2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Is Every Supercar’s Nightmare

Most naughty kids of my generation were put to bed by putting the fear of demons in them. This trick usually worked and was one of the favourites in the parenting book. But now, this trick has been rendered useless as a kid like me will stay up all night, just to catch a glimpse or even a sound of the Demon. Ladies and gentlemen, it is the fastest quarter-mile production car of the world, the most powerful V8 production car in the world, fastest production to reach 0-100kmph in the world, first ever front-wheel lift in production car, and produces the highest G-forces ever experienced in a production car. It's the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. 

Muscle cars over the years have tried to become performance cars, sports cars and even drift cars. But while doing all this, they had lost out the most important flavour which defines them - raw power and straight line acceleration. The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is built with just one aim: to obliterate any other production car in a 1/4 mile drag. As a result, the red demon shoots from 0-50kmph in 1.0 second, producing 1.8 g, 0-100kmph in 2.3seconds, and crosses the ¼-mile mark (400 metres) in a record-breaking 9.65 seconds while doing 225kmph.

The problem is, the SRT Demon did that so well that it got banned from the drag strip for being too fast. Yes! The NHRA (National Hot Road Association) of the USA has banned this car from its competitions as it is faster than their set bar for a production car. Also, to help you shame Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the streets, all customers who buy the new 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon will receive one full day session at Bob Bondurant School of High-Performance Driving. It even gets drag-spec radial tyres for you to launch ahead and leave behind even the Grim Reaper himself. 

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So, what makes the Challenger SRT Demon such a, well... demon on the drag strip? The answer is not as simple as you would expect it to be. To begin with, the car is powered by an 840PS, 6.2-litre HEMI Demon V8 engine which produces 1044Nm of mountain-moving torque. These figures, though make the Demon the most powerful production V8 in the world, are insignificant. Why you ask? Because of it’s not how many horses the car packs, but how it puts it on the tarmac which matters. And this is where the Demon gets clever (geek talk alert). 

The SRT Demon uses a TorqueFlite 8HP90 eight-speed automatic transmission with TransBrake. It locks the transmission output shaft to hold the car in place before a standing start. This lets the driver increase the engine rpm up to 2,350 without overpowering the brakes, resulting in quicker power delivery and up to 15 per cent more torque at launch. It also features a new Torque Reserve feature which becomes active once engine speed passes 950rpm. It does two things - closes the bypass valve, “prefilling” the supercharger with boost, and manages fuel flow to cylinders and spark advance to balance engine rpm and torque.

Now, all this produces a lot of heat. The supercharger gulps 2.7-litre of air per rev and this makes it very very hot. To keep the temperature of the engine under check while it reaches up to 6,500rpm, the SRT Demon has a liquid-to-air intercooler chiller system, which is first-ever for a production car.

The one thing which might upset some buyers is that the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, in its bid to lose weight, comes with just one seat. So, while you become the fastest man on the planet launching your car, your friends can only appreciate this from the outside. But if you insist on keeping them inside the car, Dodge will install the front and rear passenger seats for a price... which is $1. Other than the optional extra seats, the SRT Demon has all the bells and whistles which one can expect from a 21-century car. It has air conditioning and an 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen infotainment system on which you can track the supercharger coolant temperature and know in real time when the supercharger is at the optimum temperature before making another run. 

But, and there is a but. All the above performance numbers and figures come with a catch, or rather in a crate. The Daemon only produces about 808PS of power and to get the extra 32PS, u need to purchase the Demon Crate. The crate brings with it components which fully unleash the car’s potential at the drag strip and is fully customised with the buyer’s name, VIN and serial number. It contains parts like a conical performance air filter, passenger mirror block-off plate, drag-specific narrow front-runner wheels and also a demon-branded tool bag with a foam case which fits into the SRT Demon trunk.

So, if you live a locality where the sportscars and supercars reside, and you want to mess their day up by showing who's the boss of street light drags, get the Demon. One thing is for sure though, it's not for the faint of heart. 

Mom, looks like I am in love with a demon!