With this, at out test track, we picked up two seconds a lap over the narrow-body R/T Scat Pack, which is twelve car lengths.”Īnd with that, we are cut loose in the Scat Pack Widebody to strafe some of the smooth and snaking canyon roads not far from the drag strip. “There’s a stiffer sway bar in the front, which is hollow, and a bigger spoiler in the back for more downforce. “As a team, we asked, what else can we do to make the most of this extra grip, but still keep it as an every day car? While the rear springs are carry over, there’s a thicker rear sway bar, and the front has the stiffest springs we’ve put on any of our Challengers,” Jim Wilder, Dodge’s vehicle development manager says. The Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody, at $59,195, is $8,000 over the standard R/T 392 and hosts a number of goodies that turn this Challenger into a highly desirable piece - not least of which being its sexy fender flares and 20-inch ‘Devil’s Rim’ alloy wheels wearing 305/35ZR20 Pirelli tires. I know what you’re thinking: How different can two Challenger R/T Scat Packs with the same engine be? What you’re not supposed to is sit there, turn to the instructor and say, “Can I go now?” Uh, yeah.Īfter a morning of this crazy fun, it’s time to sample another Challenger R/T Scat Pack variant - one who’s prime directive is to eat up a road course. Either way, when you seen green you’re supposed to release the brake and roll into the throttle with enough aggression to get max launch without spinning the tires. Once engaged, the brakes are held until you flick the left shift paddle. These cars also have a nifty thing called the TransBrake, eliminating the need for left foot braking. This is where I hold the Challenger with left foot hard on the brake while bringing the V8 up to about 1,800 rpm. With tires suitably brutalized, it’s now time to pull ahead into the staging area and wait for the green light. Well, that’s one helluva guilty pleasure. Line Lock allows you to lock up only the front brakes by holding down a button on the left steering wheel spoke, hence freeing up the rear tires to spin, howl and send out billows of smoke.
#DODGE CHALLENGER SCAT PACK PATCH#
First order of business is to put the 1320 in drag mode and roll into the “burnout box” - a watered down patch of pavement - to heat up the rear tires. I’ll confess I know about as much of the techniques of drag racing as I do about underwater basket weaving, but Dodge provided coaching for us newbies. What is about to roll, is this Scat Pack 1320 down the Pomona drag strip. Nope: It’s a “grassroots” drag racing special that’ll cover the quarter in 11.7 seconds at 115 mph, says Dodge, and drive you home in comfort when the day is done. Named for the number of feet in the quarter mile, this big lug is not trying to out-fancypants the Mustang and Camaro. The $55,190 Scat Pack 1320 is Dodge’s latest iteration of the perennial Brampton-built Challenger to torture its rear tires and flip its middle-digit at convention. Oh, and let’s have fun with some crazy colours and a pissed-off cartoon bee. Five decades may separate these Mopar muscle cars, but the mission statement barely wavers: Get down the quarter-mile as fast as possible, courtesy of some optimized hardware and a seismic, naturally aspirated push-rod V8. Morton invade my concentration at this most crucial point? Because the same bumblebee logo that adorned the rear flanks of that ’69 Dodge stares at me from this 2019 Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320’s instrument binnacle. Article contentĪnd why should the diminutive Mrs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.