Purple Mustang-eater puts down so much power on the dyno that it breaks its restraint and sets one of its brakes on fire.
Dodge are the bad boys of American performance cars. They’re what you’d get if the motorcycle-riding, leather-jacket-wearing cool guy in school grew up and started a car company. They don’t use soft names for their top performance models. They go dark – Hellcat, Demon. Those names bring images of pitchforks and fire to mind, but you’re never supposed to see actual fire. Smoke from the rear tires, yes, but not real fire. Especially not on a dyno.
That’s exactly what you’ll see in this video posted on the Big Nate’s Fast Cars YouTube channel, though.
It starts out like many car videos do. There’s a man sitting behind the wheel of a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat that’s strapped to a dyno. The rear wheels are already spinning on the rollers when he puts his right foot down. As the pedal gets closer to the floor, the supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8 roars even louder.
It reaches a spine-tingling and horrifying crescendo when the Challenger breaks loose of its fabric restraint. Debris flies from the rear end. Sparks begin flying out of the rear driver’s-side wheel. It looks as if the caliper becomes partially dislodged and that a bit of detritus gets lodged between it and the brake disc. Whatever exactly happens, it makes the inside of the wheel into a smelting furnace. The disc glows bright orange like the stopping hardware on a Le Mans racer at night.
Luckily, one of the bystanders has a fire extinguisher handy. He gives the spinning fire a quick spritz of flame-killer, but it’s not enough. Once the wheel stops turning, the flames are still flapping. Even a second shot doesn’t do the trick.
It’s only when the impromptu firefighter sprays the small blaze from the inboard side of the wheel that it dies down. A white cloud hangs in the air, as if the Hellcat had just performed a burnout. Technically, it did – an odd and awful one. The good news is that the car doesn’t appear to be ruined and no one near it was harmed.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
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