Challenger SRT-8 at the Track

[turbojimmy]

What a disappointment. My brother (Darkred87T) is in the market for a new car and I've gone with him to look at several Challengers. He was on the fence about whether the SRT-8 is worth the $10k premium over an R/T. After seeing and SRT-8 run at the track Friday night, he is now in the market for a used LS1 F-body for his daily driver.

The mighty SRT-8 was consistently running low-14s at 102 MPH. It was a manual, piloted by the wife and then by the owner. Great looking car, but too slow for the money.

As far as how my brother and I ran, both of our TRs ran faster than they ever had, but the track prep SUCKED so ETs were off. I ran an 11.7 @ 119 MPH, he was running mid-12s @ 114, all runs spinning hard out of the hole, letting up to let it grab, and going again. My brother is only running 17 PSI and I'm running about 22. He's going to catch me in a hurry once he turns up the boost. Unacceptable!

Anyway, disappointed with the SRT-8 Challenger under real-world conditions. I'm going to bring my 'new' '02 TA droptop next time to see what it does. They say the convertibles are a bit slower due to the extra frame bracing.

Jim

[Grumpy]

DRIVERS can make all the difference in the world I see 10 sec Buicks runnin in the 12/13s.. It's NOT the cars fault

[turbojimmy]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

DRIVERS can make all the difference in the world I see 10 sec Buicks runnin in the 12/13s.. It's NOT the cars fault

True. There wasn't much traction, and it was on those large-diameter street tires (what are they 18s? 20s?). I thought the MPH would be a lot higher though.

Jim

[TR Custom Parts]

They sure are purty though. Have seen three different ones on the road around here in the past week. Looks wise they have it all over the new Camaro and Mustang. Let Grumpy have at it on one of those Challengers and it will be a lot quicker.

[Grumpy]

hahahaha... lots of quick NEW cars out there.. I am at the track 2/3 days a week .. I don't miss much .. another GOOD example is the new Shelbys and Vette's .. lots are "slow" BUT a "few" are flyin!! oh ya those damm Mercedes .. mid 11s in a damm station wagon that you wouldn't give a second look to.. only "bad" thing about all these cars is the price BUT look at the $$$ dealers wanted for "muscle cars" when they were new

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Originally Posted by turbojimmy

What a disappointment. My brother (Darkred87T) is in the market for a new car and I've gone with him to look at several Challengers. He was on the fence about whether the SRT-8 is worth the $10k premium over an R/T. After seeing and SRT-8 run at the track Friday night, he is now in the market for a used LS1 F-body for his daily driver.

The mighty SRT-8 was consistently running low-14s at 102 MPH. It was a manual, piloted by the wife and then by the owner. Great looking car, but too slow for the money.

As far as how my brother and I ran, both of our TRs ran faster than they ever had, but the track prep SUCKED so ETs were off. I ran an 11.7 @ 119 MPH, he was running mid-12s @ 114, all runs spinning hard out of the hole, letting up to let it grab, and going again. My brother is only running 17 PSI and I'm running about 22. He's going to catch me in a hurry once he turns up the boost. Unacceptable!

Anyway, disappointed with the SRT-8 Challenger under real-world conditions. I'm going to bring my 'new' '02 TA droptop next time to see what it does. They say the convertibles are a bit slower due to the extra frame bracing.

Jim

Tell Brother to put his ass in one and drive it before he changes his mind that fast.....

[darkred87T]

Originally Posted by JOHNDEEREGN

Tell Brother to put his ass in one and drive it before he changes his mind that fast.....

Yeah, he should. He's waiting on a local dealer to call him on a black R/T 6-speed that they have on the way. They're much easier to get in and out of, and see out of, than the F-bodies. They really are good looking cars, too. Far better than any of the 'retro' cars on the market.

Jim

Ooops - posted under my brother's account.

[toofastforyou]

At least, in the "looks" department, the Challenger is much, much nicer that the ugly new Camaro!

Claude.

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Originally Posted by toofastforyou

At least, in the "looks" department, the Challenger is much, much nicer that the ugly new Camaro!

Claude.

Drove the Challenger, rode in the Camaro... Camaro will eat it alive

[79TurboCutlass]

The type of gas the Challenger is running will make a difference too. My uncle had a '97 C5 Corvette automatic 2.73 gear. He ran 87 octane and it ran 14.0's- 13.80s. I bought the car off him, the only thing I did was run 94 Sunoco in it all the time. I got it down to 13.20s. Octane makes a difference. Driver does too, especially with a manual.

