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Another Thursday, so there’s another video teaser leading up to the April 11 debut of the Dodge Demon at the 2017 New York auto show. This week’s installment, the ninth in the series, drops some random yet impressive numbers for readers to decipher and shares some hard facts regarding the Demon-specific version of Dodge’s Performance Pages software, plus a few hardware details to boot.
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Watch the video in its entirety (at the end of this story), and you’ll see it concludes with a rapid-fire montage of stills displaying several of the Performance Page graphics in all their misty red glory. Of particular interest to us is the Timers page, with its indicators of a zero-to-60-mph elapsed time of 3.0 seconds, an eighth-mile time of 6.6 seconds, and a quarter-mile time of 10.5 seconds. These numbers sound plausible, since we ripped 11.1-to-11.4-second quarter-mile times in the Challenger Hellcat on our first crack at it, and that was on street tires.
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It’s when you compare trap speeds that things get funny: the eighth-mile trap speed is an indicated 125 mph, which seems ludicrously high. Additionally, the quarter-mile trap speed is only 129 mph, a mere 4-mph improvement.
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Our gut feeling is that all those numbers are nonsense. The one thing that did catch our eye is the digital speedometer climbing to an indicated speed of 139 mph. If that is the Demon’s quarter-mile trap speed, we can ballpark engine horsepower with the information we already have about its curb weight. If we’re on to something, this engine should be good for 880 horsepower. We might be dreaming. But what if we aren’t?
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While the numbers may not represent the last word on the Demon’s real performance, we do have new info about how Dodge has tweaked its Performance Pages software to keep tabs on that husky hardware. Accessed via Chrysler’s familiar 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen, the setup not only allows the fine tuning of horsepower and chassis options as in the current Hellcat’s system but adds a host of control and data-logging features, including a real-time graphic display of engine horsepower and torque with gearchanges plotted, plus the ability to record and archive the data to evaluate performance gains or losses due to changes in hardware, weather, or the driver’s skills. (Dodge mentions “use of the Direct Connection Performance Parts,” so we can take that as confirmation that the development of factory performance-enhancing parts for the Demon is underway. Maybe there is more in that box than we’ve been shown.) Additional features include driver-configurable line locks, rpm-adjustable launch control, and an adjustable and variable shift light that can be assigned a trigger point on a gear-by-gear basis.
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To keep a lid on post-run underhood temperatures and to maximize each and every quarter-mile pass, the SRT Demon will come equipped with the literally named “After-Run Chiller,” which keeps the intercooler pump running and the cooling fan spinning after the engine has shut down. As you might have guessed, you can keep an eye on intercooler temps via the display.
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As with currently available versions of Performance Pages, the SRT Demon’s setup will allow for numerous user-configurable performance parameters. Street mode permits multiple levels of engine performance and three levels of individual suspension and steering “feel and response.” Drag-mode options include the selection of multiple levels of engine performance and one level of transmission speed and firmness, traction control, and suspension and steering feel and response. (We take that to mean that, aside from the engine, Drag-mode settings are a single selection to optimize each of the settings for annihilating short, straight sections of asphalt.) Additionally, drivers can mix and match the settings à la carte, e.g., select Drag mode for the transmission and engine but put the suspension and steering in Sport mode for slightly less intense ride and steering characteristics. If this sounds like the perfect setting for destroying all contenders to the stoplight throne, well, duh.
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- Anticipating the Launch: Dodge Teases the Challenger Demon, Again [Video]
- Here’s the Scoop on the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon
- 2018 Dodge Demon: Forget AWD; New Video Confirms RWD and Big Box of Stuff
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Additional data review and features include timers for reaction time, zero to 60 mph and zero to 100 mph, and instantaneous and peak lateral and longitudinal g-forces, plus readouts for engine oil pressure and temperature, coolant temperature, transmission-fluid temperature, intake-air temperature, air-fuel ratio, boost pressure, and battery voltage. All of it can be displayed in real time as graphs with data-record functionality.
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Check out the latest teaser video below. It’s evil enough to ward off rational thought . . . at least until next week’s teaser appears.
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