https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkjfE-h4ISk
Two comments at this time.
1) Just how much does removing the seats and whatever else is part of the weight reduction shed weight from a stock Hellcat? What I am getting at is, this further diminishes the 9.65 @ 140. It's going to be fast but at normal street weight on street tires, I still say this is in the mid to high 10s. There is some ricer math here (people comparing a prepped strip 0-60 to magazine times, and whatever the weight reduction is - it just puts a huge asterisk next to the time quoted). From a prepped track standpoint, it's not even legal everywhere to run faster than 10.00 without an NHRA license or a cage. Which brings me to:
2) This is Dodge's GT350R. It is exciting. It's fun. It's also production limited, intentionally. I guess GM did theirs first with the Z/28 but somehow that didn't have nearly the excitement and universal credibility as the GT350R or Demon. Mostly I see them selling as many Corvettes and Camaros as they can - and look how good the new ZL1 is for example, no limited production hype necessary (which sadly makes it less interesting to casual car enthusiasts who would not buy any of these). Which is less interesting but actually far more relevant than limited production cars that get marked up like crazy and sold to speculators.
I'm not interested in spending this kind of money to run 9s or in a factory drag racing package. I don't wish this was still the 1960s and we had lots of special factory versions of cars to go fast in a straight line. I don't really even want to run 9s. It's not like I'm sitting around going "man I want to run the strip really fast but I can't figure out how to get into the 9s for less than $150k...oh, thanks Dodge, you saved the day!"
We were already in a HP race before this car so I don't know that they really advanced anything there. The car clearly has some significance but I don't think it is the most amazing thing to ever have been released by an automaker. They didn't come through some kind of technological breakthrough in order to produce this car - they just decided to do it. Ford and GM aren't going to buy Demons and reverse engineer the car to figure out how they did it. I'd rather have it than not have it but I think I am allowed to be less excited than others.
Streetspeed717 on the Demon
Re: Streetspeed717 on the Demon
This is marketing. That is it. They got a ton of publicity over the Hellcat, so they upped the ante and are getting a ton of press on this. It isn't that it is anything that groundbreaking, it is just cool that they are doing it. It is marketing.
Think about it. They are making it look like "Hey, FCA is still as American as ever even though it is owned by Fiat now. They are also giving the angle that GM and Ford are all about money (bean counters) where Dodge actually can have fun and get excited about this stuff.
It is the argument about the SS vs. the Scat Pack, sure the SS was great, but the Scat Pack is really really good, and has a certain amount of attitude. Some people, including myself like the attitude, and the back and forth and the "I can build a faster car" thing. Dodge is totally playing into it, and GM and Ford are kind of being a little boring. GM is demolishing the competition especially with the ZL1, and Ford has officially made the lowest pick for me. I would definitely take a Camaro or Challenger over the Mustang right now.
I get that you aren't all into drag racing, it actually isn't my favorite either, although I do like it. I think the back and forth thing is good. So Dodge chose to be the best production drag car. That's cool. GM chose to make the best track cars. That's cool. Remember 2004? The mustang V8 had like 300 HP until the Camaro V6 had 310 and Mustang had to redesign and catch up.
I think the car industry needs all the enthusiast press to bring people back to loving cars again and not seeing them as appliances, so any company moving that forward is doing something good.
Think about it. They are making it look like "Hey, FCA is still as American as ever even though it is owned by Fiat now. They are also giving the angle that GM and Ford are all about money (bean counters) where Dodge actually can have fun and get excited about this stuff.
It is the argument about the SS vs. the Scat Pack, sure the SS was great, but the Scat Pack is really really good, and has a certain amount of attitude. Some people, including myself like the attitude, and the back and forth and the "I can build a faster car" thing. Dodge is totally playing into it, and GM and Ford are kind of being a little boring. GM is demolishing the competition especially with the ZL1, and Ford has officially made the lowest pick for me. I would definitely take a Camaro or Challenger over the Mustang right now.
I get that you aren't all into drag racing, it actually isn't my favorite either, although I do like it. I think the back and forth thing is good. So Dodge chose to be the best production drag car. That's cool. GM chose to make the best track cars. That's cool. Remember 2004? The mustang V8 had like 300 HP until the Camaro V6 had 310 and Mustang had to redesign and catch up.
I think the car industry needs all the enthusiast press to bring people back to loving cars again and not seeing them as appliances, so any company moving that forward is doing something good.