At the present moment, the most powerful production sedan in the world comes from the U.S. of God Bless America. The Charger in SRT Hellcat flavor packs no fewer than 707 horspeower (717 PS), and the widebody option is the one to get for obvious reasons.
The 20- by 11-inch wheels and grippy Pirelli rubber boots help the full-size muscle sedan hit 60 mph (97 kph) in 3.6 seconds. Top speed isn’t as high as the non-widebody model, but then again, 196 mph (315 kph) is good enough. Only the Bentley Flying Spur and Alpina B7 are faster but do remember we’re also talking about different price points.
As the headline implies, would you bet your ten bucks on the Hellcat winning this drag race over the C8 Corvette with the Z51 Performance Package? From a standstill, the mid-engined sports car from Bowling Green has the upper hand because it puts the small-block V8 engine’s power down better than the Dodge. But that’s only half the story...
From a rolling start at 40 miles per hour (64 kph), the Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody crosses the quarter-mile finish line faster thanks to the blown HEMI V8 motor’s ample torque. To put it simply, the ‘Vette Gen 8 could use a little bit of forced induction.
As a rule of thumb, ponies give you speed while torque gives you acceleration. The problem is, neither matters if the car can’t put the power down. It’s also important to highlight that the driver of the C8 Corvette Z51 didn’t launch the Stingray properly.
If you engage launch control, you need to rev the engine to 3,500 rpm before letting go of the brake pedal. On this occasion, it’s easy to notice the tachometer at 2,100 revolutions. The Hellcat driver didn’t even build up the revs before launching because that would’ve translated to a worse start because of the wheel spin. Speaking of which, those tires sure claw for grip even though they’re 305s by 35s.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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