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2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody First Drive Review | Son of a beast

PORTLAND, Maine — They told us the Hellcat Redeye Widebody is a "Hellcat that's been possessed by a Demon." But what I'm telling myself is, Save it for the track. I hadn't even put the pedal all the way to the floor, and the world around me had warped in my peripheral vision. I peeled my skull from the headrest and contemplated the supercharger under the double-snorkel hood in front of me force-feeding air to the's 6.2-liter Hemi V8, producing a hair under 800 horsepower. With my stomach returning to its usual place, I tried to summon the patience not to roast the tires again. Relax, enjoy the drive, explore the car, and save the rest for the track. I tried to restrain myself from adding to the many strips of rubber already smeared across the hilly, meandering roads between Portland, Maine and Club Motorsports across the state line in New Hampshire. But then there's always another stop sign, and something possesses me to misbehave again as I pull away. The 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye includes a number of borrowed features that helped the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon slap me in the back of the helmet back at Lucas Oil Raceway. It has the same displacement Hemi with a 2.7-liter supercharger providing 14.5 PSI of boost. That pressure is thanks in part to the "Power Chiller," which diverts the A/C refrigerant to cool the air intake. It offers the torque reserve system for explosive launches, as well as the strengthened driveshaft to handle it all. It won't do a wheelie, but it'll scream in your face as it hurls you straight to jail. Compared to the standard Hellcat, it gets a higher top speed of 203 miles per hour, and quarter mile times reduced by a precious tenth of a second (11.1 seconds at 131 mph for the standard Redeye, and 10.8 seconds at 131 mph for the Redeye Widebody). That said, Dodge has ensured that Demon reigns supreme in the Challenger hierarchy. For one thing, the Demon has 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque, compared to the Redeye's 797 horsepower and 707 pound-feet. The Demon's suspension is specifically tuned for the weight transfer characteristics of drag racing, and can lift its front wheels off the ground if you nail the launch with the narrow tires on it. Also, while the Redeye does have line lock to let the rear wheels spin while braking the front calipers, it doesn't get the Demon's transbrake to keep the car locked into position as throttle is applied for launch.

Junkyard Gem: 1963 Dodge Dart two-door sedan

The 1963-1966 Dodge Dart, sibling to the Plymouth Valiant, was sturdy, cheap, and easy to drive, and it sold very well. Here's a worn-but-solid example of the two-door '63 Dart sedan, spotted in a Denver-area self-service wrecking yard. The only transmission choices for the Dart this year were a three-speed manual and an automatic controlled by Chrysler's famous dash-mounted pushbutton shifter. These shifters worked surprisingly well, even when used for road racing. Starting in the 1964 model year, the Dart could be purchased with a 273-cubic-inch V8 engine, but in 1963 Dart buyers had but two engine choices: a slant-6 displacing 170 cubic inches and good for 101 horsepower and a slant-6 displacing 225 cubic inches and making 145 horsepower. This car has the big engine. This is one of the most reliable engines to come out of Detroit, period. The interior is pretty beat, but the metal isn't rusty. You'd think that someone would have rescued this car long before it came to this sorry end, but perhaps Dart restorers only want numbers-matching V8 cars these days. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "The new kind of compact in the large economy size."

Chrysler almost smothered the Hellcat before it lived

Chrysler's 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 was an absolute sensation from the very moment it was announced, and honestly, how could it not have been? Packing 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, its numbers immediately put every other production muscle car (and many supercars) to shame. Plus, we soon learned that would be wrapped in a package retailing for around $60,000 - a pittance compared to other vehicles offering similar grunt. However, the Hellcat almost never got the chance to rumble under the hood of the Challenger and Charger.
The Hellcat was initially proposed back in 2011, back when Fiat was deciding its future strategy for Chrysler Group, according to Automotive News. At the time, the company was just emerging from its bankruptcy doldrums, and an ultra-high-performance V8 wasn't exactly a must-have item. The program didn't move forward. However, SRT engineers kept fighting, according to AN, and four months later, they received the green light to pull the project off the shelf and continue developing the Hellcat. The muscle car world is certainly better for that decision.
The work of those engineers focused on taking Chrysler's standard 6.2-liter V8 and making it reliably handle all of the extra power from the supercharger. "It came down to micron levels of changes in the crank to be able to withstand the pressures of the engine," said Chris Cowland, director of advanced and SRT powertrain, to Automotive News. The changes amounted to switching out about 91 percent of the parts to make the Hellcat, including some quite minuscule alterations. For example, the washer holding the supercharger pulley is embedded with industrial diamonds to keep it from slipping.