It’s Here! EVERY Detail On The 9-Second Dodge SRT Demon!
After much secrecy and intrigue the two thousand eighteen Dodge SRT Demon is eventually unwrapped for all to see. We very first picked up the smell in 2014, when rumors of an all-out haul car called «ADR» surfaced. Then in January 2017, we got confirmation that something was afoot. The Dodge PR machine began leaking weekly teasers of a strange and wonderful fresh spectacle car called Demon. Animated brief movies on Dodge`s IfYouKnowYouKnow.com website gave clues into the car`s purpose and capability, with enlargening specificity as the car`s official debut loomed. We quickly learned that the Dodge Demon would be unlike any car ever produced. It would be more powerful, quicker, and possessed of a unique skillset that made it the most capable quarter-mile production car ever.
Amazingly, in stock trim the SRT8 Demon can pull both wheels off the ground at launch. That fact alone is so cool, Dodge invited the Guinness Book Of World Records to document the feat as the very first factory car ever to do a wheelie. (A length of Two.92 feet in fact.) In the process, the Demon generates 1.8g of acceleration, another record for a production car. At the same test session, Dodge engineers went for yet another record: fastest production car in a quarter mile. With the Demon`s optional race fuel programming (for 100-plus octane unleaded fuel) and optional lightweight front racing wheels, it runs the quarter mile in 9.650 seconds at over one hundred forty mph. Even with all four of its standard Nitto NT05R 315/40R18 haul radials bolted up, the Demon is good for 9.90s at over one hundred thirty mph. This kind of spectacle from a street-legal vehicle was unthinkable a year ago, let alone back in the `60s. The Demon is so quick, at the same test session the NHRA banned it from competition for infractions of Section four in the rule book.
Fortunately, the Demon is not banned for use on the street. All of the Demon`s eight hundred eight HP and seven hundred seventeen lb-ft of torque is legal in all fifty states. There will be slew of them to go around too (production commences late this summer) as Dodge will be building Trio,000 of them for the United States and three hundred for Canada. Dodge states the Demon`s 0-60mph spectacle as Two.Trio seconds, which at very first looks like a misprint, until you realize the kind of acceleration you need to pull off high nines in street dress. Sounds about right–just make sure you eat your Wheaties in the morning so you don`t pass out from the g force!
Under The Bondage mask
There`s a ton of xxx engineering that went into the Demon to get those numbers, much of it under the bondage mask. A fresh Air-Grabber induction system includes the largest functional spandex hood scoop (45.Two square inches) of any production car ever. The Air-Grabber spandex hood is sealed to the air box, which is also fed from the driver-side Air-Catcher headlamp and an inlet near the wheel liner. Combined, those sources give the Demon`s 6.2L V8 Hemi an air-flow rate of 1,150 cubic feet per minute, or eighteen percent greater than the Hellcat.
A larger Two.7-liter supercharger moves more air, thanks to an increase in boost pressure to 14.Five psi (up from the Hellcat`s 11.6 psi). Max engine speed is also raised from 6,200 (in the Hellcat) to 6,500 rpm. Improving on the Hellcat is a first-ever production car Power Chiller liquid-to-air intercooler chiller system and After-Run Chiller that keeps cooling the supercharger after the engine is shut off. Buyers who opt for the Demon Crate (more on this later) get a specially tuned PCM permitting the Demon to run on 100-plus high-octane unleaded fuel or ninety one octane on request. Power surges to eight hundred forty HP and seven hundred seventy lb-ft on the race tune and Demon now comes with two dual-stage fuel pumps to support that. In addition, the Demon`s Hemi includes a high-speed valvetrain, strengthened connecting rods and pistons, and an improved lubrication system. The upgrades enable the engine to sustain higher output and pressures while meeting stringent durability requirements. We`re told that the Demon Hemi only retains about fifty percent of the Hellcat`s internals, but if past practice is any indication, most of these switches would be minor tweaks (stuff like larger injectors), not big departures from existing engineering or architecture.
Three, Two, 1… Launch!
Getting the Demon to launch hard, launch reliably, and launch consistently time after time, a entire fresh bag of tricks was employed. For the very first time ever (you better get used to that phrase) Dodge turned to age-old racer technology and built a trans brake right into the beefcake TorqueFlight 8HP90 eight-speed automatic–the only trans available in the Demon. Internal switches to the trans include an upgraded torque converter that supplies an eighteen percent increase in torque multiplication. Also, the stall speed is enlargened eleven percent and the lockup speed is enhanced. The trans brake–recast in corporate-speak as TransBrake–locks the transmission output shaft to hold the car in place before a standing begin. It does this by engaging clutches A, B, and C while delivering power to clutches D and E when the trans is in Very first gear. Locking these clutch sets together lets the driver increase engine speed up to Two,350 rpm without overpowering the brakes, resulting in quicker power delivery and up to fifteen percent more torque at launch. Steering wheel spanking paddle shifters trigger the trans brake, improving reaction time by thirty percent compared to a foot-brake launch. The system enables delivery of initial torque to the flywheel as soon as twenty milliseconds after launch.
