Guess what the cat dragged in? Here at the Tire Rack headquarters in South Bend, the start-finish line for One Lap of America, the Dodge Challenger SRT that wrecked back at Road America rolled up to join the road-weary One Lap cars. Having made the drive from Wisconsin to Indiana under its own power, and despite having been disqualified it from competing officially, the mangled Mopar had its own victory to celebrate. Not only it participate in the final skid-pad event—it delivered, with Erich at the wheel, the burliest burnout of all the cars that scorched their tires in victory circle. It turns out the crash damage was almost entirely cosmetic: the only mechanical difficulties resulting from the wreck were a burned-up fan motor (it was smoking after being pinched against the engine when the radiator got mashed back a couple of inches) and some torn-up ABS wiring. Erich will be driving it home to Detroit, and fellow Chrysler engineer Ralph Giles will be rebuilding the race car to run in the Targa Newfoundland. Stay tuned, as CarDomain will be following this project closely. And check below the jump for more pics of the Challenger's hilarious One Lap encore!
Continue reading "One Lap of America: Wrecked Challenger Returns" »
Edmunds just the put the new Challenger up against the Mustang Bullitt. The Bullitt comes with a manual tranny, weighs 600 pounds less and is $5,400 cheaper. But the Challenger smoked it in the quarter, edged it out in the slalom, has a higher quality interior and a usable back seat. Hmmm....
I knew that Chrysler design engineers Ralph Giles and Erich Heuschele were nice guys, but I can't believe they were crazy enough to let Suzy Bruisy take their 2009 SRT Challenger out on the track for some laps! Riding shotgun was Steven Rankins' wife Jane, a former autocrosser, who coached me through the turns. The Challenger had a big-car feel like the AMC I'm used to, but it stuck to the track like it was on rails. Though I was a little apprehensive after what happened to the last one, the new Challenger wouldn't break loose even when I pushed it. There was one back straightaway on the CMS road course where I was able to punch it to just over 90 mph with the hammer down on the 6.1 L Hemi, not realizing that they want you to keep the speed down around 50 mph during "touring laps." While I might've used up a little too much of Ralph and Erich's race gas, they were stoked to find that I'd worn off the tire chaff so they'd be better prepped for their "real" run shortly later. Hope I helped get you some extra tenths, guys! More pics after the jump.
Continue reading "One Lap of America: Hot Laps in the SRT Challenger at Carolina Motorsports Park" »
After putting the first Challenger in the fence yesterday, co-drivers Erich and Ralph, design engineers for Chrysler, have returned to the circuit with a whole 'nother car. One Lap of America will be an exhibition run for them now, since you can't officially run for points once you've replaced your car—so now they're just in it for kicks. The orange SRT rolled into the paddock this morning at Mid America Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa, and completed a perfectly respectable and wreck-free run out on the track.
Ralph told me that they drove wrecked Challenger 200 miles in the shape it was in yesterday with no problems, getting 19 mpg on the highway. It's getting repaired at a friend's shop, and Ralph confirmed that it'll likely be run in the Targa Newfoundland, Canada's version of the Mille Miglia. It's a good thing that race cars never die!
Coming into turn 1 at the end of Road America's long straightaway, the Vanishing Point Challenger got loose, went into the infield grass, and then hit the tire-pile on the outside wall hard enough to fly up right on top of it. Driver Erich Heuschele was unhurt, but the damage, as you can see, was pretty catastrophic. The team says the Challenger is out of the race, which is terrible news. But astonishingly, we saw the car shortly after our own run leaving the track under its own power—and passing us! There was some speedy-dry in the car's panels when I photographed it on the wrecker, but it didn't seem to be dumping fluids. Maybe they'll be able to patch it up and run it without the front clip, NASCAR-style. What do you think: is this it for the Challenger, or will we see it again down the road? Take a good look at the carnage after the jump and decide for yourself.
Continue reading "Dodge Challenger Wrecks Hard At Road America" »
A couple of Dodge guys are bringing a Vanishing Point themed Challenger on One Lap. Not sure I like the rallye style wheels, and I always think white looks better on old cars with lots of chrome, but it's still a cool idea. And the exhaust sounds pretty amazing. So who do you think will come in first? Jen and the Boxer4Racing STI, or the Vanishing Point Challenger?
Driving from LA to Denver and back will give you ample opportunity to get to know almost any car, and Dodge’s new 2008 Challenger SRT8 is no exception. What makes this adventure even more compelling is that on the second leg, from Denver to LA, we’ll be joined by a restored 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi. Have we died and gone to Mopar heaven? Read after the jump to find out.
