Just two days ago a hellcat challenger lost control and plowed thru a soybean field and hit a tree. The right front passenger was ejected and died on impact, the driver and two rear passengers were burnt to a crisp as the car burst into flames when they hit the tree.

http://fox8.com/2017/09/25/investiga...that-killed-4/

I would imagine that this has happened a few times already in hellcats but this one was local and the first one I've heard about.

 

And Ron White said "you can't fix stupid". He was wrong. The driver won't do this again. There comes a responsibility when buying or driving these high powered cars. Apparently this driver didn't get the memo. Sad thing, he had to kill a couple of friends to show off his stupidity. My opinion, Fiat needs to require the driver to take a driving course in high powered cars before he can take possession of the car. I'm sure one of the surviving families will sue over it and Fiat will be part of the suit.

Anybody have any of the Hellcats running the drags in your area? Why I asked is we have several here. NONE are getting close to the supposed ETs of the published times of the mid 10s. The guys here are running plain stock with drag radials and the times are in the 12's. Traction seems to be the biggest issue even with slicks. According to them, it's a common thing with the Hellcat not running as quick as the Fiat team of tuners and techs can make it run.

 

Sad story to say the least. I think that no matter what, if you have the cash, you're going to get one if you want it.

I think that this is a car that needs a deft touch to launch and get into the 10's, kinda reminds me of my buddies 2004 Viper.

 

This has been going on for decades. Most super cars end up in the junk yard pdq because the temptation to drive them above the driver skill limits is always there. If I had a Hellcat when I was young and full of lead foot, I wouldn't be around today probably. My 65 Chevelle would only go 140mph.
Although I recently read about a couple of guys in their 70's who were winding out a Hellcat on an airport runway with permission forgot to back off and ran off the end and killed both of them.

 

Semi irrelevant to the thread but I visited a Hellcat forum to see what times they were running. Most Hellcats won't touch the 10 second bracket. Most of the guys are playing games with street tires to get as good of traction as possible and still not hitting the 10's. Even with drag radials they aren't in the 10's. Most are in the mid 11's to low 12's, speeds of 112 to 124 max in the quarter mile. So the next time somebody thinks the Hellcat is all that, unless you have a team of Fiat specialist standing there tuning the car, it won't make it to the advertised 10.4 seconds in a 1/4 mile. This is for as sold, stock cars, no mods. Pretty much the same thing we see here at our local drag strip.

 

That is true. A guy I work with goes to the track quite a bit and has loads of stories about hellcats getting smoked by cars with much less power. They just can't hook up. This is a perfect example of a car that is lopsided in its development. They put everything into the motor but nothing into the suspension. It doesn't turn worth a crap and can't launch either.

 

If you want to run your best ET, you have to work on the suspension no matter what the car. They are designed to be driven on the highway, not the drag strip. After it is set up for maximum traction for the strip, it probably won't serve you well on the highway. It's really hard to hook up 700hp. When I was running on the strip with my chevelle, it would hook up well on the highway with the cheap recapped slicks I was using but on the strip it had very little traction. I was limited to 7" wide "cheater slicks" to run in the "stock" classes.

 

Hooking up 50 yrs ago...'66 GTO with 7" Casler cheater slicks.

 

Check out familycruising on you tube. He has a hellcat with suspension work, injectors, tune running c16 with slicks. His best time is a 10.4 i think.

 

well none of the other rear wheel drive, 500 plus hp cars are running the magazine numbers either.

I see gt350s regularly going 13's

i took my car to the track and was reminded that putting 600 hp to the ground on a stock suspension car with street tire is very difficult. traction control kept shutting me down on the 1-2 and 2-3 shift, turning it off is...interesting and will let you see the side walls at angles you will not like. 11.9 @ 124.5 was the best I could do. of coarse i don't drive my car, took of the cover and drove to the track, next time i go it will be with a drag radials and I will drive it for 3 or 4 days prior.

there was a new R8 there running 10.9 @125, have to love an awd car!

there was a few dodge scat pack challengers there running consistant 12.8's mustangs and camaros are all over the place and very inconsistant. the new base corvettes can pretty regularly go 12.4 @ 110 to 112 which is a few 1/10 off and few mph.

it was a 93 deg night and very humid.

 

I would say 95% of the people who purchase these "vanity" cars have absolutely no idea how to drive them. Kind of scary when you think about how many "yay-hoo's" are out there running around on the street with the kind of power you would have only seen in professional racing vehicles a decade ago......