(engine revving)
- It's late at night on the drag strip
as you creep to the starting line
a hulking beast of muscle pulls up in the lane next to you
You glance over
All that you can see are two glowing red eyes
floating in the darkness
The lights go down the Christmas tree
Green light
With a bellowing howl of the engine
and a searing banshee cry
the Challenger lifts its front wheels off the pavement
It's doing a friggin wheelie
You try in awe and envious terror as the crimson Dodge
disappears into the night
it was built with quarter mile domination in mind
and given a name from the depths of darkness itself
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Dodge (bleep) Demon
Dodge Demon
(electronic music)
Drag racing
It's the purest form of motorsport there is
two cards race from one end of the quarter to the other
and the first one there wins
it's simple and that's where the beauty lies
you get one shot
♪ One shot ♪
To prove yourself and your car
there are no do overs
But for as long as drag racing has been around
as big as the community is
no one's ever made a purpose built
street legal production drag car
that is until SRT gave us the Demon
Dodge Demon
Dodge's Street and Racing Technology division
has been responsible for some of the craziest cars
on the road for over 15 years
I mean they made the Neon cool
they gave the Challenger 700 and seven horsepower
and called it the Hellcat
it had words my aunt won't say aloud in its name
I don't know James I see your videos
you're drivin' around in that h e double hockeysticks cat
It's call a Hellcat aunt
Oh my Lord please don't use that language in front of me
But SRT isn't the first group at Dodge
to be obsessed with speed
in fact they are direct descendants in a long line
of horsepower hungry engineers and racers
within Chrysler's walls
if you worked for Dodge back in 1959
you would've noticed some students
at Chrysler's Engineering Institute
sitting together for lunch every day
and just chatting away about cars
these guys were smart
and they liked goin' fast
most of the guys were modifying their daily drivers
and racing them on weekends
So they each threw in about 20 bucks
bought a 1949 Plymouth coupe
and called themselves the Ramchargers
Ramchargers
Soon the work they did at the track
made it into Chrysler's lineup
For example
the Four 20 six
hemi
It's one of the most legendary engines ever
and it was perfected at the track by the Ramchargers
Ramchargers
Since 2002 the SRT team has carried the
because we can spirit of Dodge performance
that the Ramchargers inspired 40 years prior
so why build a Demon?
SRT already built the worlds quickest track car
that took global records
The Viper ACR
SRT refocused that energy
on building the ultimate street legal drag car
and would use all of their engineering mastery
in the process
they needed a new no compromise spirit animal
a halo car that would cause every single person
on Earth to say
What they made that?
Just like the Ramchargers the people at SRT are racers
They know what they need to build the worlds
first production drag car
First you need
the power
second
it needs to be light
third
it needs to breathe a ton of air
fourth
it's gotta have grip because power is no good
if it doesn't make it to the ground
fifth
its gotta cool itself off like a Viking
jumping into a calm spring
SRT had their checklist and got to work
on the most over the top muscle car
ever devised
First up was the engine
the Demon's engine is very similar
to the Hellcat's in that it's a supercharged Hemi V8
But aside from the block the two motors are
extremely different
the Demon has a bigger blower making more boost
stronger pistons rods valvetrain
and a new fuel injection system
featuring two fuel pumps instead of just one
on the Hellcat
The result is 800
eight
The results is 800 and 40 horsepower
From a car that you can buy from one of the guys
you know the three guys
Him him and Chrysler
One of 'em
Why
What the (bleep) is going on
800 and 40 horsepower
You shittin' me?
Imagine riding 800 and 40 horses
I've ridden an elephant a lot of times
Don't ask
and that thing's probably five horses tops
Six Demons could've crumbled the entire Roman empire
Tell you what history books'll look a lot different
There wouldn't be a Napoleon in there
Genghis who?
Alexander the what?
History would be ruled by James
the guy in those things we've never seen
that go super fast and scream like
I was gonna say fire engines that
But I realized they've never heard of fire engines
Add the fire engines
(screaming)
And 700 and 70 pounds of torque
It's the most powerful V8 ever put in a production car
I didn't say one of
I didn't say Dodge's most powerful V8
I said the most powerful V8 ever in a production car
Next they had to modify the body
You see these scoops everywhere?
