Dodge's Challenger SRT Demon Is an Infuriatingly Marketed From-the-Factory Dragster
Dodge has been parsing out minor details on the Demon, slowly shaping its identity, for what seems like decades, when it has actually only been about a month. In today’s publicity sprig, Fiat Chrysler indicated that — unlike the Hellcat — the Demon will be strip-focused with a suspension setup specifically designed exclusively for straight-ahead speed.
With Dodge claiming that the Hellcat is the “ultimate do everything muscle car” with an intention “to strike that perfect balance between drag strip brute force, road course competence and street car civility,” I am left wondering just how streetable the Demon could possibly be. Like most purpose-built cars, dragsters are wonderful at doing exactly one thing and absolutely terrible at everything else. For Dodge’s new hype machine, the added forward momentum might come at the expense of hanging a right.
Converting the new car into a drag queen required FCA to equip the Demon with some fairly unique tuning characteristics. Dodge is bragging that the Demon the first factory mechanical/electronic drag-race-specific suspension setup ever implemented on a production car. My guess is because other companies probably knew better (and I’m genuinely torn between thinking this is a fun or terrible concept).
On the mechanical side of things, the car ups the compression on the rear Bilsteins and softens the front shocks while pairing them with more reactive springs. FCA opted for lower-rate stabilizer bars that still offer some lateral stability. It’s a fairly classic drag setup, optimizing load transfer and improving on-throttle traction. It should work well with the car’s fat Nitto NT05R drag radials.
Meanwhile, electronic wizardry can tweak the shocks’ rebound and compression from slightly firm to mushy and shift weight to the rear at launch, aiding traction. It can also completely disable traction control without abandoning its electronic stability control.
The only thing missing was a line-lock for warming the rear tires in the burnout box, but Dodge might have just omitted that bit. FCA says we would have to wait to find out the rest of the electronic trickery that occurs when an operator presses the new drag mode button and encourages everyone to watch the new Demon hype-video “multiple times” — which I find annoying. While I’m pleased to see some genuine information in this latest update, I’m more than a little tired of the stay-tuned marketing style the company is so fond of.
Someone should tell Dodge that beating a dead horse, even masterfully with a beautiful gilded club, is still beating a dead horse.
One glaring oddity in the announcement (and poorly hidden in the above photo) was the final result of “13.5=575@500” that the carmaker neglected to elaborate upon further. My best guess is that this is a hint of on-boost power in torque or horses at 500 wheel rotations per minute using some unspecified gearing. Someone who is better than I at math, who owns a decoder ring, and is willing to feed into Dodge’s twisted marketing plan, is welcome to speculate and convert this collection of numbers into something more meaningful.
[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Can't wait to see the inevitable Youtube footage of two new Demons on a drag strip clowning into each other.
A drinking buddy of mine traded his 6-speed SRT-392 Challenger for a 6-speed Challenger Hellcat roughly the day one arrived on the east coast. He has a remarkable interest in the Demon's specs, although he proclaims his disapprobation that the original Demon was a Dodge-badged A-body Duster rather than a high performance Challenger. Personally, I think a set of Yosemite Sam mudflaps would look as good as the 'Demon's fender flares. Rumor going around the bar tonight was that it will be a one-seater with small brakes to improve it's eighth mile time. Yippee.