That Hellcat Owner Spanked by the Tesla P85D? He’s Running in the 10s Now [w/ Video]

We told you this would happen.

Less than a month ago, a video hit the web showing a lime-green Dodge Challenger Hellcat being absolutely spanked by a Tesla Model S P85D at a drag strip. Frankly, it wasn’t surprising. The Tesla makes insane amounts of torque. It has all-wheel drive and thousands of lines of computer code dedicated to making it launch like a goddamn missile, no driver finesse required.

The Hellcat? It’s a rolling improbability. A full 707 supercharged horsepower assault gatling-gunned to the rear wheels will give you some trouble, no matter who you are. To put it very, very mildly, it’s a handful. So when our pal in the green Hellcat botched the launch against the Tesla, there was no coming back from it. Tesla 1, Hellcat 0.

But our Hellcat driver used the agony of defeat as a motivator. According to this thread at Hellcat.org, the guy in the green Challenger mounted up some 305-section Nitto NT555Rs, among most aggressive drag tires you can run on the street without breaking the law, and practiced his launches.

What’s it all add up to? Oh, just a pump-gas Challenger Hellcat, bone-stock save for the serious rubber, running a 10.8-second quarter-mile and tripping the lights at 127 mph. The guy ripped a 1.640-second 60-foot time in the process. Clearly, he’s improved in the art of the launch. Your move, Tesla. This is the kind of grudge match we live for.


This story originally appeared on roadandtrack.com.



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I wonder how they figure out in which displacement class to place an electric car.

 

I guess it's an open class, then. Interesting to see the Dodge Challenger retro styling. I felt like I was back in a long-gone era. I guess they are selling.

 

I have a good excuse for liking the way it looks. I was a young back in the day when muscle cars were born. I always wonder if that kind of look will sell now, or if it's just a bunch of older guys at the car company being out of touch.

 

Okay, so that works. I understand better now. Also, I have to confess that I'm a little mixed up these days. I'm going to have to look at some pictures to refresh my memory

I must say that Hellcat looks great. They did something to make it look lower than before. They captured some of that early low-stance look.

One thing about the Hellcat the article got wrong. The Tesla didn't spank the Hellcat. The driver of the Hellcat blew the start. Also, the Hellcat won on looks.

 

I went and looked as some photos to refresh my memory about the first Challengers. It looked much better in my memory than it does in the photos. I also realized that my memory had blurred the lines of muscle car and pony car. They were not always the same.

Anyway, I lived in Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. One day a week (I forget which one) people would cruise up and down Van Nuys Blvd. If you saw "American Graffiti," that was the type of scene that was still going on where I lived. I was in high school from 1962 to 1965. In high school the ultimate car-guy car to have was the 1957 Chevy. The '56 and '55 were second choices. And then it is all a blur. I don't remember which other cars were cool. I'm sure there were cool Fords, but I was not into Fords.

When the Mustang came out, none of the guys I knew liked it. And either did I. Nothing cool there. But the GTO made a very big impression with its power/weight ratio. There was even a hit song on the radio about the GTO.

By 1971 I was a working musician with long hair and Volkswagen van. This was not a good combination for making the scene on Van Nuys Blvd. Most car guys back then did not approve of long hair on men. But me and my girlfriend decided to go there anyway. I remember the first red light we hit we were next to a Plymouth Road Runner. It looked great. I pointed it out to my girlfriend, and she thought it looked great too. So she leaned out the window and yelled "Hey there, Road Runner." They looked over at my Volkswagen van and yelled hello back, in a very friendly way. So we talked with them until the light turned green. I don't know if having a hot girlfriend helped, but we were made to feel completely welcome by everyone. It was a lot of fun.

 

I remembered some more. In high school there was not much interest in motorcycles. But a few of us who paid attention thought the Triumph Bonneville looked great. Into my twenties the cool bike became the Harleys. My friends who had Harleys always customized them.

Back to cars, even though I liked the cool muscle cars, I was actually more interested in sports cars. I watched Grand Prix races on TV. Rarely watched oval races. I was into handling more than speed. And I liked the way some of the sports cars looked. The AC was one favorite for looks, even before it became a Cobra.

Funny thing. Even though I was very interested in cars, it never translated into purchases. I've never owned one of the cool cars or cool motorcycles. I tended to buy cars the same way I would an appliance or a tool.

 

The Harley customization is a bit of a blur to me right now. I know if was at least tank, fenders, paint and seat. Otherwise it was sort of an embarrassment. Some were slightly chopped. Some did chrome.

None of my friends went for the high handle bars and extended fork that was popular back then. A "sort of" example of that would be the bike Peter Fonda rode in Easy Rider. It's the bike with the stars and stripes tank. http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/peter-fonda-s-easy-rider-harley-davidson-up-for-auction-4044. I say "sort of" because if you look closely you will see his helmet sitting on top of a chrome back rest. Most bikers I saw on the street (not just my friends) didn't add that.

I once went to Riverside Raceway, which apparently is no longer there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_International_Raceway. I went with my father and brother. We all agreed that it was incredibly boring. We were not in the stands, and all we could see from our position was a few small stretches of the track as we stood against a chain link fence. After that we stuck to watching it on TV.

 

How do you watch motocross? My memory of this is it's a long linear race over rough terrain. Do they condense it into an arena?