The February 2015 issue of Automobile magazine had an interesting article entitled, American Hustle. It compared the Hellcat (707 hp), Mustang GT (435 hp) and Z/28 (505 hp) at the 2.2 mile GingerMan Raceway in western Michigan. Here were the times: 0-60 mph Hellcat- 3.7 sec. Z/28- 4.0 GT- 4.4 1/4 mile Hellcat- 11.7 @125.4 mph Z/28- 12.3 @ 117.2 GT- 12.8@ 112.2 Lap Time Z/28- 1:41.8 GT- 1:44.8 Hellcat- 1:45.8 The testers thoroughly enjoyed driving the amazing Hellcat. Among some of the adjectives used were gladiator, bruiser, volcano and subatomic woofer. Here were some of their quotes: "While various Challengers since have featured impressive engines, including an SRT model making 470 horses, the latest and greatest Dodge simply blows all of them to oblivion. With a supercharged, twin-intercooled 6.2-HEMI V8 with 707 hp, you can now buy a street-legal Dodge with nearly NASCAR output and a top speed just one tick below 200 mph." "Weighing nearly 4,450 pounds, the Challenger Hellcat is no circuit wizard. But write it off as a big, clumsy bruiser, and you'll end up choking on its tire smoke. The broad-shouldered gladiator carves with remarkable adroitness for its heft...the Hellcat dances like a circus bear." "The Hellcat is an animal." "(The engine) is a supercharged 6.2 liter volcano." "The Hellcat is an atomic subwoofer on wheels." "Turn the nannies off completely and, well, after we tried that it took about 20 minutes for the tire smoke to clear (and our pulse to drop to 130)." " The Hellcat, for all its God of Thunder potential, is a peach at heart." "The engine is a waterfall of torque. And when the mood strikes, simply plant your right foot, and all cares (and just about everything else) disappear." The article concludes with the following thought: " (In February 1974, Motor Trend stated the following), The freewheeling, wide-open era of the American automobile unfortunately, is over. Time to face reality. That's the trouble with trying to predict the future, you never know how its going to turn out. Exactly 41 years after that gloomy quote from our sister publication- written amid the bleakness of gas-rationed, emissions-strangled 1970s America- not only is the freewheeling, wide-open era of American automobile not over, its outrunning even our wildest dreams...it's so damn fabulous we're black and blue from pinching ourselves...reality sure looks amazing to us." Amen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m18YOM0iUZ4
