Unveiled: 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 – The Challenger’s Last Salvo Is A Monster
If Tim Kuniskis and Dodge are to be believed, what you are looking at is the final, bellowing ICE-powered musclecar that is raging against the dying of the light.
What do you need to know? That the car that has more or less remain unchanged since its debut in 2008 is finally about to sunset? That it comes equipped with a transbrake and Mickey Thompson ET Street DOT-approved 315-50R17 meats out back as standard equipment? That this thing has horsepower and torque figures that would piss off diesel enthusiasts, let alone musclecar fans both old and new? Yeah, you heard that right: 1,025 horsepower and 945 ft-lb of torque on E85, 900 horsepower and 810 ft-lbs on E10.
Surely, you heard about this car’s troubled gestation. Engines blowing up. Transmissions turned into do-it-yourself glitter kits. Rear axles twisted into pretzels. What was supposed to have been unveiled months ago had to undergo serious beefing up just to live with the power. Nevermind parts stronger than the Hellcat, they had to make parts that were stronger than what was on offer on the 2018 SRT Demon. The engine only shares a camshaft with the lesser 6.2L engines. 3.0L blow pushing 21.3 PSI. 164 gph fuel rail. 105mm throttle body. Crank fluid damper.
NHRA-certified figures: 8.91 second quarter mile elapsed time at 151.17 MPH. Automatically, this car runs afoul of the no-cage rule AND the no parachute rule. But don’t worry about that, a parachute is available through Direct Connection. At launch it will hit you with 2.004 g loads straight to your chest.
Is this the end of the Second Musclecar Era, as Dodge seems to be hinting at? With the Camaro on death watch, the Mustang looking to become an EV sports car to go along with the EV SUV that bears it’s name, and the Charger racing to the same sunset that the Challenger is heading towards, it is difficult to not think back to a year that Kuniskis didn’t mention during the live show in Las Vegas: 1971. The year that the 440 Six Pack and the Hemi were culled, the year that Dodge started to look away from performance and more towards comfort. But holy hell, what a ride it has been. If this is the send-off for the L-platform Charger and Challenger, then what a way to go: take the Hellephant crate engine, booze it up and proceed to remove all doubt that the mental patients running Dodge would have their final say.
Hail the villain. Long live the Hemi.
