(car engine revving)
- In a world where efficiency and technological advancements
are at the forefront of automotive design,
one special division within Chrysler has toiled away.
Keeping the muscle car tradition alive.
Turning ordinary cars, trucks, and jeeps
into flame belching monsters.
They're the embodiment of muscle in the modern age,
a team whose badge one thing and one thing only:
Business, baby!
This is everything to know to get up to speed on SRT!
(video game music)
One fine afternoon in 1998,
Chrysler's exec. vice pres. of product development Tom Gale,
was perusing the convention floor
of the automotive after market's biggest annual shindig,
The SEMA Show.
Early in Gale's career,
he helped design the Plymouth Barracuda
and he also played a huge part in developing the Dodge Viper
which rekindled a focus on performance at Chrysler.
And that's why he was at SEMA.
He wanted to see for himself
what trends would be in the world of performance.
But what he saw surprised him.
No one was looking at the V8 powered muscle cars
that Tom had grown up with.
All the cool kids were transfixed
on the suped up import sport compacts
like Civics, Integras and Eclipses.
The tuner movement was in full swring
and even though Tom wasn't a tuner guy himself,
he was smart.
And he saw the young people wanted a car that was fast,
affordable, and modable.
So, he would build them one.
Gale put a team together
of the most talented people at Chrysler
to work on the new project.
He united Team Viper: the people behind the Viper,
and Team Prowler: the people behind the Prowler.
The team got their paws on Dodge's compact economy car,
the Neon, and started fiddlin' around with it.
They completed their first concept build in only four months
complete with a super charger on top of a two liter engine.
They took the feisty little Neon back to SEMA the next year,
and people frickin' loved it!
But the suits back at Chrysler were hesitant
to put it into production.
In 2002, the Neon project was taken over
by Chrysler's Performance Vehicle Operations Division.
PVO swapped out the blown four-banger
for a turbocharge setup,
and fitted the Neon with a trick clutch,
five speed gear box,
equal length drive shafts to reduce torques gear,
and Tokiko racing struts to help the car stay planted.
They gave the Neon a more aggressive nose
to let in more air to the engine bay,
and capped it all off with a big fat spoiler outback.
You can't be a tuner car,
and not have a ridiculous wing!
I'm sorry, them's the rules.
And if we don't have rules, then life is anarchy.
Amazingly, these changes won the suits over,
and it was approved for sale to the public in 2003.
All it needed was a name.
It was a Neon, used PVO's street and racing technology
and had a four cylinder engine.
Neon SRT4!
Nice! - Nice.
- Dodge's factory built tuner
was a serious contender on the road and track!
Critics of the day praised the SRT4
for its precise handling and strong engine.
Team Viper, Team Prowler, and PVO
really put their hearts into this car and it showed.
(car zooming)
But the public really didn't know what to think.
Some people wrote it off immediately because of the styling,
others couldn't fathom that an American company
was making not just an import fighter, but an import beater.
As a result, it didn't sell very well,
and the Neon SRT4 only lasted three years.
But the SRT badge?
Oh ho ho, it was just getting started.
To unite Dodge's new performance wing,
the new Viper was sold with SRT branding starting in 2003.
The next year, PVO changed their name to SRT
since all the cars they worked on
had the SRT badge and not PVO.
So, you know, makes sense.
What didn't make sense, was their next project.
The Viper's crown jewel was its radical ten cylinder engine
under the hood, making 500 horse power.
500?
That's a lot of horsies running around!
(car revs)
It's a sick engine,
but the team at SRT thought it was a waste
that only one car got to use it,
so they through it in somethin' else!
Which somethin' else?
All of Dodge passenger cars
were too small for the engine to fit into,
and the V10 Caravan would just be wrong.
They needed somethin' a little bigger,
but that left only one option and it wasn't exactly a car.
In it's stock form,
the Dodge Ram is not a performance vehicle.
It was designed to tow stuff, and carry things,
and it isn't particularly aerodynamic.
Naturally, these inherently unsporty-like qualities
immediately disqualified the Ram
from the search for the Viper V10's new home, right?
Wrong!
Come on!
SRT ain't goin' out like that!
The V10 jumped right in,
then they took the truck to the wind tunnel
for some aero testing.
They gave the Ram SRT10 a power bulge hood scoop
to feed the hungry engine more air
and even added a little spoiler to the back.
(car revving)
The Ram SRT10 came with a six speed manual
with a Hurst shifter and did zero to 60 in 5.3 seconds.
That's not bad for a pick-up.
The SRT10 was built on top of a stiffened hydroformed frame
and rode on tuned Bilstein shocks.
Like the Neon, SRT put everything
into making the SRT10 a real driver's truck.
The next year, SRT would turn their attention
to their first non-Dodge product:
the Chrysler Crossfire.
(thundering) ♪ Crossfire ♪
♪ Don't get caught up in the ♪
♪ Crossfire ♪ (thundering)
And like the SLK AMG,
the Crossfire SRT6 came with a super charged
intercooled V6 pushing 330 horse power, baby.
(car revs)
The Crossfire was a huge win for Chrysler,
as people were super impressed with how nice it was.
And the supercharged mill under the hood
was a nice little bonus.
Seven SRT engineers went over to Germany
to develop the Crossfire,
spending their time testing the coup on the autobahn
and Papenburg Test Track.