[Rodney87GN]

Challengers are heavy aren't they? Around 4000 lbs I believe....doesn't help much in the acceleration department. Nice looking ride though.

[Gary Wells]

Originally Posted by 79TurboCutlass

The type of gas the Challenger is running will make a difference too. My uncle had a '97 C5 Corvette automatic 2.73 gear. He ran 87 octane and it ran 14.0's- 13.80s. I bought the car off him, the only thing I did was run 94 Sunoco in it all the time. I got it down to 13.20s. Octane makes a difference. Driver does too, especially with a manual.

With 87 octane, I'm surprised that it ran at all. Wasn't it rated for 91 octane minimum?

[GNBRETT]

Not suprised myself. Im sure the driver played a role for sure but it sounds like a pig anyway.

[Sweet6]

My buddy had an SRT8 Cherokee. I ran 13.7. So the Challenger should be faster than that. The fastest SRT8 Jeep I saw ran a 13.5. Just saying what I saw with my own eyes. There may be faster/slower ones out there. But there must have been traction issues or something with the Challenger. Go back and try it again.

[DIAZ 87]

Originally Posted by JOHNDEEREGN

Tell Brother to put his ass in one and drive it before he changes his mind that fast.....

this is probably the best advise one can give,go and take the car out for a test drive and beat the sh** out of it.

[Pronto]

I'ld go with the new G8 GXP or a regular G8 for nice comfy daily driver that has potential. The got a real back seat for passengers and good creature comforts.

[toofastforyou]

Originally Posted by JOHNDEEREGN

Drove the Challenger, rode in the Camaro... Camaro will eat it alive

True, I agree with you... I was just talking about the appearance of the car, not it's performance... ...and I also agree that it's a matter of personal taste.... I think the Camaro is U-G-L-Y, period.

Claude.

[DJ Red Barron]

Originally Posted by Sweet6

My buddy had an SRT8 Cherokee. I ran 13.7. So the Challenger should be faster than that. The fastest SRT8 Jeep I saw ran a 13.5. Just saying what I saw with my own eyes. There may be faster/slower ones out there. But there must have been traction issues or something with the Challenger. Go back and try it again.

The Cherokee's are idiot-proof at the track as long as they leave an area to drive around the water box. All you have to do is point & shoot. The AWD takes care of the rest.

My Jeep only has a Borla cat-back & a MOPAR CAI. My personal best was a 13.2 @ 104 with a 60-foot of 1.8X. The Jeep was loaded with a metric fu(k ton of Dynamat, a sub box for two Kicker solo 10s & amp, plus random crap in the back as well as a damn-near-full tank of gas. Hell, my first run down the track was a 13.5 and that was with a buddy of mine riding shotgun.

A buddy of mine has one running high 12's with nothing but a CAI & exhaust. Most of them run this way. And they respond to heavier mods like heads/cam, forced induction, etc. really well.

Here's a 10-second Jeep (Turbo 426 Stroker)
YouTube - WORLD'S QUICKEST Jeep SRT8: 10.75 1/4 Mile Pass

YouTube - World's Fastest Jeep SRT8 - 10.88 @ 130 mph


Yea, the Chally is a pig. But I am going to say there was some serious driver error going on with those runs. That car should be running MUCH better than low 14's.

[darkred87T]

I agree. The Camaro is ugly. The Challenger up close is just a great looking car all around. A local dealer here keeps saying they're waiting on a Black R/T with the Tremec M6 and I'm first on the list for a phone call. The R/T has 370HP compared to 425 from the SRT but the R/T is $10K less which is a little more in my price range. It's worth taking for a test drive to say the least.

As far as perfomance, if it can get out of it's own way I don't really care. If I feel like laying the smack down, I can always keep the Buick around.

[54Rich]

Here's a comparsion artical:

The New Generation of Muscle - MSN Autos

The 425 hp Hemi is good for 13.2? 4100lbs

[CST 03]

He can always try an 03, 04 Cobra. With a few mods he can be in the low 11's...I'm not a big fan of the new Challengers they are to big and to heavy. Just my .02

P.S I love GN's and used to own one so don't hate me for driving brand X (see sig)

[darkred87T]

The dealer told me the Challenger can get in the 20's MPG. It's a 4100 lb. car with a big V8. I find that hard to beleive. In any case, it would have to be my daily driver and I put a lot of miles on my cars. I thought about an SVT Cobra too but again, I'm a little worried about gas mileage. I guess it's not gonna be easy to have fun and get good MPG at the same time.

