Inside Dodge’s Face-Warpingly Quick Demon Dragster

The best problem Demon engineers confronted was learn how to maintain the automotive in place as energy builds to the proper degree, after which launch it with instantaneous torque. The repair: Take a transmission brake, a little bit of aftermarket engineering that drag racers have used for years, and make it sturdy and dependable sufficient for a manufacturing automotive.

A transbrake lets the driving force bump up the engine velocity to extend the obtainable torque, then let ‘er fly with a flick of a steering wheel paddle. The automotive stays rock-steady on the beginning line, and drivers react about 30 % quicker than in the event that they labored the pedals. “A driver cannot put as a lot power to the brake because the transbrake can,” says Dodge engineer Chris Cowland.

The Demon’s torque reserve system helps the method alongside. When the engine passes 950 rpm in “Drag Mode”, the system boosts the stress within the supercharger. With each methods in play, the Demon has far better torque obtainable at launch, producing a complete of 534 lb-ft from the 6.2-liter V8 engine proper off the road. Dodge says this alone pumps up the Demon’s velocity by 1/tenth of a second in quarter-mile occasions. That is a full automotive size on the monitor.

The Demon comes with much more sensible engineering. Dodge upgraded the driveline to deal with extra torque, and beefed up the suspension to make sure it may cope with the burden switch throughout explosive launches. Plus, it lightened the development—and boosted monitor occasions—by 5 %. The corporate is so assured within the Challenger SRT Demon that it straight up encourages house owners to execute burnouts: Every receives a leather-bound e book with recommendations on learn how to pull it off.

With out the benefit of a leather-based booklet, it took me a couple of tries to grasp the transbrake on the monitor at Lucas Oil: You push the brake pedal all the way down to construct up stress, activate the transbrake, add throttle, launch the brake pedal, after which pop the transbrake paddle. However as soon as I did, I executed the craziest getaways of my life—large, smoky burnouts adopted by clear launches and clean thrill rides down the strip.

It was a blast, in additional methods than one—and the achievement of Dodge’s unique imaginative and prescient for a modern-day throwback to classic drag-racing. I’m sorry I missed these days, however the Demon gave me a hell of a style.