Hellcat-powered Ram Rebel Hits the Drag Strip

Ram Rebel with a Hellcat Hemi sounds great, but the team is still working out some bugs.

The Ram Truck brand will eventually roll out a 1500 model with the 6.2-liter Hellcat Hemi, but a private owner in Canada has already built such a machine. The owner calls it the HellRam and it is powered by a Mopar HellCrate crate engine. The R/T Life YouTube channel recently shared some footage of the HellRam working out at the Grand Bend Motorplex. The on-track performance isn’t great, but it is still a cool project with tons of potential.

Meet HellRam, the Hellcat-powered Ram 1500 Rebel

The video kind of jumps around at the beginning, but after a few random track clips and an introduction, we get a rundown of the features of the HellRam. IT is a 2019 Ram 1500 Rebel powered by a Mopar HellCrate, which is the crate engine version of the Hellcat Hemi from the Dodge Challenger and Charger. Like the Hemi in those cars, this engine is designed to offer 707 horsepower and in this truck, it has some help from a Demon Air Grabber intake setup and the oiling system from a Jeep Trackhawk.

The owner also explains that the HellRam rides on Nitto Ridge Grappler tires, which are less than ideal for drag racing. Notice that he doesn’t mention any upgrades to the transmission or four-wheel-drive system. Those components are designed to work with the 395-horsepower, 5.7-liter Hemi, not the Hellcat Hemi with 707 horsepower.

We learn later on in the video that this Ram 1500 is running on 8 pounds of boost, while the Hellcat cars make 707 horsepower at roughly 11 pounds of boost. We suspect that the owner is running light boost to help protect the stock drive line parts, but it doesn’t work.

HellRam on the Track

The video above includes several clips of the HellRam storming down the track, some of which are shot from inside of the cab while others are shot from someone standing on the track. On the first run, shown from the in-car camera, the truck appears to hop hard on the launch, while the second run looks much smoother. We don’t get times for either of those runs.

The third run takes place against a Hellcat Challenger. The Ram appears to get out well enough, but the lighter car hands out a whoppin’. We don’t know what the Challenger runs, but the Ram Rebel runs a 13.24 at 106 miles per hour on 8 pounds of boost.

Finally, we come to the title race of the video, the HellRam versus the Jeep Trackhawk. Sadly, the title is clickbait, as there is really no race here. The Jeep gets out much better and about halfway down the track, something happens to the Ram 1500. The driver states at the end of the video that he broke the differential, but it drove off the track awfully easily for a truck with a broken differential.

In any case, there is no time for the run in which the Ram breaks, making the 13.24 the best time of the video. That is not a particularly impressive time, but we imagine that the HellRam is still a ton of fun to drive in the dirt. Meanwhile, we expect that the actual Hellcat-powered Ram 1500 will be considerably quicker.

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Patrick Rall

"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.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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