Muscle cars with their powerful V8 engines are no longer America’s fastest cars in a drag race, and they won’t be anymore. The latest victim to substantiate this claim was a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody Jailbreak (yes, a bit of a long name), whose 807 horsepower wasn’t enough to beat the Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. In fact, compared to Lucid’s electric sedan, the Charger even feels a bit sluggish.
Make no mistake: the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody Jailbreak is one of the fastest sedans ever made, not just in America but anywhere in the world. It has a supercharged V8 engine with a displacement of 6.2 liters and 818 hp, a true “made in the USA” beast capable of catapulting the Charger into any drag race and achieving more than 320 km/h top speed. Supercar figures.
the boys of Accelerator chamber decided to compare these two models. Them, driving the Lucid Air GT Performance; at the controls of the Dodge Charger, the renowned Chris Harris. The test, logically, a drag race in a quarter of a mile, just over 402 meters. The ultimate acceleration test on the other side of the puddle.
On paper, the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody Jailbreak accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in around 3.5 seconds. However, we watch the video, and the Dodge even seems sluggish against the Lucid Air. Logically, slow a little. But the Lucid Motors electric sedan, with four-wheel drive and 1,050 horsepower, starts from a standstill like a real missile. Such is the difference that at the end of the race, Chris Harris says it was “a total humiliation”.
The Lucid Air GTP sprints from 0-100 km/h in 2.6 seconds and maintains good acceleration until almost its top speed, limited to 270 km/h. In the video, he crosses the line at about 235 km/h (at least that’s the last number the driver sees on the dashboard). Remember that it reaches this speed in just 400 meters. If the race was longer, say a mile, maybe the Charger’s higher top speed (200 mph) would make it the winner, but in the quarter mile it doesn’t stand a chance against the Lucid.
The loader also has another problem when starting from a standstill and that is traction. The V8 has enormous torque but it is transmitted to the ground by only two wheels. In these conditions, it is almost impossible to start again from a standstill without the wheels spinning (which wastes time). So we had to try another test: a running start, a rolling race.
The fact that the Lucid Air is considerably heavier (2,380 kg compared to the Dodge’s 2,079 kg) could perhaps suggest that it has some disadvantage. Logically, having more mass is never an advantage, but in this case it is not a disadvantage to emerge victorious. Nor in the races rolled, leaving in March. How the Lucid Air beats the Dodge again is insulting. The strong demonstration that muscle cars As we knew them, they are no longer the fastest quarter-mile cars, and they never will be. not at least until electric muscle cars appear.
After doing several runs, Harris climbs into the back of the Lucid Air to see firsthand the car’s brutal acceleration. Keep in mind that in addition to having over 1,000 horsepower, electric motors provide near instantaneous response. Harris’ gestures leave no doubt, as do his words, seasoned with a certain British scab: “It’s totally unnecessary. The passengers are going to hate you.”