Judgment Day | Everything We Know About The Challenger Demon
The final teaser for the Dodge Challenger Demon has been released and launch is just around the corner so it's a good time summarise everything we know about the upcoming drag strip king.
After 14 weeks of teasing the Challenger Demon on ifyouknowyouknow, here's everything we've learned.
Cage
The first in the line of teasers shows us a Hellcat locked up in a cage being transported from the Dodge Research Lab. That is until the cage gets opened and it bites itself into what seems to be like a nitrous bottle. The Hellcat transforms and the Demon is announced.
Reduction
Second in the chapter is called reduction where it shows the Challenger Demon on a scale. We see several components being removed like rear seats and other parts being modified to lose 90 kg's. This is also the first time we can see that the car won't be AWD as rumoured.
Body
Next is a teaser from a long going rumour. It features the Demon doing a burnout on massive rear tires and shows us a glimpse of its booty showing off the rumoured widebody.
Crate
When you're buying a Demon, Dodge doesn't want you to spend extra on race equipment. Instead they supply a tool crate with eighteen components that features the following:
Direct Connection Demon Performance Parts
Demon-branded track tools
Matching Demon spare wheels
Demon Track Pack System
Forced Induction
Obviously the Demon was going to need a lot of air to digest. While the hellcat had the one hollow headlight, the Demon looks like its got 2 on both sides of the car. And to top that off the car features a much larger hood scoop called the Air Grabber that Dodge claims is the largest functional cold air intake ever on a production car.
Multiplication
Back in video 3 we saw the wider tires to aid traction. This time around there's more details to those sticky bastards. They are 315/40R 18 Nitto NT05R street-legal drag radials and were specifically designed for the Challenger Demon. Along with that its getting a higher stall speed torque converter and 3.09 rear axle gears. All of this makes up for the following:
Approximately 15 percent larger tire contact patch
More than twice as much grip
Approximately 18 percent increase in converter torque multiplication
Approximately 18 percent increase in rear axle torque multiplication
Third Law
Third law is referring to Newton who stated that every action is backed up by an equal and opposite reaction. The Demon absorbs the opposite reaction during launch with an adaptive drag suspension resulting in a 35 percent lower rate front springs/28 percent lower rate rear springs, 75 percent lower rate hollow front sway bar/44 percent lower rate rear sway bar and Drag-tuned Bilstein Adaptive Damping Shocks.
Race Hardened Parts
With more power comes more stress on the car. And to make sure the Demon isn't bending its driveshaft mid strip. It comes with an upgraded prop shaft increasing torque capacity by 15 percent, upgraded differential housing, with 30 percent increased torque capacity and upgraded 41-spline half shafts that deliver 20 percent increased torque capacity.Along with the hardware, the Demon also features launch assist which electronically limits torque to prevent wheel hop and reduces load on the transmission up to 20 percent. Finally it has a four point harness from the factory to keep the driver locked into its seat.
Performance Pages
Next up is for the geek inside of us. The Demon features tons of data display like horsepower, torque, G's, 0-100, 1/4 mile time, ... It secretly shows of some of the performance numbers of the Demon and also showing all the different Drive Mode configurations.
No Pills
This teaser shows of the Demon's typical sound while also giving us some new info about how the car will launch. There will be a torque reserve mode prefilling the supercharger and manages the injected fuel and spark times differently that gives a distinctive 'ready for launch' exhaust note.
Lock & Load
The Demon will be the first production car to feature a TransBrake setup. A system that is fully dedicated for use on the drag strip. Conventional launch controls rely on keeping your foot on the brake to keep the car revs up high. The TransBrake allows the transmission to lock the output shaft until the driver hits the switch when ready to launch resulting in 30% faster reaction time. Next to that it gives a 105 percent increase in launch boost pressures and a 120 percent increase in engine launch torque. While the TransBrake is running it also preloads the drivetrain to take full advantage of available torque.
No Ice
short and chilly teaser this is. Dodge reveals a system which allows the aircon to act as a air intake cooler giving a maximum temperature reduction of 7 °C. It allows the Challenger Demon to keep pulling on a hot day as much as it would on a cold day.
Fuel
The final teaser shows the first production car featured with a dedicated 100+ octane tune. The Demon has a high octane switch allowing maximum performance. Mixing octanes won't be a problem since the car is able to calculate the exact mixture. Along with that the Demon features two fuel pumps and bigger injectors.
Launch
The Dodge Challenger Demon is finally ready for its debut at the New York Autoshow. It'll be accompanied by the new Trackhawk but something tells us Dodge might still have a surprise up its sleeve due to a Charger mule wearing unusually wide tires.
