Where the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is going, you won’t need two feet—just one finger. In today’s Demon teaser, “Lock and Load,” Dodge details what it says is another feature never seen on a factory production car, technology it calls a TransBrake. With it, drivers will be able to initiate quicker launches of the reduced-weight, supercharged, near-slicks-wearing muscle car off the drag-strip line simply by pressing a paddle.
In drag racing, drivers typically use both feet for launches. The left foot is either depressing the clutch in a manual-transmission car or holding the brake in an automatic. The Demon is an automatic, but because of this new tech, only one foot is required: on the gas. The TransBrake locks the output shaft from the transmission in place and eliminates the need to hold the brake to keep the car stationary. Dodge would not elaborate on how to actually initiate the TransBrake, however. Based on the information we have, we believe the driver will press a button or select a specific mode, push the gas pedal to the floor. Then, instead of letting up the left foot to release the car, he or she clicks the paddle shifter like a trigger, and off it goes.
Dodge claims TransBrake gives the driver a 30 percent better reaction time than using the two-foot method. Not only will it aid with launches, it also protects parts by reducing stress on the components (even though many of the Demon’s components have been beefed up to handle more load).
By pairing this method with the Demon’s Torque Reserve two-step ignition—which we detailed in last week’s teaser—and a slip-reducing Launch Assist system, Dodge says the Demon can have launches at up to 2350 rpm, with a possible 105 percent increase in launch boost pressure and a potential 120 percent increase in engine-launch torque. And that increased torque is put to the ground, remember, by standard 315/40 Nitto NT05R drag radials.
It sounds as though SRT has thought of just about every possible way to dial in the Hellcat specifically for the drag strip. We’ll finally get official numbers and full details—not to mention decoding all of those perplexing license plate riddles—when the car makes its debut on April 11. Until then, try not to let the smoke get to you.
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