Photo: Marcell Sebestyen
Fifty years ago, hitting 200 mph on a closed course was a pretty big deal. In fact, on March 24, 1970, the Dodge Charger Daytona set a world record after reaching the said speed on NASCAR's Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Sadly, the legends who made it possible are no longer around, but the Internet pays tribute to their go-fast work in many ways, with the spectacular digital build portrayed in this rendering being one of the most striking examples of this.
Back in the late 1960s, Chrysler engineer Larry Rathgeb, who led Dodge's NASCAR offensive at the time, delivered a wild idea to the company's top execs: horsepower alone was no longer enough to win races, which is why the Charger Daytona, with its super-sized airlfow manipulation elements, was born as an aero car, and fortunately also made it to the road.
And while Rathgeb passed away this spring and legendary stock car racer Buddy Baker, who achieved the said record, had left us back in 2015, this rendering takes their work straight into the realm of the new-age popular culture.
Digital artist Marcell Sebestyen, who spends his business hours as a Senior Exterior Designer for Kia Motors Europe, has invested quite a bit of time into this virtual restomod project, which he calls Troublemaker (yep, we're guilty of having labeled it as a "Cyber" creation and you'll see why below).
Since the penning master has a fetish for the Daytona's wing (remember when he blended this into a Porsche 911?), he decided to turn this into the dominant feature of the car.
Sure, certain aficionados will tell you that the Mopar special was already defined by the uber-generous aero element adorning its posterior, but this proposal takes things to a whole new level. Heck, we might just see a Star Wars fighter in these styling cues, with the wraparound design of the new wing also being linked to the car via the sleek LED taillights.
Speaking of which, if we also take the similar headlights into account, this whole thing starts to feel a bit like the kind of muscle car you'd find in the latest sensation of the gaming world, namely the open-world RPG that is Cyberpunk 2077.
Regardless, the nose cone now feels like a smoother extension of the "standard" Charger's design. And, with the said LEDs replacing the pop-up headlights of the muscle car, we can now find a pair of air intakes where the latter used to sit - given the HEMI fury under the hood, extra cooling is more than welcome.
The air extractors for the front wings were obviouslt left in place. After all, these little things, which were officially allowed on the racecar to help with tire clearance, actually brought a significant reduction in drag, thus helping the machine achieving its high-velocity aim (they were less important for the road car, though).
Nevertheless, the airflow manipulation at the back was further tweaked by the addition of a wickerbill. Oh, and those window louvers? They've been added as a sight for the sore eyes of all those who get overtaken by this remastered Mopar monster.
As for the (optional) Edelbrock livery found in the second Instagram post below, this was inspired by the miniature automotive universe that sits on Sebestyen's desk. Among others, the artist has a Charger Daytona scale model from M2 Machines, which features these battle colors. And while there seems to be no evidence pointing towards the motorsport authenticity of the livery, we have to admit it perfectly suits this Daytona remix.
And while Rathgeb passed away this spring and legendary stock car racer Buddy Baker, who achieved the said record, had left us back in 2015, this rendering takes their work straight into the realm of the new-age popular culture.
Digital artist Marcell Sebestyen, who spends his business hours as a Senior Exterior Designer for Kia Motors Europe, has invested quite a bit of time into this virtual restomod project, which he calls Troublemaker (yep, we're guilty of having labeled it as a "Cyber" creation and you'll see why below).
Since the penning master has a fetish for the Daytona's wing (remember when he blended this into a Porsche 911?), he decided to turn this into the dominant feature of the car.
Sure, certain aficionados will tell you that the Mopar special was already defined by the uber-generous aero element adorning its posterior, but this proposal takes things to a whole new level. Heck, we might just see a Star Wars fighter in these styling cues, with the wraparound design of the new wing also being linked to the car via the sleek LED taillights.
Speaking of which, if we also take the similar headlights into account, this whole thing starts to feel a bit like the kind of muscle car you'd find in the latest sensation of the gaming world, namely the open-world RPG that is Cyberpunk 2077.
Regardless, the nose cone now feels like a smoother extension of the "standard" Charger's design. And, with the said LEDs replacing the pop-up headlights of the muscle car, we can now find a pair of air intakes where the latter used to sit - given the HEMI fury under the hood, extra cooling is more than welcome.
The air extractors for the front wings were obviouslt left in place. After all, these little things, which were officially allowed on the racecar to help with tire clearance, actually brought a significant reduction in drag, thus helping the machine achieving its high-velocity aim (they were less important for the road car, though).
Nevertheless, the airflow manipulation at the back was further tweaked by the addition of a wickerbill. Oh, and those window louvers? They've been added as a sight for the sore eyes of all those who get overtaken by this remastered Mopar monster.
As for the (optional) Edelbrock livery found in the second Instagram post below, this was inspired by the miniature automotive universe that sits on Sebestyen's desk. Among others, the artist has a Charger Daytona scale model from M2 Machines, which features these battle colors. And while there seems to be no evidence pointing towards the motorsport authenticity of the livery, we have to admit it perfectly suits this Daytona remix.
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