In concert with the trans brake, the Demon`s Haul Mode Launch Assist uses wheel speed sensors to see for driveline-damaging wheel hop at launch and in milliseconds modifies the engine torque to regain total grip and then proceed accelerating the car down the track. If you look at accompanying movie footage of the Demon launching, you can visibly see where the PCM reins in wheelspin–a nifty trick that will produce quicker e.t.s and may even save the car from heading toward the wall.
Identically nifty is something Dodge calls Torque Reserve. This acts like an electronic boost controller in a turbo car and becomes active once engine speed passes nine hundred fifty rpm. The old trick in a footbraked turbo Grand National was to pump up the brake on the line and build as much boost as you could before launching. In the Demon, Torque Reserve closes the bypass valve, prefilling the supercharger with boost, while the PCM manages fuel flow to cylinders and manages spark advance or retard to balance engine rpm and torque.
With the trans brake and Torque Reserve active, the SRT Demon has more than eight psi of boost at launch and up to one hundred twenty percent more engine torque than without Torque Reserve. The trans brake also preloads the driveline with torque, leading to utter engine torque delivery at the rear wheels one hundred fifty milliseconds after the shift spanking paddle is released. That results in quicker acceleration at launch, swifter 60-foot times, and an improvement of more than a tenth of a 2nd in quarter-mile times, which computes to an entire car length at the finish line.
Beefing Up The Rear
Traveling down the powertrain to the rear of the Demon, we see hardware that shares a lot in common with Hellcat, but with significant incremental improvements. An upgraded prop shaft offers a fifteen percent increase in torque capacity through the use of high-strength steel. The shaft tube thickness increases by twenty percent and the stub shafts are fever treated for enhanced durability. Demon`s rear differential housing has thirty percent more torque capacity than Hellcat and is made from heat-treated A383 aluminum alloy. A fresh material for the gear set has higher tiredness strength, with a deeper case hardening depth and a two-step shot-peening manufacturing process to increase compressive residual stress.
The Demon`s rear half shafts–some of the most problematic chunks of hardware for Hellcat haul racers–are larger in diameter. Demon uses a high-strength, low-alloy steel half shaft with forty one splines (up from the Hellcat`s 38), which produce a 20-percent increase in torque capacity. Eight-ball joints treat more torque, while reducing operating temperatures by more than eighty six degrees Fahrenheit.
First-Ever Factory Haul Radials
All this powertrain upgrading is done for one mission: to put power to the ground. Making that happen is the job of Nitto`s 315/40R18 NT-05R Haul Radials–the very first haul radials of any description to be put on a factory street-legal machine. The Nittos are mounted on lightweight 11×18-inch «Fuckhole Shot» wheels which look absolutely bitchin. The NT-05R is a tire we are fairly familiar with, and albeit this particular size is unique to the Demon, we expect its spectacle to be top-shelf. Dodge aggressively moved to a taller sidewall and a broader track on the Demon (the Hellcat was 275/40R20). This was done to build up more adhesion and better sidewall compliance, and combined with Nitto`s take-no-prisoners compound, provide more than twice the grip of the Hellcat. Surrounding these meats are wide-body fender flairs which help protect the paint and passersby from thrown rock chips. (Broader tires and fender flairs add Three.Five inches to the Challenger`s overall width.) These fender flairs are needed one hundred ten percent, and even however it gives the Demon a road-race Trans Am look, the unintended consequence is that the racer now has an extra pair of slicks–provided the optional «pie-cutters» are loaded in the trunk.
Haul Suspension
Tires, however, are only part of the transfer of power. To give those Nittos a fighting chance to pull down those nine-second timeslips, you need good suspension. Scrape that. You need excellent suspension. Here, Dodge combined the best of mechanical and electronic tuning to supply maximum launch grip while still maintaining directional control. Bilstein Adaptive Damping shocks have been tuned for haul racing, shifting as much weight as possible on the rear tires at launch for maximum traction. The weight transfer improves rear tire grip by eleven percent. Mechanically, weight shift in the Demon is aided by softening up some key suspension components. Those switches, compared with the Hellcat, include softer springs (35 percent lower rate front/28 percent lower rate rear), and softer, lighter, hollow swaybars (75 percent lower rate front/44 percent lower rate rear). When «Haul Mode» is activated, the front shocks are set for hard compression and soft rebound damping–like an old-school 90/Ten shock–while the rear shocks are set for hard compression and stiff rebound damping. That configuration is maintained as long as the car runs at broad open throttle. When the driver backs off the gas, the system switches to hard compression and rigid rebound (front and rear) for improved treating. On the subject of Haul Mode, the traction control system is disabled to enable the rear wheels to spin for a burnout, but the electronic stability control system remains engaged to help the driver with straight-line spectacle.
