- The tuner’s crazed Demon 170 packs an overhauled 7.2-liter Hemi V8.
- Dodge’s supercharger has been replaced with two massive turbos.
- Hennessey says the car will run down the quarter-mile in just 7.9 seconds.
Dodge’s 1,025 hp Challenger Demon 170 can fire down the quarter-mile in a remarkable 8.91 seconds, putting both supercars and hypercars to shame. However, Hennessey is making it even faster. How does it plan on doing that? By adding more power, of course.
Read: Hennessey’s Demon 1700 Wants To Crush Hypercars With 1,700 HP Engine Swap
In January 2024, the Texas tuner announced the new Hennessey Special Operations (HSO) division and revealed it was planning to offer a twin-turbocharged Demon package with an incredible 1,700 hp. Fast forward 18 months, and it has finally brought this new engine to life, and in the coming weeks, the first customer car will be ready for action. If you want power, you call Hennessey.
Now, let’s talk about that power for a second. It’s not just impressive, it nearly matches one of the most powerful production hypercars on the market, the Bugatti Tourbillon. The Bugatti cranks out 986 hp from its naturally aspirated 8.4-liter V16, plus another 789 hp from three electric motors, bringing the total to 1,775 hp. Yeah, that’s some serious power. But here’s Hennessey, right on its heels.
A New Beast Under the Hood
To extract so much power from the Demon’s Hemi V8, Hennessey has rebuilt it from the ground up, increasing the displacement to 7.2 liters (or 440 cubic inches) and ditching the supercharger in favor of a pair of huge turbochargers. When tested on an engine dyno and fuelled with E85, the engine delivered a “conservative” 1,700 hp and roughly 1,400 lb-ft of torque.
While this engine is an aftermarket special from Hennessey, it’s caught the attention of Stellantis. During this recent test, none other than RAM chief executive Tim Kuniskis was in attendance. Earlier this year, he decried the automaker’s decision to ditch the Hemi, and just a few months ago, Ram brought it back for the 2026 1500.
There are even rumors that Dodge engineers are assessing whether the Hemi will fit into the engine bay of the new-age Charger, which was originally developed only to support an electric powertrain and a 3.0-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder.
A Quarter-Mile Monster
Hennessey says that when a Challenger Demon 170 is fitted with its new 1,700 hp V8, the car should be able to rocket down the quarter-mile in just 7.9 seconds at upwards of 180 mph (289 km/h). That would easily eclipse the Rimac Nevera’s current record of 8.25 seconds.
