When Dodge unveiled the Challenger SRT Demon last year, the company claimed it was “too fast for the drag strip” as it was “officially banned by the NHRA.” The company also promised the model would be “absolutely dominating” at drag racing.
While it is indeed fast, one Demon owner learned that you shouldn’t always buy into the hype as their car was just beaten by a Corvette ZR1 at the Richmond Dragway. According to Dragzine, the ZR1 was completely stock except for the fact that was it running on drag radial tires. Little is known about the Demon, so it is unclear if the car was properly set up and equipped for the race, as per Dodge’s instructions.
If it was, it should have been a formidable competitor as it has a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine that develops up to 840 HP (626 kW) and 770 lb-ft (1,044 Nm) of torque. In this configuration, the Demon accelerates from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in 2.3 seconds and run the quarter mile in 9.65 seconds at 140 mph (225 km/h).
Even if the car wasn’t running on race fuel or wasn’t equipped with the Direct Connection Controller, it still is a high-performance machine that develops 808 hp (603 kW) and 717 lb-ft (972 Nm) of torque.
The Corvette ZR1 isn’t exactly a slouch, either, as the model has a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 developing 755 hp (563 kW) and 715 lb-ft (969 Nm) of torque. This reportedly enables the car to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 2.85 seconds and run the quarter mile in 10.6 seconds at 134 mph (215 km/h).
If both models were able to achieve their claimed times, the Demon should have won this race as it can run the quarter mile 0.95 seconds faster than the ZR1, while also doing 6 mph (9 km/h) more. Obviously that didn’t happen, as the Dodge lost out to the ‘Vette. Any ideas why that might have happened?