Hennessey Dodge Demon ups drag racer's horsepower to over 1,000
It's hard to imagine anyone with a 2018 Dodge Demon wanting the street-legal drag racer to be even more powerful and faster. But for those few crazy individuals, custom tuner Hennessey Performance has just what they're looking for. The company has announced a limited number of upgrade packages for the Demon that push the car's horsepower to over 1,000, driving the original's quarter-mile times even lower.
Hennessey Performance is offering pair of Demon upgrades dubbed the HPE1000 and HPE1200. Those familiar with the company's HPE850 upgrade for the Hellcat will know those numbers translate to 1,000 and 1,200 horsepower, respectively. As a quick refresher, the standard Dodge Demon features 840 hp and 770 lb-ft of torque, and offers the world's fastest quarter-mile time for a production car at 9.65 seconds.
The HPE1000 boosts the Demon's engine to 1,000 horsepower with 948 lb-ft of torque. Taking into account the 15% loss from the drivetrain, and the HPE1000 is rated with 880 hp and 806 lb-ft at the wheels, which offers a quarter-mile time of 9.14 seconds at 152 mph. Similarly, the HPE1200 has a calculated 1,200 engine horsepower, which translates to 1,013 hp and 954 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. While not tested yet, this is expected to bring the quarter-mile time below 9 seconds.
Most other details on the HPE1200 are still limited, however Hennessey notes that this upgrade package includes a NHRA legal roll cage, and even a parachute. The HPE1000, meanwhile, has a 0-60 mph time of only 1.9 seconds, however the top speed remains unknown as Hennessey hasn't tried to find out. Also concerning is that the total stopping distance is unknown, as no changes have been made to the standard Demon's brakes, which bring the car to a stand-still in 97 feet.
Most of the Demon remains the same as Dodge built it, in fact, including the same drag radial tires and 8-speed automatic transmission. Hennessey keeps the 6.2-liter Hemi V8 engine, but swaps out the 2.7-liter supercharger for a 4.5-liter version. Rounding out the upgrades are new high-flow fuel injectors, high-flow catalytic converters, a high-flow air induction system, a new supercharger pulley, and an upgraded fuel pump.
Pricing and availability are also a bit of a mystery. The 2018 Demon was already limited to 3,300 units, and Hennessey says it will only be offering 50 of its upgrade packages. The tuner doesn't reveal what each will cost, but considering the Demon was originally priced at $85,000 it's easy to imagine the car costing close to $200,000 after Hennessey is done with it.