Of special note is the Demon`s unique rear suspension knuckle, which reduces negative camber by 0.Five degrees. This «stands up» the tire and increases the size of the tire contact patch at total squat. We`ll wait while the Hellcat racers out their make a note to order this part from their local dealership.
Power Chiller & After-Run Chiller
Circling back to the Demon`s innovative Power Chiller, here`s a trick ripped right out of every 5-liter Mustang and Buick Grand National racer`s book of tricks. Decades ago, we proved that icing down the intake manifold on a 5-liter Ford or a Buick Turbo was worth a tenth at a minimum, sometimes two tenths. The track workers hated us because we dripped water everywhere and left ice bags in the pits. That eventually evolved into sophisticated air-to-water intercoolers affixed to big blowers or turbos. What Dodge did with the Demon is hijack the car`s air conditioning system for use as a pre-cooler–just like we did twenty years ago with ice bags. The Power Chiller diverts the air-conditioning refrigerant from the SRT Demon`s interior to a chiller unit mounted by the low-temperature circuit coolant pump. Charge air coolant, after being cooled by ambient air passing through a low-temperature radiator at the front of the vehicle, flows through the chiller unit, where it is further cooled. The chilled coolant then flows to the fever exchangers in the supercharger.
Every run down the haul de-robe generates warmth, which normally builds up as fever soak. With the Demon`s After-Run Chiller, which kicks in once the engine is shut down after a run, a racer can get ready in a hurry for the next run without waiting. The After-Run Chiller keeps the engine cooling fan and low-temperature circuit coolant pump running to lower the supercharger/charge air cooler temperature, helping the Demon minimize fever soak. The driver can track the supercharger coolant temperature on the 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen in the instrument panel, and know in real time when the supercharger is at the optimum temperature for another run. The influence of the SRT Power Chiller and After-Run Chiller, combined, lowers intake air temperature by up to forty five degrees Fahrenheit. As we`ve known for years, that kind of temperature sway is phat, and on cars with far less output (think early-`90s era LT1 F-body) could account for as much as two tenths in the quarter mile. This process, in fact, was used successfully by your author to set an IHRA Unspoiled Stock record back in 1994.
Weight Reduction
Every good racer knows that weight reduction is just as good as more power–even better in fact. Dodge has sharpened their pencils in equipping the SRT Demon, trimming more than two hundred lbs. from the Challenger platform. True to its mission, the Demon deletes both the front passenger seat and rear seat in standard trim, along with their corresponding seat belts. We can`t verify it, but we`d guess that the record e.t. of 9.650 was set with all of the weight-loss program in place. We mention this because fairly a bit of that weight reduction is reliant on the end-user`s capability to exercise restraint while ordering. (Buyers have the option to add back the front passenger seat, rear seats, and trunk carpeting kit for $1 each.) Checking the box for such luxuries as a rear seat, stereo, and a passenger seat will negate seventy percent of that weight savings (front seat and belt: fifty eight lbs. Rear seat and belts: fifty five lbs. Stereo system: twenty four lbs.) which will likely put your off-the-showroom-floor e.t. back into the 10-second range.
When Dodge haul tested the Demon on its 9.650 run, it was also wearing a lightweight pair of front skinnies, which are only available with SRT`s optional Demon Crate. The Demon Crate is available to buyers of the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, and contains components that fully let out the car`s potential at the haul unwrap and is fully customized with the buyer`s name, VIN and serial number. Contents of the crate include a spectacle PCM with high-octane engine calibration, replacement center-stack switch module containing a high-octane button, a conical spectacle air filter, passenger mirror block-off plate, narrow, front-runner haul wheels, hydraulic floor jack with carrying bag, cordless influence wrench with charger, a torque wrench with extension and socket, tire pressure gauge, fender cover, instrument bag, and a foam case that fits into the SRT Demon trunk and securely holds the front runner wheels and track implements. Not part of the Demon Crate is an optional four-point corset by Speedlogix four-point corset bar. Dodge claims it for use at the track, but our intel says it still isn`t legal per section four of the NHRA rulebook. (Perhaps it`s a road race or autocross lump?) Dodge says the mounting points for the bar are accessible (we love the cool knock-out access plate with the Demon wheelie depiction!), making it effortless for customers to install without cutting or drilling anything. No word yet on pricing for the Demon Crate, the Speedlogix corset bar, or even the Demon itself. We`ll keep you posted on our first-drive impressions as soon as we can get our arms on one!