They're not just for show bub
Lotta cars gotta em and most of them are fake
Not on the Demon
it is the largest functional hood scoop
of any production car
I'm starting to see a theme
It is the blankest blank of any production car ever
SRT even took out one of the headlights
to make it an intake
That's an old school trick
To me that feels like something
that the Ramchargers would've done
Ramchargers
That's not a headlight
That's a frickin' intage
Like an MMA fighter cutting weight before a fight
SRT put the Demon on a serious diet to drop some L Bs
They took out all of the speakers
except for the ones in the doors
The sway bars are hollow and smaller in diameter
they stripped out the noise and vibration deadeners
The wheels are lighter
and the steering column has manual adjusters
instead of power
the Demon is so focused on weight saving that
SRT installed smaller brakes to save 16 pounds
and it doesn't stop there no pun intended
The passenger and rear seat are optional
The passenger seat is optional
Huh yeah
What?
Pretty crazy right
Very
They're a one dollar option
As a result the Demon is 200 pounds lighter
than its Hellcat brother
Just like I'm bout 400 pounds lighter
than my Hellcat brother
Lars hit me up it's been a while
We're both mad at 'em dude
I don't think we're mad at each other
Let's fight it out have a soak
and be brothers again
Since this thing is a real drag car
SRT gave it features necessary for a day at the strip
the Demon has a built in line lock system
that lets you do massive burnouts
by locking up the front wheels
once you're staged the Demon also has a transbrake
Which engages first and second gear simultaneously
You don't have to hold the brake
because the transmission is locked up
all you gotta do is use the throttle
to keep your revs in the correct range
this is the first time a transbrake
has ever been put on a production car
When you put the Demon in drag mode
the engine engages torque reserve
which controls the ignition timing
and supercharger airflow to produce
massive amounts of torque for the perfect launch
The front suspension softens
and the rear suspension stiffens up electronically
so when you hit the gas the Demon's weight transfers
from the rear tires giving you more
grip that's cursive
But James you say
I heard the Demon has AC
if it's such a true drag car what's it doing with AC
It's not for you dummy
It's for the air induction
and for the coolant of the engine
SRT calls it the power chiller
which you know coincidentally is
what they called me in high school
The Demon uses the AC refrigerant
to cool down the supercharger
the power chiller reduces air intake temperatures
by 45 degrees
cooler air means denser air in the blower
and that means more air in the cylinders
and that my friends that means more power
This again has never been done before
and now all this powers gotta go to the ground
and street tires just won't cut it
This car comes with proprietary drag radials
from the factory
they're basically slicks that are barely street legal
To keep the tires from sticking out of the fenders
SRT has put huge fender flares on the Demon
and now this guy's three inches wider than the Hellcat
but to unlock it's full potential
you gotta open the Demon crate
It is a pandora's box of drag strip accessories
that elevate the Demon to a full fledged
drag dominating monster
Dodge can't put skinny front tires on for you
What Dodge can do is sell you the wheels
A jack to lift your car
an impact wrench to take the wheels off
and a torque wrench to put them back on
But James you ask what's a drag racing dream package
like this gonna cost me?
A dollar
that's how much SRT wants you to track the Demon
They'll give you everything you need to race
for the same price as an Arizona Ice Tea
Like the Viper before it the Demon
is now Dodge's halo car
The very best example of what's possible
when engineers are encouraged to push the limits
of technology united by a singular vision
the Demon's not just fast
It's a truly impressive piece of engineering
So where does Dodge go from here?
They wouldn't tell us
But based on the energy in the room
they already have plans for something insane
I didn't think the Hellcat would be outdone
But here we are
800 and 40 horsepower later with air conditioning
and comfy seats
Well one comfy seat
maybe the next one will be jet powered
maybe a new nuclear reactor
or maybe the power of love
whatever it is I'm sure when we first hear about it
we're all gonna say
What they made that?
I can't (bleeping) wait
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Dodge Demon
Dodge Demon
I actually got to drive this car around for a week
so check out that video right here
what other cars do you want to see me
and my buddies drive tweet at your favorite OEMs
and say yo give Donut a car
we gotta lot of new shows going on
Monday wheelhouse with my son Nolan Sykes
Tuesday Matt Fields F D Corvette build
Wednesday science garage with my best friend Bart
Thursday Up to Speed
Friday the bestest
it's the chillest crispiest show on Donut
If you watch those shows you're supporting Up to Speed
It's not competitive we're a (bleeping) team don't be a dick
What are your demons Let me know in the comments
no judgment If you need to DM me let me know
Follow me on Instagram
If I get 20,000 followers I will pick one of you
at random and send you something weird
It will probably be perishable
and it won't have anything to do with Donut
I love you
(engine revving)