Twin-turbo, carbon fibre Dodge Challenger Demon is fastest in the world

With NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett at the wheel, a twin-turbo, carbon-bodied Dodge Challenger Demon has broken the record for fastest quarter-mile run by a Demon.

With the supercharger removed and two turbos taking its place as the provider of boost the Demon, built by Speedkore with assistance from Gearhead Fabrications and DiabloSport, is putting out 897kW at the wheels.

The record-breaking run was over in 8.77 seconds, at 259.96km/h.

The most impressive part, or one of them at least, is that the engine block itself has been mostly left alone for this build, and the 6.2-litre Hemi hasn’t shown signs of wavering.

Keeping the weight down – 113kg has been shed – is the full-carbon fibre body which was built by Speedkore and debuted last year at SEMA. Speedkore is again bringing the car to SEMA this year.

Mario Abascal at Gearhead Fabrications says there’s still work to be done on the Demon, and reckons they can pull an 8.5-second pass out of it with more boost.

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“We still have a lot more development to do but we didn’t want to go crazy on an ‘unopened’ engine.

“It’s currently running 26psi but we’ll increase it to 30psi after SEMA. That should get us an 8.5sec quarter-mile if the stock HP90 transmission holds together.

“The transmission is definitely the limiting factor. We didn’t want to be irresponsible but this is the most power we’ve ever made with the HP90 and nobody really knows where the limit is.

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“I have to take my hat off to Mopar for the engine,” he added.

"It’s totally stock, including the head bolts and we’ve run it numerous times on the track without problems. We’ll get stronger head bolts for the next stage but the bottom end is incredibly strong.”

Vice president of SpeedKore Dave Salvaggio says it was clear that Pritchett would be the one to pilot the car, and that no one else was even really considered for the job.

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“There wasn’t any debate. Leah is immensely talented and almost over-qualified for the task,” he says.

“We were so excited when she agreed to jump on a plane and meet us at Great Lakes Dragway for the attempt.

“It was a really cold October day when Leah arrived. The air temperature was in the 40s (between 4 and 10 degrees Celsius) and the track wasn't much warmer.

“We had the surface prepped and knew it was going to be a good day when she ran 9.01sec on her first run while getting used to the car.”

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Speedkore says Pritchett lifted the front wheels as the boost came on, and even managed to beat the previous record with a passenger onboard.

The Speedkore Demon will be presented at SEMA 2018, kicking off in just a few days and running between October 30 and November 2.