The world's most powerful series-production muscle car versus a very capable sports car that makes 900 wheel ponies with methanol injection and E50 in the fuel tank. Which one is better in the quarter mile? Their owners are much obliged to answer that question with three digs at the strip.
Pictured at Ennis-based Texas Motorplex, the Demon 170 and C7-generation Corvette Z06 are similar in many respects. Compared to the likes of the V6-engined McLaren Artura and Ferrari 296 series, both use supercharged pushrod mills instead of hot-vee DOHC engines.
Similarities continue with the rear-drive layout and their eight-speed automatic transmissions, although the C7 features a transaxle coupled to the 6.2-liter supercharged engine by means of a rigid torque tube. Dodge's most powerful series-production vehicle to date uses a highly modified Torqueflite 8HP90, which is based on ZF's 8HP tranny.
Compared to the Tremec dual-clutch transaxle of the C8, the C7 is rocking a GM-developed automatic known as the Hydra-Matic 8L90, while 2014 models used the 6L80. The highly modified Z06 in the featured clip is a 2017 model, therefore meaning that we're dealing with eight speeds.
Z06 owner Christian is running skinnies up front and wide drag radials out back, whereas Demonology went for the stock Mickey Thompsons for these races. Demonology took delivery of the Challenger SRT Demon 170 with the driver's seat only, while Christian took out the passenger seat to drop a few pounds off the 2017 Z06's advertised base curb weight of 3,524 pounds (1,598 kilograms).
Photo: Hoonigan on YouTube
Estimated to weight in the ballpark of 3,500 pounds (1,588 kilograms) in this configuration, the Z06 is much lighter than Demonology's blue-painted muscle car. Dodge advertised the Challenger SRT Demon 170 at 4,280 pounds (1,941 kilograms) with the standard wheels and tires or 4,268 pounds (1,936 kilograms) with carbon-fiber wheels.
In the first race, Herman Young somehow jumps the start, leaving Christian and the Z06 to chase his corn brew-fueled coupe to the finish line. In the second race, Christian got the hit, leaving Demonology to eat his dust. Unfortunately, the peeps at Hoonigan didn't provide any quarter-mile times or speeds for these no-prep showdowns.
The final, deciding race saw Christian lose it from the very beginning due to a helluva lot of wheelspin, therefore ruining his run. Even with extra-wide drag radials in the rear, it's hardly surprising that said Z06 spun its wheels to the tune of 900 supercharged ponies, meaning a little over 1,000 horsepower at the small block's crankshaft.
As a brief refresher, the standard C7 Z06 needs 10.95 seconds to conquer the quarter mile at 128 miles per hour (206 kilometers per hour), whereas the C8 Z06 can do it in 10.6 seconds. The E85-drinking Challenger SRT Demon 170, meanwhile, promises 8.91 seconds at 151.17 mph (243 kph).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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