Speedkore builds 1,000-hp Hellraiser
Comedian Kevin Hart has again tapped classic-car shop Speedkore to build him another Mopar car — and this time it's a sinister-looking 1970 Dodge Charger with way more than enough motivation.
It's called “Hellraiser,” and from its looks, it seems a fitting name. The blacked-out esthetic is menacing, and it's got the performance to match. The entire body is built of lightweight carbon fibre, left exposed to show off the construction. Under the hood is Dodge's new Hellephant crate engine, which draws 1,000 horsepower and 950 pound-feet of torque from the engine's 426 cubic inches, a throwback to the capacity of the classic Hemi.
Under the carbon-fibre body, it rocks the front suspension from a C6 Corvette. At the rear end is a Ford nine-inch axle positioned via a four-link suspension setup with Penske double adjustable shocks.
The whole vehicle rides on HRE S201 three-piece wheels, wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.
Just because this is a serious muscle car doesn't mean it can't be comfy, and the interior is proof of that. The seats are Recaro GT Sportser models fitted with Simpson four-point race seatbelts, and it even has air conditioning.
If you're having a hard time imagining the not-so-sinister Kevin Hart driving this machine, you are not alone. Hopefully this car lasts longer than the last car Speedkore built for him — a 720-hp 1970 Plymouth Cuda that ended up in a wreck.
The Belleville Senators will finally kick off their season Friday night at the Bell Centre.
And, it's taking place through no shortage of effort behind the scenes and at a large expense to the Ottawa Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk and the organization so the club can invest in its top prospects.
The Senators' American Hockey League affiliate will start the year at 7 p.m. against the Laval Rocket with a four-game series at the home of the Montreal Canadiens and for some players on the Belleville roster it's been nearly a year since they last suited up.
The Senators are playing in all-Canadian division which includes the Toronto Marlies, Manitoba Moose and Stockton Heat. The latter is the affiliate of the Calgary Flames but it was moved from California to the Saddledome because of the border restrictions.
While the NHL and its 31 owners are already taking a big hit financially with most teams playing in empty rinks, some are digging a little deeper by operating their minor-league affiliates. Since Melnyk also owns the Belleville franchise, the bill for the AHL team will come in somewhere in the $3- to $4-million range.
So, it's not exactly an inexpensive venture.
That estimate is based on the fact travel will likely cost in the range of $650,000 to $800,000 for the season because the Senators will have to charter a plane to fly to Western Canada for eight games when their schedule is set. Daily PCR testing for COVID-19 could amount to as much as $1 million. Now, that doesn't account for the costs of opening the arena for games and the player salaries of US$1.75 million, which will be pro-rated because of the shortened season. Depending on how many games are played, AHL players will receive between to 40 to 48 per cent of the contracts.
Without anybody in the stands and zero revenues coming in because the AHL is a gate-driven league, you know why some teams opted out and others like the Vancouver Canucks made an agreement to send four prospects to the Manitoba Moose.
Scheduled to play 36 games before the season ends in midMay if all goes as planned, the Senators and every other team are going this route because they want to develop their prospects.
Melnyk and the Senators believe having the AHL team play is paramount with so many young players which is why the taxi squad may most be made up non-playing veterans. General manager Pierre Dorion and assistant GM Peter MacTavish wholeheartedly agree.
“It's imperative,” coach D.J. Smith said when asked about the importance of Belleville opening its season Thursday in a Zoom call from Winnipeg. “If you look at all the teams that have won the Stanley Cup over the last how many years, how many of those players have played in the American Hockey League for the last one, two or three years.
“The high-end players come to the NHL right away, but some of these other players that are fourth- and fifth-round picks that could on to be great players all play in the AHL until they're ready. When you come up, you're built for success. It's a really tough year development wise.”
The Senators didn't even consider the possibility of not icing their AHL team this season and the organization has a good relationship with the city of Belleville.
Earlier this year, to help ensure the future of the franchise in Belleville, Mayor Mitch Panciuk and Melnyk agreed to extend Ottawa's affiliation agreement with the city for two more years. The city pushed back the rent free period to the end of the 2020-21 season because of the hardship caused by the pandemic.
Ideally, the Senators would like to play their games in Belleville this season, but right now the organization is focused on playing home games at the Canadian Tire Centre for the foreseeable future. Ottawa president of business operations Anthony Leblanc has done a lot of work with provincial officials and representatives of the Leafs to come up with a plan that makes sense.
The rest of the club's schedule hasn't been released because the province hasn't signed off on the health and safety protocols the Senators and Leafs are following, but that should come any day because they're the exactly same as those followed by the NHL teams.
Once that happens the full schedule will be released. Naturally, the Senators will be seeing a lot of the Rocket and the Marlies while the Western teams are going to come East as well.
This is a good opportunity for prospects like Logan Brown,
Alex Formenton, Lassi Thomson, Vitaly Abramov, Ollie Alsing and Jonathan Davidsson to get in some playing time. The AHL also went on pause in March and not all of those players got the chance to skate overseas.
Naturally, the time off will have an effect on these AHL players. Belleville has been skating at the Bell Sensplex in Kanata for almost a month since training camp ended.