Dodge Challenger Demon Will Still Run a Sub-10 Second Quarter-Mile on Street Gas
You don’t need 840 horsepower to get kicked off a drag strip for not having a cage.
Unlocking the Dodge Challenger Demon's ultimate performance potential requires a bit of work. Specifically, it takes the Demon Crate: a $1 package of performance add-ons that includes such features as narrow-gauge drag wheels for the front axle and a powertrain control module that lets it make the full 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet on 100-octane race gas. So equipped, the Dodge Demon can blast through the quarter mile in 9.65 seconds—fast enough that the NHRA won't let you run it in competition without a roll cage.
But according to Dodge head Tim Kuniskis, the Challenger Demon can still break the 10-second barrier at the drag strip even outfitted with its foot-plus-wide drag radials on all four corners and a tank full of 91-octane gas.
Kuniskis admitted as much during an interview with The Detroit News, where he spilled the beans about many of the secrets behind the Demon's development. From the beginning, he said, the project was driven by the mantra "nines-with-light"—a cryptic reference to the goal of delivering the world's first muscle car capable of running the quarter-mile in less than 10 seconds in dead-stock form. That single-mindedness, he said, drove every choice the secretive project's managers had to make—for example, leading them to use the money allocated for interior upgrades on an intake air chiller and a transbrake, instead.
The interview landed on the same day Dodge released a bevy of fun facts and cool stats about the Demon. Among the highlights:
- The aforementioned air chiller cools the incoming air by up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit
- The radiators can process enough heat to boil a quart of water in 1.2 seconds
- During a full-throttle blast, the car's engine breathes enough air to fill the cabin in just 800 feet
- It sucks down 1.36 gallons of gas a minute while making full power
- 62 percent of the engine's components have been changed from the Hellcat motor, including the block, the crankshaft, the pistons, and the supercharger
Also, the whole Detroit News story is worth a read, so click here to check it out for yourself.
