Understanding Dodge's Extreme 11,000-Horsepower Funny Car
Drag racing funny cars aren't just about huge power. Mopar's Charger funny car uses advanced aero to make it run fast - really fast.
The Mopar car is no joke
There is nothing at all funny about the way the drag race monster drives. This is a dedicated quarter-mile weapon, built to show just what can be done with Dodge's legendary V8 engine.
The most extreme SRT of all
As a marketing tool for Mopar, this Dodge Hellcat drag racer is absolutely on point. It channels the esteemed drag racing heritage of Chrysler's performance parts division and the color scheme is certainly appropriate.
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Traces of the road going Charger - really
Although the radical NHRA funny car bodywork seems to have little resemblance to a production Dodge Charger, the team responsible for this new design would like you to look a little closer. In this front view can see grille and headlight proportions, which are a nod to the road car's componentry.
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Yes, that is the same badge as the dealer car
The Dodge funny car has SRT badging and the same honeycomb grille you'll find on a road-going Hellcat Charger. Although the speeds this drag racer are capable of are in excess of what a factory SRT Charger could attain, many components of the road car are still regarded as robust and functional enough to ride along on the Mopar funny car.
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Those grilles are purely for show
Although the Mopar Charger funny car has a double-grille at the front, there is no complex radiator system to feed air to. Like all true drag racing vehicles, it runs dry - without requiring liquid cooling.
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Blown - and then some
What defines this Mopar Charger SRT Hellcat funny car is its engine. Like all top-end drag racing vehicles, it is a supercharged large-capacity V8, which runs special fuel. Swept capacity totals 8.1-liters, with the V8 engine being a development of Chrysler's legendary 426-cubic inch block. Outputs are almost cartoonish, with power peaking at 11,000hp, supported by 8000 lb-ft of torque.
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Proper composite aero, not mere plastic
Traditionalists will notice the quad side-exit exhausts, but what is really most special about the Mopar car's side view, is its bodywork. The carbon-fiber shell is shaped to optimize aerodynamics and you can notice how its side sills are shaped with a lip, to aid the car's stability at speed. Which is important when you run 300mph in only a quarter of a mile.
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Using air to its advantage
You might assume that with 11,000hp available, this drag racer only requires brute power to be competitive. But you'd be wrong. Considering the speeds a funny car can run, aerodynamics become a vital aspect of its eventual performance. As such. Mopar put its Charger funny car in a wind tunnel, to optimize the manner in which it manages airflow at speed.
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Tradition and convention
The Mopar Charger funny car looks like many other traditional drag racers, but its engineers have used modern materials and techniques to make it the best it can be. And it works. This car has run the quarter-mile in 3.79 seconds, at a speed of 338mph. As we said, there is nothing funny about this Mopar Charger...
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