The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is one of the most powerful road-going vehicles ever created and it appears a few simple modifications can enable the car to hit speeds in excess of 200 mph (321 km/h).
Speaking with Jalopnik, Johnny Böhmer said the car isn’t electronically-limited and the street-legal Nitto NT05R drag racing tires are what is holding it back. During testing on a 2.3-mile long runway at his proving grounds in Florida, Böhmer was able to hit speeds of up to 180 mph (289 km/h) on the stock tires. This alone is far beyond the claimed top speed of 168 mph (270 km/h).
Böhmer eventually swapped the standard tires out for a set of Pirelli P Zeros and was able to hit a top speed of 203 mph (326 km/h). That certainly seems possible as Dodge says the Challenger SRT Hellcat has a top speed of 199 mph (320 km/h).
The Challenger SRT Demon has a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine that produces 808 hp (603 kW) and 717 lb-ft (972 Nm) of torque. However, this particular car was equipped with the Demon Crate which includes a new powertrain control module which has been calibrated for high-octane unleaded fuel. This enables the engine to produce its full output of 840 hp (626 kW) and 770 lb-ft (1042 Nm) of torque.
The engine is connected to an eight-speed automatic transmission and allows the model to accelerate from 0-60 mph in just 2.3 seconds. At launch, the Demon was the “world’s fastest quarter-mile production car” with an elapsed time of 9.65 seconds at 140 mph (225 km/h).