2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon

The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat has become an almost mythical beast of a car since its assault on the American auto market began a couple of years ago, but other manufacturers have produced track-ready editions of their own muscle cars that have rivalled or even outdone the Hellcat at times. It was only ever going to be a matter of time before Dodge did something to redress the balance back in its favor, and now we know what it is. The answer is the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, which you could say is another Dodge high performance vehicle, but it's really much, much more than that.

Styling

The Challenger SRT Demon is a wide body version of the current Challenger SRT Hellcat, although the air intake on the hood is definitely there to supply air to the supercharger rather than just being an aesthetic embellishment. The Demon takes the stunningly retro-look of the Challenger many of us love so much and put it on a course of steroids. Subtle it certainly isn't, but then that's exactly what it's not meant to be.

Engine

The engine is what the Demon is all about, and unsurprisingly, it does share a good deal with its less-powerful sibling, the Hemi Hellcat. And just think about that for a second; when did we ever think we'd describe the Hellcat as a "less-powerful sibling?" It's still a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8, but this time it develops a simply staggering 840 horsepower and 770 lb.-ft. of torque, which is 133 horsepower and 120 lb.-ft. more than the Hellcat. A larger 2.7-liter supercharger is utilized for the Demon, and there's also a Demon-specific crankshaft, camshaft, valve train, connecting rods, and pistons all being used here to upgrade on the regular Hellcat. Oh, and we mustn't forget the dual fuel pumps and the world's only factory-provided race-gas tuning that also contribute to making this thing so blisteringly quick. The Demon also gets a dedicated High Octane mode so it can take advantage of 100+ octane unleaded race gas.

Performance

Of course this beast is going to be fast, but just how fast is it? Well, we're now reliably informed the Demon will get from a standing start to 60 mph in just 2.3 seconds. That's the kind of speed that puts the vast majority of supercars right in the shade. That's just one of the amazing figures associated with this car's performance though, as it also hits the quarter-mile 9.65 seconds at more than 140 mph. As for top speed, because of the tires the Demon will come with for track performance its maximum speed would be around 168 mph as that's the maximum-rated velocity for the Demon's Nitto NT05R drag radials. However, if it was fitted with tires more suited to achieving the highest possible top speed, it's estimated the Dodge could reach as much as 261 mph with an assumed 0.67 eighth-gear ratio. In fact, it's actually been banned by the NHRA for being too fast. But that's because it doesn't meet the additional safety standards set out by the NHRA for cars capable of doing the quarter-mile in under 9.99 seconds.

Availability and Price

The bad news is the Demon is going to be a limited run model, which isn't surprising really. For the 2018 model year, Dodge is going to be building 3,000 units for the American market and a further 300 for Canada. Production is set to commence in late summer with deliveries to dealers expected to get underway in the fall. There's no word about how much the Challenger Demon will cost as yet, but whatever it is it will be worth it and each lucky buyer will also get a complimentary day of driver training at the Bob Bondurant School of High-Performance Driving. Unless you're Dale Earnhardt Jr. or another equally accomplished pro race driver, you'll probably need it.

Source: //media.fcanorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do?id=18241&mid=200