Dodge Challenger Hellcat True Capabilities Unleashed via Tuning

Over the past few years, we have featured a great many Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcats making monster power and setting stunning quarter mile records with big-power builds. We have also featured a few near-stock Hellcat cars which have proven their real-world performance capabilities on the drag strip without changing any of the engine components.

Today, we bring you a look at the performance capabilities of a Hellcat Challenger with a tuned stock engine and some simple drivetrain upgrades – with Simon Haddad’s Mopar machine covering the quarter mile in the 10.0-range.

Stock Engine Running 10.0s
Before getting further into this piece, let’s take a quick look at the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat owned and driven by Simon Haddad. That name should be familiar to anyone who reads out Hellcat quarter mile record articles, as his Challenger previously held the stock-power record with a time of 10.43. That stock-power has since been broken by a car with a generous amount of weight reduction, but in terms of stock power and a full interior – Haddad’s Hellcat is as quick as they get.

When he made that 10.43 run, the only modifications made to this Hellcat Challenger were skinny front wheels/tires, sticky drag radial tires on wide wheels out back, a stronger driveshaft and a set of 3.09 gear, but the Hemi engine and its output were 100% stock.

Since then Simon Haddad has had the engine and transmission tuned by Injected Engineering, but no components were changed – it was simply an engine tune which maximizes the output and a transmission tune which improves how well it gets through the gears.

So, this Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat has an engine tune, a transmission tune, a stronger driveshaft, new wheels/tires and 3.09 gears – and in good air combined with Haddad’s experience in getting his Mopar muscle car down the track, this car ran a best ET of 10.05. In fact, Haddad and his Hellcat have run in the 10.0X range a handful of times, so with that short mod list, the supercharged Challenger runs steady 10.0s.

So, if you have a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat with the 8-speed automatic transmission, 10.0-quarter mile times are achievable with a good tune, 3.09 gears, wheels/tires and the “good driver mod” – but this is clear that the low-10 second potential is there without adding any engine components.

Check out the video below of Haddad’s first 10.05 run. Also let us know what you think about this in the comments section below for discussion.