All-wheel-drive doesn’t help the Benz enough to prevent the Scat Pack from getting down the track first at Lapeer International Dragway.
Mercedes-Benz is known for building powerful sport-luxury sedans that perform well in many situations, including the drag strip, but the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack is built to dominate the drag strip. In this week’s Track Time Tuesday video, which comes to us from the Novaguy83 YouTube channel, a tuned Challenger Scat Pack takes on a tuned Mercedes-Benz CLS550. The Scat Pack’s biggest struggle is traction while the Benz has all-wheel-drive, but will that make the difference in a quarter mile drag race?
Spoiler alert; the answer is no.
Challenger versus CLS550
The Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack in the video above is owned and driven by Carl Dahl. His Mopar muscle car has aftermarket wheels with drag radial tires, a Hellcat air intake box, a larger throttle body, an engine tune and the Tazer tool from ZAutomotive. For those unsure, the Tazer adds features like line lock and after-race cooldown modes, but it doesn’t add any performance, so the intake setup, the throttle body, the tune and the tires are the key upgrades for the Challenger.
Of course, the Scat Pack is powered by the 392-cubic inch Hemi, with 485 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque when stock, but it is likely making well into the 500 range for both figures with the engine air intake upgrades and the tune.
As for the Mercedes-Benz CLS550, we know that it is tuned, but we don’t have any details. In stock form, this sedan came with 402 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque from the twin turbocharged 4.7-liter V8, but as we all know, turbo engines take to tunes very well. In other words, this Benz could be making significantly more power than the stock figures, while the advanced all-wheel-drive system affords this big sedan near-perfect traction.
Racing Action
This footage was filmed at Lapeer International Dragway in Michigan and the action begins almost immediate as the video starts. It looks as though the Mercedes lights the red bulb on the start, but the Challenger still holds the early lead. As the two continue down track, the Benz appears to be catching up a bit, but the Dodge muscle car gets there first.
We don’t see a time slip, but if you listen, you can hear the track announcer call the time of 11.84 at 119 miles per hour for the Challenger in “the far lane”, but we don’t hear the time for the Benz.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
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