. All we wished to know was how rapid and how much power.
Eight hundred and forty horsepower regained our attention. However, that comes with a caveat: Showroom Demons make eight hundred eight ponies on premium fuel, an increase of one hundred one over the Hellcat. To unlock eight hundred forty in the Demon, buyers must also purchase the Demon Crate. Cost is TBD, but Kuniskis hopes it also will cost $1. In the crate are some skinny front wheels, all the Snap-on contraptions needed to switch tires at the track, a fresh engine ECU, a fresh air filter, a low-temperature thermostat, a cover plate to facilitate removing the passenger-side mirror, and a fresh HVAC switch module with an extra button on it. That button, a gas-pump silhouette with “HO” in the middle, activates a high-octane engine map (hence the ECU and air filter), enhancing power to eight hundred forty hp and torque to seven hundred seventy lb-ft at four thousand five hundred rpm, up from 717. Kuniskis says the Demon is emissions compliant no matter what mode it’s running. All the instruments and the “runners,” as the skinny wheels are called, fit in a molded chunk of foam that stows nicely in the trunk and is lightly liquidated in the paddock.
Demons ship with four Nitto NT05R haul radials in size 315/40R-18 tucked under blistered fenders that widen the car by Trio.Five inches. The idea is that, with all the crate bits installed, one can drive to a haul undress on the hardly legal street rubber and, with the runners in place, have two sets of rear tires at one’s disposition.
At the Unclothe
Making that kind of torque is one thing; delivering it to asphalt is another, which is why SRT turned to drag-racing instruments. The Demon’s launch control is unlike anything previously seen in a road car. It uses technology that’s commonplace at the Winternationals. A Demon driver and the car itself must go through the following processes to release a most hellacious quarter-mile run:
Engage line lock, which locks the front brakes, to warm up the Nittos in the burnout box before approaching staging. Roll to the beginning line and activate launch control, at which point a number of things are happening. Very first, the Demon has, essentially, air conditioning for its intake air. It superchills the intercooler’s coolant by as much as forty five degrees versus ambient conditions to help pack as many oxygen molecules into the intake charge as possible. Next, the transmission engages its own brake. A trans brake locks the transmission in both very first and switch roles gears at the same time. This liquidates any chance the car will budge off the line when hitting the throttle to reach launch rpm. Eventually, the Demon’s two-stage ignition kicks in. Here, the engine cuts spark and fuel to half the cylinders but keeps all valves operating. This permits the Two.7-liter supercharger (up from Two.Four in the standard Hellcat) to keep its bypass valve closed and generate maximum boost (because a belt-driven supercharger’s boost is directly tied to engine rpm), without generating maximum power. Now the torque converter, an upgraded unit with a higher stall speed and Two:1 torque multiplication, keeps all the launch torque from eating the transmission’s innards. Flick either shift spanking paddle, and the Demon launches. You’ll want to keep the car pointed straight.
Free Wheelie
There is some trial and error to this. Launch rpm and tire pressure, both of which are set by the driver, are the two fattest variables in generating the kind of slot shot that will lift the front wheels into the air. That’s right: The Demon will wheelie.
Achieving a wheelie, or any superb launch, comes down to explosion transfer. The Demon’s suspension is set up specifically for quarter-mile passes. The type of setup needed to transfer a lot of explosion to the rear axle for maximum grip can make a car somewhat scary on public roads. Ever see a haul car get into a speed wobble? To avoid that situation when the commencing lights wink green, the adaptive dampers will quickly revert to a tamer setup—with compression and rebound characteristics intended to improve stability—as soon as the driver lifts off the throttle.
The Uconnect system’s SRT Spectacle Pages function in the Demon has a special display dedicated to intake temperature, and the car will tell you exactly how long you need to wait inbetween runs to generate max power during every pass.
But, like the power, that 9.65-second ET comes with a caveat. Dodge’s quarter-mile time was achieved at a haul unwrap. We test on surfaces with much less grip, so we expect to be off SRT’s rhythm. Once we get our mitts on a Demon, we expect to burn a quarter-mile in 9.8 seconds on 100-octane fuel, or ten vapid when running premium unleaded. A zero-to-60-mph time on the street should be in the Two.3-to-2.6-second range.
The Demon hits showrooms this fall with an estimated base price of $85,000, but we suspect transaction prices will be higher due to request. Dodge will produce three thousand Demons for the two thousand eighteen model year, plus three hundred for customers in Canada. There is no word whether a 2nd model year is in the Demon’s future, but it certainly will be remembered for many years to come.