{"id":74859,"date":"2023-11-28T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=74859"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:19:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:19:21","slug":"dodge-challenger-srt-demon-170s-are-already-hitting-the-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/video\/2023\/11\/dodge-challenger-srt-demon-170s-are-already-hitting-the-track.html","title":{"rendered":"Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae Demon 170s are Already Hitting the Track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dodge has been delivering the first examples of the 2023 Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Demon 170 over the course of the past few weeks and a handful of owners have already gotten their cars to the track – with impressive results for drivers with no seat time in a brand-new car. In fact, just a few days after receiving his SRT Demon 170, Timothy Mikoliczyk completed the break-in process and headed to Rockingham Dragway for Mopar\u00ae<\/sub>s at the Rock, getting down to a 9.50 quarter-mile with just a few passes to learn the features of the car.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9\ufe0fSERoss-Godbee for Legion of Demons Racing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI took possession of my Demon 170 on November 15th, 2023,” said Mikoliczyk. “The dealership, Southern Dodge Greenbrier, called me on November 14th at 4:11pm saying my car was to arrive the next day between 10am-2pm and they\u2019d FaceTime me. Joe Cuellar (the General Manager at Southern) FaceTimed me on Wednesday the 15th at 11:50am. I arrived at 12:12pm took the initial pictures and walk-around video. Someone asked if I was going to drive it home. I said to the employees that had gathered (sales and service) that not only was I going to drive it off the lot, but my grandson was going to be the first to ride. Yes, a child seat was installed for him! Someone else asked if I intended to take it to the drag strip?! I said absolutely and as a matter of fact, it would be at Mopars at the Rock that Saturday the 18th.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cDid the PDI with the service technician myself. Told them not to even wash the car! Did the paperwork, installed the child seat and loaded my grandson in the back seat. My salesman, Winfred Tony, hopped in the passenger front seat, myself in the driver\u2019s seat and we went for the first ride and to fill the tank with fuel,\u201d continued Mikoliczyk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After receiving his car on Wednesday, November 16th, Mikoliczyk drove his SRT Demon 170 to work on Thursday and Friday, adding about 100 miles each day as he worked to complete the break-in process. During the 250-mile drive to Rockingham Dragway on Saturday, November 18th, he completed the break-in mileage of his car, unlocking all of the track-focused features of the SRT Demon 170.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWoke up Saturday morning at 3am to head to Rockingham 250 miles from my house,” said Mikoliczyk. The car showed 9% ethanol when I fueled up with premium. E85 isn\u2019t available at the pump in my local area, so I stopped at a Sheets on the way and filled up with 7.9 gallons of what Sheets calls Flex Fuel 51-83% ethanol. I hoped to find more pump ethanol on the way to the track to no avail. Drove the car spiritedly to have room to top it off with more ethanol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That mix of Sheets Flex Fuel raised the ethanol content level to 35%, and when the computer system detected an increased level of ethanol, it began to ramp up the power level. When he arrived at the track, the car was making 956 horsepower, per the on-board system.<\/p>\n\n\n

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With that power level, he went from the street to the staging lanes to the track, making his first shakedown pass without the TransBrake, using the same tire pressure on which he had just driven 250 miles. Unfortunately, even with a light launch, the highway tire pressure was too much and he spun the tires hard on the launch. After that run, he lowered the rear tire pressure to 21psi, but still spun the tires hard, so he dropped them further, to 18psi. He was still spinning the tires a bit at that pressure, but he was down into the 10-second range.<\/p>\n\n\n

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At that point, Mikoliczyk talked to Byron Godbee (both shown above), who runs the Legion of Demons organization and who has made many, many 9-second runs with his 2018 SRT Demon. The two played with the SRT Demon 170 TransBrake feature a bit and headed out for another pass. Using the TransBrake set to launch at 1,600 rpm with the launch torque levels set to just 650 lb-ft, and with the tires at 18psi, Mikoliczyk ran a 9.91 at 139.71 miles per hour with a 1.54 60-foot time. He was still having traction issues, so Godbee offered to let Mikoliczyk make a few passes with his Billet Specialty wheels, with the rear wrapped in Hoosier drag radials. Also, while changing the wheels, a handful of modern Mopar racers stopped by to check out the SRT Demon 170, including Brian Moore. Moore offered to let Mikoliczyk add 6 gallons of Ignite E90 to the fuel mix and he happily accepted that offer, lifting the E content to 61% while the power level rose to 1,016 horsepower.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Hoosier drag radials are a bit stickier, allowing him to use more throttle sooner in the run and he had more power thanks to the improved ethanol mixture. On the next pass, he ran a 9.67 at 145.11, but he still \u201conly\u201d had a 1.56 short time while getting a feel for the Hoosier tires.<\/p>\n\n\n

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On his 7th<\/sup> run of the day, the car really hooked well and Mikoliczyk laid down a 9.5087 at 144.79 miles per hour with a short time of 1.35 seconds. You can watch that run in the video below. As mentioned above, during this run, he only had a 61% ethanol mixture, so he was a touch down on power and he was launching with a fairly low torque output, but he still ran a 9.50 on his first time to the track with his brand-new Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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