But because the car was a little more German
than it was Yankee,
SRT was itching to get started on another project.
A return to why did you make this car so fast form.
Dan Knott was a Chrysler company man
who had been with the company since 1988.
In 2002, he was made head of SRT
where he got the ball rolling
on a special project for the division.
Dan really liked Jeeps.
And a few years later he would be in charge of the brand.
Like the SRT Neons and Rams before it,
Dan really wanted a Jeep
that would kick all kinds of butt on the track.
The Wrangler was too off road focused
to be the right car for the job.
But the Cherokee?
Hmm.
That could work.
SRT started by yanking out the whole drive train,
replacing the stock 3.7 liter V6,
and stuffing in a thick 6.1 liter 420 horse power Hemi V8.
They designed a brand new torque converter and transfer case
to give the Cherokee full-time, all wheel drive,
which is would need to pull off
zero to 60 times of 4.8 seconds.
(car revs)
Around the same time as the Cherokee project,
SRT was also hopping up a bunch of other Chrysler models.
There was the Magnum SRT8 with its 6.1 liter Hemi.
The 300C, Charger and Challenger SRTs
got a similar treatment.
Even the Caliber hatchback
was hopped up to make 285 horse power.
The team was puttin' the Hemi in darn near errythang.
Determined to let everyone know
that the SRT badge meant muscle!
To really send the message home,
SRT became its own brand in 2012.
That meant when you wanted to get a Charger,
Challenger, 300, or Cherokee SRT,
you weren't buying one from Dodge, Chrysler, or Jeep.
It was an SRT!
This was a little confusing for a lot of consumers.
The goal was to unify all of Chrysler's performance cars
under one roof with the new Viper leading the way.
But even Dodge nerds like Nolan
thought it didn't make much sense.
And the independent SRT brand was the dis, bleh!
Dissolved.
Dissolved just two years later.
With all the models going back
to their respective home brands.
But just a year after that, SRT would launch a model
that would completely reignite the flames,
bringing the fire to a height never seen before!
They were workin' on a new Challenger project
whose goal was to hit 600 horsey power,
making it one of,
if not the most powerful passenger car in the U.S.
Work was goin' swimmingly,
until they learned that Ford's new Shelby GT500
would make over 660 horse power.
Crap!
SRT's head of power train development Chris Cowland
was a hard man to please
and would not be content with a second place trophy!
So SRT would go bigger, way bigger.
This top of the line Challenger would have to be so powerful
that SRT's right to the horse power throne
would be undeniable.
"We will make 707 horse power,"
Chris whispered to himself in the mirror.
Chris and his closest associates
didn't tell upper management what they were doing.
They did their work in secret
until all their goals had been met.
The new engine got 22 miles per gallon on the highway,
but also hustled the car to a 10.8 second quarter mile.
And of course, it made over 700 horse power.
It was ready!
The Challenger and Charger Hellcats made their debut in 2015
and immediately put SRT on top of the muscle car game.
The Hellcat twins were unapologetic with their purpose.
They're big, fast, mean, and really, really loud.
(car revs)
You could even get the Challenger Hellcat
with a six speed manual.
Sure the automatic is technically faster to six speed,
but come on!
Over 700 horsies and three pedals,
what more could a man want?
Oh, yes?
840 horse powers?
That is correct.
You're such a smart boy.
SRT stepped up their own game by developing the Demon.
Dodge Demon.
A purpose built street legal drag car
that runs nines at the drag strip.
It might look like the Hellcat,
but it's totally different underneath!
And if you want to know more,
check out this episode right up here.
(dramatic music) (Screaming)
But SRT wasn't done!
Come on, you knew they weren't.
These guys literally can't stop.
They're horse power junkies.
They entered in a pact with the god of speed and sound,
and if they stopped working,
the god of speed and sound will come up out of the ground
in and envelop the SRT headquarters,
sparking the new world order,
and ending life on this planet as we know it.
Knowing they have to keep the prophecy at bay,
SRT put the Hellcat's engine into another host.
This time with the whole family in mind.
The Jeep Track Hawk
was built in the spirit of the original Cherokee SRT8.
But this time around with 770 horse power on tap,
and all wheel drive
that will literally make you forget to breathe.
Ask me how I know.
(car revs)
(giggling)
You have to remind yourself to breathe.
With the 0-60 at 3.5 seconds,
SRT has designed the world's fastest accelerating SUV.
Unfortunately, the father of the original SRT8,
Dan Knott, passed away in 2012.
But I know he would have been extremely proud
of SRT's work on the track off.
There was a lot of speculation around SRT's next project.
Would it be a new Viper?
An even more extreme Challenger?
A Hellcat Caravan?
The answer to all of those is No.
In June 2018, we learned that the next SRT build
will be another Ram.
But instead of a V10 Viper motor,
it's gettin' the Hellcat treatment.
This new Ram will be outfitted for off road duty,
aimed squarely at the Ford Raptor.
It's name?
TRX.
(inspiring music)
- Say it again.
- We have a T-Rex.
- Thanks for watching!
Make sure you hit that subscribe button right here.
We didn't talk much about the Viper
because we have an episode on it.
So click this and watch it.
Check out this episode on the Daytona and the SuperBird.
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