Americas Most Popular Limited Edition Muscle Car
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Ah, the Dodge Demon; is an unhinged, drag-racing ultra-muscle-car that spanks the bonkers 707bhp Dodge Hellcat into second class citizenship of Muscle Car world.
How? Well, it's all thanks to 840bhp, 770lb ft of torque and some of the craziest drag tech ever put on a production car. And did we mention that it'll do wheelies? Yep, Dodge has gone mad and we love it.
The Demon is the work of Dodge’s most hardcore guys who are car enthusiasts of the highest order. They holed themselves up in a room, applied the logic of aftermarket but then massaged it within the restraints of American regulation.
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You get the impression that working on the Demon project would be fun (beers at lunch, Dickies denim and lots of heavy metal) but they've also proven they're incredible engineers, given it's mad as a badger but will still keep the government happy. It even has the benefit of a warranty slapped on the windscreen. What’s been achieved with the Demon is remarkable, as it’s not re-written the rulebook, but fed it spine first into the shredder.
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The Demon has so many world firsts that Dodge’s official press release would have been better written on a scroll rather than hectares of paper. And no matter how many times you read them, they never get any less impressive.
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To make them easier to swallow, we’ve galleried up all the Demon’s incredible stats, world firsts and heavy artillery pub ammo to show you just how mad this wheelie-popping lunatic is. Seriously, if there’s one car you need in your hand of Top Trumps, it’s this one.
It's the world’s fastest production car from 0-60mph.
Two point three seconds. That's how long it takes to get to 60mph from a standstill. With a roll-out, that time sinks to 2.1 secs.
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For reference, the Demon is faster than a Bugatti Chiron (2.4secs) and the Tesla P100D with Ludicrous Plus (2.3 and a little bit). And that’s with the Demon being rear-wheel drive only compared with those two cars’ all-wheel drive platforms.
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How long does it take to get to 30mph? One second flat. That's satanic.
It has the highest horsepower V8 engine ever produced.
Making it the most powerful production muscle car ever. That's thanks to 840bhp and 770lb ft of torque from the supercharged 6.2-litre HEMI V8. And before you start commenting that it's just a Hellcat engine turned up, it's not.
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The Demon's V8 has 25 major component upgrades including a new, larger supercharger (2.7 litres vs. 2.4 litres), new pistons, rods, valve train andfuel injection system, as well as increased boost pressure (14.5psi vs 11.6psi) and a higher rpm limit (6,500rpm vs 6,200rpm).
It's the world’s fastest quarter-mile production car.
Ready for this time? The Dodge Demon trips the lights at an insanely fast 9.65 seconds, at 140mph.
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You want a comparo?
The latest ultracars from McLaren, Porsche and Ferrari can manage ‘only’ 9.8 seconds. The Chiron might ultimately beat it when it finally appears. But for now, the Demon is the king of the quarter mile.
It's so fast the NHRA has banned it.
Yep, because of that outrageous quarter-mile time, the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) has banned the Dodge Demon for being too damn fast.
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Why? Well, it's sent to the sidelines on a technicality that anything that runs under 10 seconds or over 135 mph requires an NHRA certified cage, which the Demon doesn't have as standard. But if you show up at an NHRA-sanctioned event and the best you can get out of the Demon is a 10.01-second quarter-mile, you're in the clear.
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But as soon as you dip into the nines, or over 135mph, you'll have to weld an NHRA cage in the back. Otherwise, it's an early bath.
It's the world’s first production car to do a wheelie.
Wheelies are something bikes do, not cars. Well, only the craziest drag cars.
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Well, the Challenger SRT Demon is the world’s first production car to lift the front wheels at launch. A wheelie, to you and I. Being able to see light under the front wheels at launch has sent it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s longest wheelie from a standing start by a production car. All 2.92 feet of it.
First-ever production car with a TransBrake.
Unless you've spent your life at drag strips, you've probably not heard of a TransBrake. Basically, it's used to help improve driver reaction time at the Christmas Tree lights – as well as launch consistency by using the steering wheel paddle shifters as a trigger.
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But it's more than that. It also locks the transmission output shaft to hold the car in place before a standing start. This lets you increase the engine speed up to 2,350rpm without overpowering the brakes, resulting in quicker power delivery and up to 15 per cent more torque at launch.
It produces more g-force under acceleration than any other car.
Pulling wheelies doesn't happen without Mr Physics butting his nose into the situation. Lifting the front wheels requires a lot of shove, and results in your cheeks slapping the backside of the headrest as the car pulls 1.8g. Consider for a second what 1.8g of acceleration in the Demon would feel like. Yeah, our organs are screaming too.
First-ever production car with a torque reserve.
More drag lingo for you: torque reserve. It works in conjunction with TransBrake to get the Demon off the line like a dog egg off a shovel. It's active whenever the car is in launch mode, and you have more than 950rpm on the clock.
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It works by increasing supercharger revs without torque overwhelming the brakes and spinning the rears. Basically, it creates more energy that can be released more efficiently for a what-the-hell-was-that type quarter-mile time.
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With TransBrake and Torque Reserve buddying up together, the Demon has more than 8psi of boost at launch and up to 120 per cent more engine torque than without Torque Reserve.
TransBrake also preloads the driveline with torque, leading to full engine torque delivery at the rear wheels within 150 milliseconds of you lifting your finger off the paddle.
It's faster than most supercars while in 'Eco' mode.
Although the image above would make you think otherwise, like all Dodge cars, the Demon has Eco mode.
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Fuel economy figures haven't been released yet (we're not expecting a lot to be honest), but Dodge has thrown it down the strip in Eco mode where it did an 11:59. That should keep Greenpeace happy.
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Reference: topgear.com
