Dodge Demon
TH I N GS WE’ VE LE ARNT TH I S MONTH
The new Dodge Challenger SRT Demon isn’t just a warmed-over Hellcat, it’s a completely new stand-alone model with 97 new parts, the deletion of a several key components and some serious light-weighting – and you can see the results in the box to the right… In fact, the only similarity between the Hellcat’s and the Demon’s supercharged V8s are the heads. Everything else on the Demon is new. And it needs to be, as it’s carrying a lot more load.
While the Hellcat peaks at 707bhp and 650lbft of torque at 4,000rpm, the Demon – using 91-octane petrol – produces 808bhp and 717lbft. That’s a useful increase, but still doesn’t explain those performance numbers. So this is a good time to tell you about the VIN-matched, owner-named Demon race kit, which will be available for each of the 3,000 or so Demons that goes down the production line.
When you buy your car, you will be given a coupon. Don’t throw this away. The coupon entitles you to buy the Demon race kit for the princely sum of $1. This kit, which comes in its own bespoke crate, contains everything you need to turn your road Demon into a track Demon.
Among other things, this includes a pair of smaller, lighter, specialist drag-racing front wheels (as standard the car wears 315 section Nitto NT05R drag radials – another world frst) plus a jack and an impact wrench. The kit also contains a controller that screws into the centre console allowing you to run on 100-octane race gas, uncorking 840bhp and 770lbft.
And it tips the scales a full 90kg less than its little brother. To save weight, it comes as
Hellcats and ZL1s can go home, the Dodge Demon has arrived 840bhp drag-optimised Challenger beats a Chiron to 60mph and does wheelies for fun
standard with just one seat, the driver’s. If you want the passenger seat you can have it added for just $1. And if you insist on the rear seat, that’ll cost you, yes, another $1. But if you don’t tick those boxes, you will be driving on your own. How brilliant is that?
Also on the Demon’s list of world frsts is a transbrake. This drag racer staple – mounted as a paddle on the steering wheel here – efectively locks the ’box so you can preload the drivetrain without the car pushing forward, as can happen when you have road-roller-sized rears and those skinny fronts ftted. With this engaged and the throttle mashed, you stage up, wait for the green then ping of the transbrake and away you go, wheelieing of into the distance. Downstream of the gearbox is a stronger driveshaft and lower 3.09 fnal drive ratio instead of the Hellcat’s 2.62.
But don’t think the Demon is a straightline-only car. Using adjustable dampers – which loosen the front and frm the rear when in launch mode – the Demon can handle spirited road driving just as well. Top speed is limited to 168mph due to the drag radials, so it loses a little top end. But it registered the highest lateral g- loads of any Challenger ever tested during the cornering tests. And it brakes faster from 60mph – when running all four 315s – to zero than a Viper ACR.
There are thousands more Demon details and stories we can dig into later. But the burning question right now is: when are we going to get to drive it? Dodge is saying sometime around July. We have the whole month blocked out already…