This 2018 Dodge Demon Is Ready To Put Up a Fight Against Its Brethren, the Demon 170

As I said, drag racing is the purest form of competition. You get to prove yourself and your car. You only have one shot, and there are no do-overs. But while the community is massive, nobody made a drag-ready production car - until Dodge stepped in. SRT brought this car to life from the depths of hell, and I believe we shall take a little detour and talk about these crazy guys.

SRT, which stands for Street and Racing Technology, is a direct descendant of a long line of horsepower freaks. The origins of these power-hungry engineers can be traced back to 1959, with three students from Chrysler's Engineering Institute who liked going fast, modifying their daily drivers, and racing them on the weekends. So, they all chipped in, bought an old 1949 Plymouth Coupe, changed it to go fast on the track, and called themselves the Ramchargers.

Their work at the track made its way into Chrysler's lineup. For example, the 426 Hemi - ever heard of it? That monstrous engine was perfected at the track by the Ramchargers. Fast forward to the '90 and Dodge is in a slump of boring econoboxes, just a shadow of its former self. So, another team of rag-tag engineers with a will to go fast created an extraordinary thing called the Dodge Viper. Team Viper later merged with Team Prowler, and the two later became Performance Vehicle Operations and later adopted the name SRT.

What followed was a flurry of high horsepower cars - they took a Challenger, gave it over 700 hp (710 ps), and called it the Hellcat; they somehow even made the Neon cool. Following the creation of the Viper ACR, which shattered track records worldwide, it was time for something crazier to dominate straight-line performance. So, why did SRT focus on building the ultimate, street-legal drag car? Well, because they could - and that's the best description of SRT's philosophy that I could think of.

Like the Ramchargers more than half a century ago, the people at SRT are racers. They know what it takes to make a car go extremely fast, and the Dodge Demon is a prime example. So, let's look at this murderous, low-mile one from 2018 to see what these things are made of, and if it is overshadowed by the new arrival from Dodge, called the Demon 170.

But first, the car at hand today. The outside is finished in a color with the best name I've ever seen - White Knuckle. The paint is complemented by a satin black AirGrabber hood - which translates to one of the biggest hood scoops ever fitted to a production car. That satin black also goes down the car on the roof and the decklid; the body is 3 inches wider than the Hellcat. That is so because it needs to fit this car's massive, big-boy wheels. They measure 18 inches in diameter and have Nitto drag radials wrapped around them, with a 315 mm width - again, on a production car, that's absolutely bonkers.

Moving on to the inside, for the most part, this is your classic Challenger, but peel the skin off, and the Demon treatment will show. The sound deadening, rear seats, and all of the speakers besides the ones in the doors were stripped out. The result is a weight saving of 200 pounds (100 kg). Now, when you floor the Demon, you'll need something to hold on to for dear life: an Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel. Behind it, you'll find a 200 mph (320 kph) speedometer, a tachometer, and a few other gauges.

There is one more thing on the interior that I want to tackle, a thing I usually wouldn't - the infotainment system. Why do I feel the need to talk about it? Well, because, alongside the standard comfort amenities, it has a few exciting options. As I said, this is a drag car, so that means it has the following things - a line lock for those massive burnouts, a trans brake so that you can get off the line as fast as possible, and a drag mode for the engine, to unleash all of the ponies - let's talk about that.

The engine is a 6.2-liter (378 ci) Hemi V8, which shares the block with the engine from the Hellcat, but the pistons, rods, and valvetrain are all stronger and beefier. The fuel system was also upgraded, featuring two fuel pumps to keep up with the massive 2.7-liter supercharger. Put 100 octane race fuel in it, activate the drag mode mentioned above for the engine, and this beast pumps out 840 hp (852 ps) and 808 hp (819 ps) in the standard configuration - that power figure is insane for a car that you can get by walking into a regular Chrysler dealership. That grunt is sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and a limited-slip diff.

Now, I said something earlier about relevance. I am tackling this issue because the Demon prices are still really high. Yes, the Demon 170 has 1,000 hp (1,014 ps), but 840 ponies in a rear-wheel drive car and a quarter mile under ten seconds is still no joke. So the performance is still there, and combine that with the limited run of the Demon, and the price is readily justifiable.

So, if you have deep pockets and would fancy yourself a Demon, this particular one is up at auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is already sitting at 100,000 dollars with five whole days left. It comes with only 352 miles (566 kilometers) on the clock because someone somehow restrained themselves from driving it. If you were to buy it, you would also get the Demon crate, which offers you skinny front wheels and all the other goodies you need to blast at the drag strip. The Demon 170 is an absolute monster, but it's not enough to overshadow the regular Demon.