Tuesday 30th June 2015

Dodge launches new Challenger Drag Pak

Turn key drag racer is claimed to be able to turn in eight second quarters all day long

---

You've got to admire a company that produces a non road-going version of one of its road cars, especially one that's designed to do no more than go in a straight line. But as this is just the latest in a series of Drag Pak Challengers, Dodge is obviously onto something.

Live life literally a 1/4 mile at a time? Voila!

The bad news is that it's not coming here. The good news is that, as it's not intended for road use, there's nothing apart from the pricetag to stop you from buying one in the 'States and then shipping it over. The Challenger Drag Pak is a turn-key drag racer, which the company says will be able to turn in quarter mile times in the eight second range.

The last Drag Pak had the V10 engine from the old Dodge Viper, but this one comes with a choice of two V8 powerplants - a 5.8-litre with a supercharger and a naturally aspirated 7.0 litre one. There are no power and torque figures yet - apparently the car has to be homologated with the U.S. drag racing authorities first - but to produce those numbers each will be making plenty. The only transmission option is a race-spec three-speed auto which will be manually controlled by a vast metal shifter.

Guess this is the supercharged one then...

The cabin is completely stripped of unnecessary distractions - owners will only be sitting in it for a couple of minutes at a time - and is delivered with a full roll cage and wearing a set of super sticky Hoosier drag racing tyres. Suspension is also seriously upgraded - with a new rear axle to handle the stress of repeated full-bore starts.

In the 'States the naturally aspirated version will cost $99,426 and the supercharged one is $109,354. That's £63,425 and £69,560 at current exchange rates, although getting one into the UK is going to be a fair bit more expensive than that.

[keith2.2]

Delighted to be enlightened - I can't understand why one would buy an off-the-shelf dragster? I thought the idea was to build something better / faster than the next guy?

[kambites]

keith2.2 said:

Delighted to be enlightened - I can't understand why one would buy an off-the-shelf dragster? I thought the idea was to build something better / faster than the next guy?

I can't really see why that would be any more or less the case with dragsters than track cars?

[Buff Mchugelarge]

I bet they'll be around 700bhp, give it 2 weeks and they'll start appearing with 1500bhp..!

Much want.. I wonder if you can fit a buggy in the boot...?

[jiggawhat2k]

Buff Mchugelarge said:

I bet they'll be around 700bhp, give it 2 weeks and they'll start appearing with 1500bhp..!

Much want.. I wonder if you can fit a buggy in the boot...?

isofix too maybe? My baby would love it.

[Boshly]

Buff Mchugelarge said:

I bet they'll be around 700bhp, give it 2 weeks and they'll start appearing with 1500bhp..!

Much want.. I wonder if you can fit a buggy in the boot...?

Standard road going Hellcat is 707 bhp and $30k less. I expect this to be more?

I'll let you know if a buggy fits in the boot (of a Hellcat) in two weeks

[soad]

keith2.2 said:

Delighted to be enlightened - I can't understand why one would buy an off-the-shelf dragster? I thought the idea was to build something better / faster than the next guy?

"Neither Dodge Challenger Drag Pak is affordable for the average Joe Racecardriver, but for a serious sportsman racer, this is an affordable way to get into a car that is 100% track ready and conforms to the NHRA and IHRA Super Stock rules. Both the COPO Camaro and the Cobra Jet Mustang have a price in the low $100k range, so the Drag Pak is priced competitively for both versions."

https://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/challenger/drag-...

[GeeBeeR3]

At 2800lbs (an educated guess) it would need a minimum of 900bhp to just about break into the 8's, and 1200bhp to be in the low 8's

https://robrobinette.com/et.htm

[Matt Harper]

Boshly said:

Standard road going Hellcat is 707 bhp and $30k less. I expect this to be more?

I'll let you know if a buggy fits in the boot (of a Hellcat) in two weeks

Standard road-going R/T Scat Pack is 485hp - add a Speedlogix/Edelbrock E-Force supercharger package for $8k = 760hp for $16k less than a Hellcat. There are multiple ways to skin a (hell) cat...

