MUSCLE UP!
A first ferocious look at the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye
Somebody call Sergio Marchionne. Somebody needs to urgently let the chief executive of FCA know the people in charge of Dodge have got hold of the keys to the high-performance lockers and are running completely wild. How else to explain the newest Challenger, the 2019 SRT Hellcat Redeye, with an eye-popping 797 horsepower?
That is no typo. At 797 hp, the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye becomes the most powerful mass-produced V8 in the world, now that the 840-horsepower atom splitter known as the Demon has finished its production run of 3,300 cars.
With 707 pound-feet of torque, the new Redeye launches to 98 km/h in 3.4 seconds, eclipses the quarter mile 10.8 seconds and maxes out at 326 km/h. Perhaps NASA should be notified, too.
Regular Hellcats — if the car can even be called “regular” — also get a power boost, to 717 hp from 707. Torque inches up 656 lb-ft from 650. But all Hellcats now get a functional, dual-snorkel hood that pays homage to the 1970 Dart Swinger and 1971 Demon, an era that seemed like the pinnacle of horsepower, but now, in retrospect, seems like preschool to today’s staggering power.
The Challenger R/T Scat Pack can now be optioned with the wide body formerly limited to Hellcat cars. The kit adds 8.8 centimetres to the overall width, which should help improve handling and braking in the naturally aspirated muscle car. At the track, larger six-piston Brembo front brakes, wider wheels and tires, and suspension upgrades featured on the Scat Pack 392 Widebody equate to two second-faster lap times, or approximately 12 car lengths at a 3.3-km road course, compared with the non-Widebody Challenger Scat Pack.
The new Redeye achieves some of its performance benchmarks from lessons learned with the Demon, a car that sold out the day it became available for order at $109,000. Second-hand Demons are now commanding almost twice that figure.
Like the Demon, the Redeye gets a supercharged 6.2-L Hemi V8, mated to a TorqueFlite 8HP90 eight-speed automatic transmission. It gets 25 major component upgrades, including a larger supercharger, strengthened connecting rods and pistons, a high-speed valve train, and improved fuel injection and lubrication systems.
Compared with the standard SRT Hellcat, the Redeye’s supercharged high-output engine features the largest factory supercharger of any production car, at 2.7 L. At full throttle, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye’s engine consumes 5.4 L of fuel every minute — enough to drain the fuel tank in just under 11 minutes.
In addition to the new dual-snorkel hood, the Redeye receives enhanced badging and is offered in 14 exterior colours, including a new Triple Nickel silver. A variety of interior trim selections can be had over five interior colours. Production of the 2019 Dodge Challenger lineup will start at FCA’s Brampton plant this fall, with vehicles starting to arrive in dealerships late this year.