Continue reading "Exclusive Dodge Challenger Driving Impressions" »
Well, Rich survived his epic journey. Full account of the last days of this awesome road trip over at Automotive Traveler. And there's a cool pic of the Challenger getting a much-needed wash after the jump. Thanks for sharing, Rich! And thanks to everyone who followed this story and turned out to see Rich and the car along the way.
Continue reading "Vanishing Point Cruise: Final Chapter" »
By David
aka Highspeedhijinks
The Hemi Challenger resto from 2Fast 2Furious is on eBay right now—sitting at a cool 60k—and the reserve hasn't even been met. With all the hype about Fast and the Furious 4, I'm surprised this car is coming out of the shadows so soon. This isn't one of the clone shell cars either. It was intended for interior shots, it's packing the real deal—"NEW 426 HEMI WITH A NEW HEAVY DUTY 727 HURST AUTOMATIC TRANSMISION AND A NEW DANA 355 POSI HEMI REAR END"—and only has 100 miles on the clock. So what it's worth? I'm sure the fact that it's non-numbers matching hurts the value, but on the other hand, it's a movie car that's linked to the main characters and the finale of the flick. Those factors make me think this baby will fetch a price somewhere in the low 100,000's. Do I think its worth that? Well, no. But it's most likely what someone is gonna pay for it. What do you think its worth?
Friday was another big day for Rich and the Challenger--it included a Kowalski-style photo op with a helicopter, more run-ins with the cops, covered wagons and another Las Vegas meet up. Full details on the day's adventures at Automototive Traveler, and of course more exclusive pics after the jump. Tomorrow we'll wrap this story up with a full report of Cars and Coffee in Irvine, and turning the keys back over to Chrysler.
Continue reading "Vanishing Point Cruise Day 5: Wendover, Nevada to Irvine, California" »
Yesterday was another awesome day for the Challenger and the various Mopar friends who made it out for the cruise. I already told you about the stop in Salt Lake City. From there Rich and company went out to set up the scene below. The Sandy Police Department blocked off a busy street at rush hour so they could get photos and video of the Challenger being chased by a supercharged Dodge Charger police cruiser (stay tuned for the video).
Shortly after setting out for Nevada, the convoy witnessed a nasty wreck right in front of them on I-80, when a Ford Explorer broke an axle and cartwheeled off the road. George Gubler, a former Oregon Highway Marshal traveling with the Mopar guys, rushed to stablize the condition of the Explorer driver, who was losing a great deal of blood and going into shock. EMTs arrived ten minutes later, and the driver was airlifted back to the University of Utah medical center. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
More pics of old school Mopars after the jump, including Steve Hinckley's awesome 4 speed C barge (there's also a a pic of the rolled Explorer). Even more details and pics from yesterday's adventures over at Automotive Traveler. For those of you who are new to this story, you can read all of the posts here. Oh, and if you've been convinced that you need one of these new Challengers, the 2008 SRT8s are sold out (though you can probably find them way over MSRP on eBay).
Continue reading "Vanishing Point Cruise Day 4: Moab, Utah, to West Wendover, Nevada" »
Here's the latest from Rich in Salt Lake City, Utah:
We're now at Larry H. Miller Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep. Steve Hinckley, who runs the show car portion of Mopars at the Strip, arranged with the local Salt Lake City Mopar community to meet us and meet us they did. Two '70 Challenger R/Ts, a '71 Plymouth Road Runner, Steve's '69 Dodge Polara 2-door hardtop and we were finally nabbed by a member's '06 police package Charger. While we wait for Buzz to arrive from the SLC airport from Reno, we're positioning all the vintage, high performance Mopars in front of the Dodge show room. It's actually snowing here! That means these Moparaholics brought out these nearly priceless Mopars to meet us. The red rocks shot is Canyonlands NP from early this morning.
Four more cool pics (including the red rocks shot) after the jump. Stay tuned for more from Rich...
Continue reading "Vanishing Point Cruise Rolls into Salt Lake City" »
Day three for Rich was all about driving Buzz's 1970 Hemi Challenger. He literally could not stop raving about that car. Not to take anything away from the new Challenger, but you just can't beat that old school Hemi rumble. Toward the end of the day, they happened upon an abandoned bulldozer in Cisco, Utah, and just had to take this shot. Full story and more pics at Automotive Traveler.
