Today's plan is a simple one: How quickly can we
hustle the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger Hellcat
Redeye down the quarter mile?
Now, Dodge says this family sedan
should do 10.6 seconds in the quarter-mile on street tires
with rear-wheel drive, which is craziness.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now, a quick rundown of the rocket
ship we're strapping ourselves onto today.
The Charger Hellcat Redeye is a very similar car
to the Challenger Hellcat Redeye, which we tested
in 2019 at the drag strip.
So it is a super sedan version of an already super sedan.
What you're getting is 80 more horsepower,
and that's thanks to the supercharger
that debuted on the Dodge Demon, which has a larger displacement
supercharger with more boost.
The engine also spins at a higher rpm.
And you're also getting this meaty stance
with the 305-millimeter-wide tires at all four corners
under the wider fenders.
There are a couple of Demon-specific features,
too, including the power chiller, which
uses the air-conditioning system to cool the supercharger's
intercooler system, and there is also torque reserve.
Now, when you're at the starting line,
an engine typically wouldn't build boost to help you go
faster, but this car can --
up to 3.9 psi of boost -- if your tires can take it
and if the brakes can hold you back.
All right, so for the first pass,
I'm just going to do kind of a, hey, get to know you type pass.
We've got a lot of power, not a lot of drive wheels.
Just going to kind of ease into it at first,
and then we'll come back and we'll do more things.
Still going to use line lock to get the tires warm.
[ENGINE REVVING]
All right, Vbox says 0 to 60 in 3.86 seconds.
There was a fair bit of wheelspin and wheel hop
off the line, so I think we'll come back, get
those tires a little hotter and see what we can do next.
Quarter-mile was 11.46.
Well, we got some work to do.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Little better 0 to 60: 3.7.
I was really out of the throttle on that launch, though: 11.39.
[ENGINE REVVING]
All right, really soft on that one.
No wheel hop, no wheelspin, 0 to 60 in 3.7.
I think we need to get out and check the tire pressures.
After a couple of burnouts, getting them heated up,
engineers recommended 26 psi hot,
so we'll get out and see if they're still there.
So the tires are around 27 to 28.
Recommended is 26.
Not sure if that's going to make a huge difference
but give it a shot.
It's also 49 degrees outside, so maybe we'll
let the track get a little sun on it, a little heat on it
a little later in the morning.
[ENGINE REVVING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[ENGINE REVVING]
All right, 0 to 60 in 3.39.
Track says 11.18.
All right, all right.
Knocking it down.
Still pretty far from 10.6.
Looks like we're going to be clawing just for 10s,
but we're getting there.
[ENGINE REVVING]
All right, 0 to 60 in 3.31.
It's definitely the best run of the day.
This is Bruzek.
I'm going to let the Charger cool down for a little bit.
All right, so we did the race cool down
and the tire pressure crept up a little bit,
so bumped it back down.
[ENGINE REVVING]
All right.
That was good.
0 to 60 in 3.29 seconds.
What does the track say?
11.006?
[LAUGHS]
Come on.
I think right now what we're really go
on for is we just want that 10.
To knock another 4/10 of a second off of that
is a really tall order.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Felt good.
He stayed in it for the wheel hop.
Probably not a great idea.
0 to 60 in 3.32.
Hey, all right.
10.9.
Fantastic.
[ENGINE REVVING]
All right, all right: 3.17 0 to 60.
The track has been a little bit faster
compared with the onboard pages.
Look at that.
10.8, 10.89, 2/10 of a second to go.
That's a lot.
It feels like a lot after pass after pass after pass today.
Need a tailwind.
Should have got a haircut.
That was good for another 1/10th in weight reduction.
[ENGINE REVVING]
[LAUGHS]
[ENGINE REVVING]
3.01 seconds to 60 miles an hour.
Holy [BLEEP].
10.82.
Wow.
Did we hit 10.6 today?
No, we didn't.
But we were 13/100ths away.
I would have counted a 10.69 as a 10.6.
Am I sad?
No.
This was still crazy fast, and we went faster than
the Challenger --
just a little bit --
but with four doors and room for three car seats in the back,
I'd call it a win.