The Dodge Challenger Demon, 808 horsepower on pump gas and 840 on race gas, came and went — with just 3,300 cars built and sold. What’s next for Dodge?
Nearly the same power, it turns out, will be coming out of the Challenger Hellcat Redeye, with a stunning 797 horsepower, 707 pound-feet of torque, and no production limits. If a hundred thousand people want ’em, a hundred thousand people can buy ’em.
The next most powerful American car for 2019 is the Corvette ZR1, a two-seater that hits 755 — good but not enough to match the Redeye.
The Hellcat is your usual 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi, with a 2.7 liter supercharger (with a peak 14.5 pound boost) from the Demon; it has upgraded internals, valvetrain, and lubrication from the 717-horse Hellcats, and twin dual-stage fuel pumps. A dual-snorkel hood feeds the air intake, as does a pipe from the driver’s side fog-light position — and a new intake near the wheel liner.
The Demon’s Torque Reserve system, which can bring 3.9 psi of boost at launch, remains; so does the air chiller, using the air conditioner system to cool incoming air. An after-run setup also cuts engine temperature between drag runs, so the car won’t run out of torque early as some competitors do. The Demon’s line lock and the SRT’s normal Launch Control continue. The Demon’s brakes, adaptive suspension, and steering carry forward, but the speedo’s been upped to 220 mph.
Dodge has gotten a 10.8 second quarter mile at 131 mph, with a top speed of 203 mph, from the Redeye Widebody — that’s the version with the Demon’s widened fenders and fatter tires. A standard-width Redeye is also sold; it has the same top speed, but only does an 11.1 second quarter mile at the same 131 mph.
The other news is that the earlier reference to a 717 horsepower standard Hellcat is not a typo, that’s a ten horse increase from the already-formidable 2018s. The torque went up by six pound-feet, to 656. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but when asked, a spokesman said “expect around $70,000.” He may have been speaking of the standard Hellcat, but that would be a fine deal for the Redeye.
David Zatz has been writing about cars and trucks since the early 1990s, including books on the Dodge Viper, classic Jeeps, and Chrysler minivans. He also writes on organizational development and business at toolpack.com and covers Mac statistics software at macstats.org. David has been quoted by the New York Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Detroit News, and USA Today.