Check out a Dodge Charger Hellcat and a Chevy C6 Corvette ZR1 in quarter-mile action.
We’re back in Mission Park, British Columbia, where the temperatures are dropping but the action is non-stop. Here we have a C6-gen Corvette taking on a modern Dodge Charger of the Hellcat variety, the big four-door sedan against a small and sleek sports car.
Most of our attention has been on the C7-gen Corvette ZR1 with its impressive 755 supercharged V8, but the previous-gen Corvette ZR1 was no slouch, either. A 6.2-L supercharged LS9 V8 produces 638 hp and 604 lb-ft of torque, propelling the car to a top speed of 195 mph. Which is actually slower than the Hellcat’s 204 mph, but that’s what 700 hp gets you.
Power goes to the rear wheels through a 6-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual transmission. It’s not quite clear which as the Corvette seems to have fairly smooth shifts, which could just mean the driver knows how to use a stick.
The Charger Hellcat doesn’t have that problem. A 6.2-L HEMI V8 provides 707 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque propels the rear wheels thanks to an 8-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission. Unlike the Corvette, the Hellcat has launch control helping it take off, while the Corvette driver has to carefully feather the gas in order to avoid spinning its wheels.
Which might explain the poor performance on the first run. The Charger takes off like a rocket and maintains that lead for an eye-watering quarter-mile time of 10.74 seconds at 133.82 mph. That’s a great time for a Hellcat.
The next two races are against a completely different Dodge, although powered by the exact same engine. The Challenger Hellcat has a similar profile to the Charger, but it’s about 100 lbs lighter thanks to the fact it has two doors instead of four. That slight weight advantage is mitigated by the fact the car is about as aerodynamic as a block of wood, while the Charger at least tries to slope its front fascia.
Check out the video above to see how well the Corvette fares against a Challenger this time around.