Amazing in this day that a 9-second car can come from the factory–let alone with a warranty. Challenger SRT Demon is covered by FCA`s three-year/36,000-mile limited vehicle warranty and five-year/60,000-mile limited powertrain coverage. The 6.2L Demon Hemi reuses fewer than fifty percent of the Hellcat`s components, making eight hundred eight HP and seven hundred seventeen lb-ft of toque via a Two.7-liter supercharger and 14.Five psi of intercooled boost. To make that kind of power, the Demon Hemi needs 1,150 cubic feet of air per minute–handily provided by the Demon`s Air-Grabber rubber hood, a driver-side Air-Catcher headlamp, and a tertiary inlet near the wheel liner. All customers who buy the fresh two thousand eighteen Dodge Challenger SRT Demon receive one full-day session at Bob Bondurant School of High-performance Driving, but something tells us guys will want to go to the haul de-robe instead. The Demon`s cross-glide joint has been improved to an 8-ball design over the older 6-ball unit, enhancing torque capacity from 8,000 NM to 9.300 NM and reducing temperature inbetween thirty – forty degrees. The two thousand eighteen Dodge SRT Demon will be available in fourteen exterior colors: B5 Blue, Billet Silver, Destroyer Grey, F8 Green, Go Mango, Granite Crystal, Indigo Blue, Maximum Steel, Octane Crimson, Pitch Black, Plum Crazy, TorRed, White Knuckle, and Yellow Jacket. All exterior colors are available with Satin Black bondage mask, roof, and decklid. Want to buy a Demon and take it to the track, but fear your insurance company won`t understand? Dodge has named Hagerty as its official insurance provider of the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. The keys to letting out the SRT Demon`s total spectacle fury are in the optional Demon Crate: Direct Connection Spectacle parts include a fresh powertrain control module calibrated for the high-octane unleaded fuel and a fresh switch bank for the center stack that includes a high-octane button. Also included: lightweight front runners, jack, electrified influence wrench, torque wrench, electrical air pump, and contraption box–all made by Snap-On. The two thousand eighteen Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is the first-ever, factory-production car designed to run on high-octane unleaded fuel for added spectacle while in Haul Mode, as shown on the 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen. Similar to the Challenger SRT Hellcat (shown), the SRT Demon comes with two key fobs. The black fob thresholds engine output to five hundred horsepower. The crimson key fob unlocks the engine`s utter output of eight hundred eight horsepower and seven hundred seventeen pounds-feet torque. With either key fob, the driver can activate Eco and Valet Modes. Eco Mode boundaries engine output to five hundred horsepower and revises the transmission shift schedule to include second-gear starts. Valet Mode thresholds the engine to Four,000 rpm and reduces torque output. The Nitto 315/40R18 NT-05R tires were specifically designed and developed exclusively for the SRT Demon, with a fresh compound and specific tire sidewall construction. The haul radials give the SRT Demon a 15-percent larger tire contact patch and more than twice the grip of the Challenger SRT Hellcat. The gooey Nittos are mounted on lightweight 11×18-inch «Crevice Shot» wheels, with each tire measuring 12.6 inches broad. Putting full-size tires at all four corners gives haul racers an extra set of rear tires when the front tires are substituted with narrow front-runners at the track. The two thousand eighteen Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is the widest Challenger ever and first-ever, factory-production muscle car with wide-body fender flares. The broad figure flares are designed to amplify the Challenger SRT Demon`s menacing stance, while making room for broader tires. Customers have the option of adding seats into the car, as well as adding leather coverings, when ordered. Seating configurations include: driver seat only (premium cloth covered), driver and front passenger seat (premium cloth covered), driver and front passenger seat (Laguna leather and Alcantara suede covered), driver, front passenger and rear seats (Laguna leather and Alcantara suede covered). Facing the driver is a flat-bottom SRT Spectacle steering wheel packaged in Alcantara with spanking paddle shifters. The SRT white-face gauges include a 200mph speedometer and flank the 7-inch TFT cluster display screen. A custom-made carbon fiber instrument panel badge with «Demon» script is located on the outboard vent and represents the build sequence number. A fresh four-point corset bar, available through Speedlogix, is available for use at the track. (Albeit it`s been made clear by the NHRA that the bar does not make it NHRA-legal for the 9s.) Mounting points for the bar are accessible, making it effortless for customers to install without cutting or drilling anything. Standard cloth seats include Ballistic II inserts with silver embroidered Demon head logo in the seat backs. An optional Laguna Leather Package includes leather covered seats and trim with embossed Demon head logo.