It Was A Real Demon-lition Derby Out There!
Dodge went all out when creating the Demon, cramming inside the muscular Challenger body all of its tricks to make it go fast on the drag strip. The 3,300 Demons made are all equipped with a 6.2-liter HEMI V-8 engine featuring a 2.7-liter supercharger, which cranks out 840 horsepower (revving all the way to 6,500 rpm) and 770 pound-feet of torque when running on 100 octane gas. With so much power, the most insane Challenger in the world was, for a while, the fastest accelerating ICE-powered production car in the world and, also, the first to be able to perform a wheelie. It was also the first to come with a set of drag radial road tires, the bespoke Nitto NT05R.
All that is possible thanks to some special features from the world of professional drag racing. For instance, the SRT Demon comes with a trans-brake that engages both reverse and the first forward gear in order to hold the car in place. The torque converter then builds up hydraulic pressure while the ’Power Chiller’ system is there to employ the air conditioning to pre-cool the intercooler before the start of a run. While the car tips the scales at 4,255 pounds, it’s still some 215 pounds lighter than an SRT Hellcat.
Having said that, parked next to a lithe McLaren or Lamborghini, it looks huge and it is a bit like a bodybuilder next to a gymnast. The Demon’s prowess on the drag strip was confirmed time and again, smashing the dreams and hopes of many supercar owners whose egos were surely tarnished when their +$250,000 ’gymnasts’ were left in a cloud of dust by the $85,000 Demon. First up on the chopping board is a 2017 Porsche 911 991 Turbo S. While a bit cheaper than a Ferrari or a McLaren, the Turbo S still cost some $190,700 and with 580 horsepower, 553 pound-feet of twist, and a seven-speed dual-clutch PDK transmission that sends the oomph to all four wheels, it’s no slouch. Porsche says that with the optional Sport Chrono package installed, the 991 Turbo S goes from naught to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds en route to a top speed of 205 mph. That’s half a second slower to 60 mph and you can see it in the gap the Demon pulls to the Porsche. You can also see the effect the 12-inch rear tires have at launch (although some Demons in the video run Hoosier or Mickey Thompson tires), as well as the trans-brake system.
The former packs a naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V-8 mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that sends 562 horsepower at 9,000 rpm and 398 torques at 6,000 rpm straight to the rear axle. With almost 300 horsepower less than the Demon, the 458 gets hanged out to dry despite being 805 pounds lighter than the Dodge. The 488 GTB in stock form is a definite step forward as the move away from a naturally aspirated V-8 to a turbocharged one sees power go up by almost 100 horsepower to 661 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 561 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm. Even that isn’t enough to stop the Italian Prancing Horse from being mothballed by one of America’s finest muscle cars (although a better launch would’ve helped the 488).
Up next, the pack of Demons set their sights on Lamborghini’s cheapest offering, the $203,674 Huracan. While we’ve been drooling all over the Performante and the Evo recently, the standard model is also impressive in its own right. The mid-mounted 5.2-liter V-10 churns out 602 hp and 413 pound-feet of torque – enough to make an impression on most of us but not on a Demon owner. In fact, the Dodge is so fast that it managed to beat a Huracan by half a car length despite apparently running out of gas towards the end of a run.
McLaren of Woking, England, isn’t spared either as both the 570S and the luscious 720S get beaten by the comparatively overweight but hellishly fast Challenger. The 570S is like a snack to the Demon despite putting out as much power as a Ferrari 458 Italia – 562 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque.
McLaren’s 710-horsepower supercar with one being able to complete a quarter-mile run in sub nine seconds while stock examples fitted with semi-slick Toyo rubber can easily go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds, as fast as a Demon.
Towards its conclusion, the video treats us with one more duel, although, this time, it’s entirely unfair. The Demon takes on Bentley’s Bentayga SUV. While fast among its high-riding brethren, the Bentayga is far, far away from home on a drag strip next to the 840 horsepower daddy of all road-legal Challengers. The result is predictable and the only thing that’s hard for us to count is the number of car lengths separating the Dodge and the Bentley at the end.
Further reading
Read our full review on the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon.
Read our full review on the 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
Read our full review on the 2018 McLaren 720S