However, I did test drive a Saturn Sky the other day with the Ecotech 4. Nice ride. It remiinded me of a Corvette a little. The car had plenty of power but I really didn't get a good kick until I got it into the high 5000-low 6000 RPM range. If I was going to buy new it would be a toss up between one of these and a Challenger.

[karst#9]

I rode in a new challenger with the automatic, it was dissapointing. The salesman that drove it thought it was really fast It didnt have sh!t out of the hole. Got back and looked at the window sticker and it had 3.06 gears in it

[Quint]

Originally Posted by turbojimmy

What a disappointment. My brother (Darkred87T) is in the market for a new car and I've gone with him to look at several Challengers. He was on the fence about whether the SRT-8 is worth the $10k premium over an R/T. After seeing and SRT-8 run at the track Friday night, he is now in the market for a used LS1 F-body for his daily driver.

The mighty SRT-8 was consistently running low-14s at 102 MPH. It was a manual, piloted by the wife and then by the owner. Great looking car, but too slow for the money.

As far as how my brother and I ran, both of our TRs ran faster than they ever had, but the track prep SUCKED so ETs were off. I ran an 11.7 @ 119 MPH, he was running mid-12s @ 114, all runs spinning hard out of the hole, letting up to let it grab, and going again. My brother is only running 17 PSI and I'm running about 22. He's going to catch me in a hurry once he turns up the boost. Unacceptable!

Anyway, disappointed with the SRT-8 Challenger under real-world conditions. I'm going to bring my 'new' '02 TA droptop next time to see what it does. They say the convertibles are a bit slower due to the extra frame bracing.

Jim

If it was a stick, sounds to me like the people driving where not shifting in its power range, hence the very low MPH. The Auto's run 110+, so there is no reason the sticks wouldnt run a hair faster, 4000 #'s or not. I would take a Challenger any day of the week over an LS1, which every kid on the block has. If your out to have the fastest, you need to stick with the TR and drive the Challenger for what it is..."One Hell of a beautiful Hotrod" that there is non like on the road.

[darkred87T]

My theory is I can pick up a low mileage LS1 for around $10K. A new Challenger is about $35k. Of course there's big differenece in car there but it's a matter of weighing the options.

I ran agianst that SRT and bad driver or not, it wasn't getting down the track. Granted, it came out of the hole pretty strong once it got traction but after the 1/8 it got further and further away in my mirrors. I had a brand new WS6 that I took to the track for the first time with only about 1500 miles on it and couldn't break out of the 14's. The next time out with about 10,000 miles on it I was running 13.3@107 with it all day. Maybe there's some kind of "break in" period for new cars but for $45K I would want a car that can run at least mid 12's like the Camaro. Too bad the Camaro looks like crap.

[87Regal3.8SFI]

Originally Posted by karst#9

I rode in a new challenger with the automatic, it was dissapointing. The salesman that drove it thought it was really fast It didnt have sh!t out of the hole. Got back and looked at the window sticker and it had 3.06 gears in it

If it's got some real grunt a 3.06 shouldn't be bad. Depending on how the trans is geared. The 307 powered Cutlasses and Regals came with I believe a 2.14 gear. Now you talk about a dog.

[tommyguns]

You said it was a manual. I may be wrong but I believe the SRT8 only comes with an auto. The R/T has the manual.
Also, I hear the SRT's arent real nice with computer tuning.

[turbojimmy]

Originally Posted by tommyguns

You said it was a manual. I may be wrong but I believe the SRT8 only comes with an auto. The R/T has the manual.
Also, I hear the SRT's arent real nice with computer tuning.

It was definitely an SRT8 manual. Not sure what years they offered them, but they do offer them in 2009.

Jim

[ttypewhite]

Any of the Hemi's are 4000 plus pounds never mind the SRT8's. I had put my Dad's Hemi 300C on the scales at Bowling Green and it lit up the scales at 4080 pounds with a half tank of gas in it (nobody inside). Weight kills, I am surprised they didn't make options with this car with weight breaks from the factory. At 3100-3300 pounds this sucker would haul some serious a$$.

[boostedgm]

t-type white that is a very nice looking t,anyway i raced almost all the new hemi whatever cars dodge and cry-slur put out in all model forms. i beat all of them with no mercy in my z28. there all hype,but look good.

[Quint]

I would just take the regular R/T 370 horse version and drive her just like this. Sure you can open it up and make it much faster then a 14 sec ride, but its still going to get beat but something else much more Aero or less weight restricted, thats meant to be fast. These cars are heavy weight cruisers, but they can drag ok as well for bonus reasons. Hennessy built one and still only managed 11 sec slips? Again, these cars a just Cool cruisers, meant to be driven every day in comfort.