Dodge’s bad new kitty is capable of 707 horsepower straight out of the gate, giving domestic rivals a run for the money. Earlier this year, Dodge rolled the covers off its all-new 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat. This new NHRA-certified top-of-the-line Challenger is said to run 11.2 in the quarter-mile on stock tires, and capable of an even better time of 10.8 seconds with drag radials.
Dodged stepped up its game with the Hellcat, created to be a force to be reckoned with among high-performance domestics including Mustangs, Camaros, and the like. Of course, this would exclude non-street legal versions such as the Mustang Cobra Jet, the COPO Camaro, and Challenger Drag Pak.
To much surprise, another domestic car took to the Challenger Hellcat by the horns. Another Dodge in the lineup that shares the Hellcat name, the Charger SRT Hellcat, is a beefed-up four-door sedan that debuted this past August right before the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise. This sick sedan is supposedly capable of dominating the 1/4-mile strip in a mere 10.7 seconds.
During the debut, Dodge brand CEO Tim Kuniskis admitted that the 4-door sedan was faster than its two-door brethren on track, albeit bigger and heavier. It was also said to have a top speed of 204 mph and an 11-second flat quarter-mile and on top of that, it can go from 0-60 in an impressive 2.9 seconds.
During an event at the Chrysler Headquarters, TorqueNews was able to grab in-depth look at this 6.2L Hellcat Hemi mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. The SRT Charger Hellcat when charging hard down the track on stock tires, is capable of two tenths of a second faster than its sibling, the Challenger.
According to the audio of the tape, it seems like the driver of the Charger lets off of the throttle toward the end of the track at about 120 mph, when he could have pushed full throttle to run an even better quarter-mile, a tenth or two quicker maybe.
Chrysler stands strong saying that the Hellcat Charger runs 11-seconds flat under the NHRA guidelines. However, it says that the Performance Pages screen is not an accurate representation of what the Charger is capable of in the quarter-mile. Also, the Charger shown was fitted with race slicks, not drag radials.
If anything, it makes a grocery store trip that much more interesting.