The main issue with racing against a genuine supercar like a McLaren 720S or, say, a Ford GT, is that unless you beat it off the line by a significant margin, it’s going to be really difficult for you to keep up at high speed.
That goes double if in fact you’re already dragging along extra weight, which is the case with the Dodge Demon compared to Ford’s ultimate track-focused road car.
On paper, the Demon can put down as much as 840 HP as long as you’re using 100 octane fuel, a Race ECU and race air filter. Get off to a good start and you can run the 1/4 mile in under 10 seconds – extremely impressive in a car that weighs a massive 4,280 lbs (1,941 kg).
This however was a 1/2 mile race, which is a different story, as aerodynamics come into play, too; and the Demons is like a brick compared to the sleek, low-snug GT. To make matters worse for the Dodge, the Ford only weighs 3,400 lbs (1,542 kg), and has 647 HP thanks to its twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. So, while it’s less powerful by a wide margin, it’s also much lighter, which enables it to match the Demon’s 2.3 kg/hp power-to-weight ratio.
According to Brooks from DragTimes, both cars spun their wheels off the line, which is to be expected with that kind of power. Once both cars hooked, the Ford was already ahead and pushing through the air with much greater ease than the Dodge.