Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Could Dodge’s rumored ‘Hellcat’ V8 outshine the Viper’s V10?

Stephen Edelstein
By
dodge hellcat v8 engine rumors 2014 challenger srt

Chrysler seems to think giving engines cool names will imbue them with special powers.

First came the fuel-efficient “Hurricane” four-cylinder and now, at the other end of the spectrum, we have the “Hellcat”.

Recommended Videos

The company is rumored to be preparing a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 for use in the next Dodge Challenger SRT. While the company hasn’t even confirmed the hellacious engine’s existence, reports suggest its power output will be in the 580 to 640 horsepower range.

Related

Note that last figure matches the power rating of the SRT Viper’s 8.4-liter V10. Could it be that a hot-rodded version of the Challenger will rival the near-supercar Viper in grunt?

SRT president and CEO Ralph Gilles hinted at this possibility in an interview with Hot Rod, when the magazine suggested Chrysler was losing to Ford and Chevrolet in the Detroit horsepower war.

“We have a situation where, you know – we may have a situation – where the flagship car is not the most powerful car in our arsenal; how do we explain that to ourselves?” He said there is an “internal horsepower race” going on at Chrysler.

In the same comment, Gilles said SRT will focus on “usable horsepower” and improving vehicles’ power-to-weight ratios, presumably as an alternative to increasing horsepower for its own sake.

While SRT could probably extract more power from the Viper’s V10 (perhaps by giving it a supercharger of its own), it’s admittedly hard to see where it can go from here.

A more powerful Viper would be faster, but pushing the car further into supercar territory would require a level of refinement to rival that of Ferrari or Porsche, and to keep minimally-trained owners from killing themselves.

So as SRT seeks to improve the Viper, other factors will become as important – if not more important – than increasing horsepower.

As for a Hellcat-powered Challenger producing as much grunt as a Viper, keep in mind that there’s already one Detroit muscle car that’s accomplished that feat. The outgoing Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang has 662 hp, courtesy of a 5.8-liter supercharged V8.

The GT500 has always been more about top speed than handling, but a two-seat sports car like the Viper has to excel at both.

Maybe SRT has decided to give its super sports car more than just a venomous bite, while giving enthusiasts another high-horsepower model to drool over.

Editors' Recommendations

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen Edelstein
Contributing Editor
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
The GTC4Lusso T: Ferrari drops a turbocharged V8 in a four-seater for the first time
Ferrari GTC4Lusso T

Ferrari is expanding its lineup with a new model named GTC4Lusso T. The four-seater will make its public debut next week during the Paris Motor Show.

As its name loosely implies, the GTC4Lusso T is the first four-seater Ferrari powered by a turbocharged V8 engine. The mill in question is a 3.9-liter unit that generates 610 horsepower at 7,500 rpm and 560 pound-feet of torque from 3,000 all the way up to 5,250 rpm. To put those figures into perspective, the V12-powered GTC4Lusso that was introduced earlier this year in Geneva has 680 horsepower and 515 pound-feet of twist on tap.

Read more
First drive: 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
The 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT really is a Hellcat on the track
2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

While the Challenger SRT Hellcat has been out terrorizing the streets of America and beyond for some time now, it’s safe to say that the 707 horsepower muscle car demands to be unleashed on a track.

Dodge and SRT have been running the SRT Track Experience ever since 2005 when the first SRT vehicles started rolling off out of the factory and into the hands of enthusiasts, with the idea of providing new owners some time on a road course to get better acclimated with their cars in order to get the most out of these high performance machines. While the program has been a success ever since it launched, it recently became clear with the introduction of the Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcat models – along with the incredibly capable fifth generation Viper and other SRT vehicles that have recently seen a substantial leap in capability – that Dodge needed to step things up a bit.

Read more
Herding Hellcats: We took a pair of Dodge’s 707-horse hellions to the track
2015-Dodge-Charger-and-Challenger-SRT-Hellcats

There are a few approaches to making a winning track car. Some automakers shed every possible ounce of excess weight, others go crazy with aerodynamics to layer on the downforce, and almost all pair the stickiest possible set of tires with their production-bound performance machine.

Dodge’s Street & Racing Technology (SRT) division did none of those things when it engineered the 2015 Dodge Charger and 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat models. And yet, on a high-speed track like Willow Springs Raceway, both vehicles absolutely inhale the smoothly-paved curves and straightaways with remarkable agility.

Read more