[AlexKing]

Boshly said:

Standard road going Hellcat is 707 bhp and $30k less. I expect this to be more?

I'll let you know if a buggy fits in the boot (of a Hellcat) in two weeks

Unless they've deliberately shrunk the boot of a Hellcat vs an R/T, I assure you you can get three buggies in the boot. Its heeeouge.

[Boshly]

Matt Harper said:

Boshly said:

Standard road going Hellcat is 707 bhp and $30k less. I expect this to be more?

I'll let you know if a buggy fits in the boot (of a Hellcat) in two weeks

Standard road-going R/T Scat Pack is 485hp - add a Speedlogix/Edelbrock E-Force supercharger package for $8k = 760hp for $16k less than a Hellcat. There are multiple ways to skin a (hell) cat...

Cheers for that, would far far rather have my Hellcat though

Edited by Boshly on Tuesday 30th June 21:57

[5ohmustang]

If you saw the typical challenger owner here in the states you'd probably buy a mustang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq7Alyla37Q

[unsprung]

5ohmustang said:

If you saw the typical challenger owner here in the states you'd probably buy a mustang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq7Alyla37Q

Great video. Usually, I'm only somewhat more interested in drag racing than I am in crocheting, but the storytelling in this video is captivating.

Note the use of ice in an icebox (at 3:20 in the video) as part of the water-to-air intercooler.

If it's of interest, the drag strip featured in this video is approximately 1.5 hours by car from either New York City or Philadelphia. It's actually a large motorsports park, with multiple facilities including road racing and motocross.

[Matt Harper]

Boshly said:

Cheers for that, would far far rather have my Hellcat though

Edited by Boshly on Tuesday 30th June 21:57

As would I in your situation. A proper murder weapon.

[Matt Harper]

5ohmustang said:

If you saw the typical challenger owner here in the states you'd probably buy a mustang.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq7Alyla37Q

For clubman racing, Mustang makes so much more sense due to lack of weight and sheer volume of affordable performance upgrades.

Having owned both, I'm not sure what a 'typical Challenger owner' is supposed to be - but putting the hurt on 5.0's that keep trying to take me on is becoming boring.

[HD Adam]

unsprung said:

Note the use of ice in an icebox (at 3:20 in the video) as part of the water-to-air intercooler.

This should probably go in the "a bit private" thread but last time out, the ice for my intercooler came from Waitrose

[unsprung]

HD Adam said:

unsprung said:

Note the use of ice in an icebox (at 3:20 in the video) as part of the water-to-air intercooler.

This should probably go in the "a bit private" thread but last time out, the ice for my intercooler came from Waitrose

Hilarious. Only quality ice allowed, you see. And a sprig of mint!

[5ohmustang]

Matt Harper said:

For clubman racing, Mustang makes so much more sense due to lack of weight and sheer volume of affordable performance upgrades.

Having owned both, I'm not sure what a 'typical Challenger owner' is supposed to be - but putting the hurt on 5.0's that keep trying to take me on is becoming boring.

28"rims, blacked out windows, retarded graphics like "road mafia" or "real recognize real", v6's that cruise the projects. I rarely see a challenger that is tastefully modified or owned by a driving enthusiast. I love the vanishing point but the image is tarnished and their heavy.

[Crazy Don]

To get that down a 1/4 mile in 8 seconds you will need more than 700bhp. It maybe stripped but its still a big old steel motorcar.

[250GTE]

That looks great.
In particular the Mopar livery and the wheels.
Reminds me how much I hate enormous wheels with skinny tyres.
Good work Dodge, "Mopar or no car" as they used to say.

[HD Adam]

unsprung said:

HD Adam said:

unsprung said:

Note the use of ice in an icebox (at 3:20 in the video) as part of the water-to-air intercooler.

This should probably go in the "a bit private" thread but last time out, the ice for my intercooler came from Waitrose

Hilarious. Only quality ice allowed, you see. And a sprig of mint!

No sprig of mint. My young assistant forgot to get any