The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is the latest mega horsepower muscle car to roll out of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). They are literally beating themselves with the Demon since their Hellcat was still the top dog in terms of the numbers game. FCA has been quite candid about their intentions too:

“With Demon, our goal was to build a car that would tattoo the Dodge logo into the subconscious of the general market, beyond even our loyal enthusiasts. “To do so, we had to set records that have never been set before, do more than has ever been done before, go beyond even the legendary Hellcat. The result: an 840-horsepower, 9-second muscle car unlike anything that has ever come before it.” -Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Cars – Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA North America.

Before we jump into the numbers, and believe me that is truly what this car is all about, let’s take a look at the car. From the outside it still looks like a Dodge Challenger, which is a design I do like. The wide fender flares and the enormous hood scoop are the most obvious indicators of high performance; overall the car is pretty subtle, well as subtle as a Challenger is anyhow. Get closer and you will notice many of the little “Demon” faces all around the car; look inside and there are even more, there are probably about 20 of the little faces all over the car, just so you don’t forget this isn’t some ordinary rental car. The specially branded Nitto NT05R rear tires are absolutely massive at 315mm. The stopping is done by Brembo four pot calipers on cross drilled, slotted and vented discs; no carbon ceramic brakes here!

So you pony up a large amount of money and buy one of the 3300 (3000 for US, 300 for Canada) SRT Demons produced. You are going to want to take your friends for a rip right? Wrong! There is only one seat in this car; you are taking no one for a ride! Well, that is unless you spring for some of the stripped out interior niceties to be installed, such as a passenger seat, rear seat and trunk carpeting. Not a big spend mind you, Dodge will generously let you have the rest of the interior for only $1 per component. So for the price of a coffee and doughnut you can have a full interior. Take it easy on the doughnuts though, Dodge has done a lot to lighten the heavy challenger:

• 58 pounds: Removed front passenger seat and belt
• 55 pounds: Removed rear seat, restraints and floor mats
• 24 pounds: Removed 16 audio speakers, amplifier and associated wiring
• 20 pounds: Removed trunk deck cover trim, carpeting, spare tire cover
• 19 pounds: Used smaller, hollow sway bars
• 18 pounds: Removed mastic, body deadeners, insulators and foam
• 16 pounds: Used lightweight all-aluminum four-piston brake caliper and smaller, 360-mm two-piece rotor
• 16 pounds: Switched to lightweight wheels and open-end lug nuts
• 4 pounds: Switched to manual tilt/telescope steering column
• 2 pounds: Removed park sensors and module

Another interesting bit of kit is a Demon Crate with you guessed it, more little demon heads! The Demon Crate, contains components that fully unleash the car’s potential at the drag strip and is fully customized with the buyer’s name, VIN and serial number.

The Demon Crate contains:

• Direct Connection Performance Parts:
• Performance powertrain control module with high-octane engine calibration
• Replacement switch module containing high-octane button
• Conical performance air filter
• Passenger mirror block-off plate
• Narrow, front-runner drag wheels
• Demon-branded track tools:
• Hydraulic floor jack with carrying bag
• Cordless impact wrench with charger
• Torque wrench with extension and socket
• Tire pressure gauge
• Fender cover
• Tool bag
• Foam case that fits into the SRT Demon trunk and securely holds the front runner wheels and track tools

In short the SRT Demon is to drag racing what the Porsche 911 GT3 is to a circuit track. It is a purpose built race car that is still street legal. It even has a standard warranty like a normal car! Being that it is purpose built it has a lot of neat drag racing tech that normal cars don’t have such as a trans-brake for launching the car, a line lock for doing burnouts to warm the tires, and a “Drag-mode” that provides launch control and power modulation (ie you don’t want 840hp off the line). It may be tempting to compare the Demon to a Mustang or Camaro, but it isn’t logical. Both the Mustang and Camaro have been getting tuned to be more appropriate for a handling circuit. Dodge makes absolutely no mention of the handling of the Demon in its press releases, I somehow doubt they ran it around the Nurburgring.

Dodge hasn’t given any information on pricing, I have the feeling that every last one of these is spoken for anyhow; just for fun, my purely speculative guess at the price is that it is likely in the region of $200K.

I wouldn’t worry about that 9.65 second ¼ mile time either; us mortals likely won’t be able to replicate that. Dodge was able to do that utilizing their entire engineering prowess that built the car in the first place. I would imagine that the rest of us will probably be able to take that car down a ¼ in the mid tens consistently, which saves us from getting kicked off the track. With that said I really don’t know why Dodge didn’t bother to equip the car with a factory roll cage to avoid that problem, they seem to be bragging about their NHRA ban.

The brass tacks is that Dodge wanted to create a car so drag focused, making gargantuan numbers, that you won’t forget who rules the ¼ mile. This car is ridiculous in every sense of the word; however I’m glad they did it. Despite all their financial woes FCA saw fit to allow Dodge to build an insane production drag car that likely won’t bring them a return on investment. At least Dodge likes entertain us!

Specs. Straight from Dodge

• 840 horsepower and 770 pounds-feet of torque from supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI® Demon V-8
• World’s fastest 0-60 production car: 2.3 seconds
• First-ever front-wheel lift in production car (2.92 feet) as certified by Guinness World Records
• Highest g-force acceleration of any production car: 1.8 g
• Larger 2.7-liter per rev supercharger; increased boost pressure to 14.5 psi
• Higher rpm limit of 6,500
• First-ever factory-production car with innovative SRT Power Chiller™ liquid-to-air intercooler chiller system
• First factory-production car with After-Run Chiller that keeps cooling the supercharger/charge air cooler after the engine is shut off
• World’s fastest quarter-mile production car with an elapsed time (ET) of 9.65 seconds and 140 miles per hour (mph) as certified by National Hot Rod Association (NHRA)

*All images courtesy of FCA US LLC