[HEMI DAVE]

Originally Posted by 2doorrocket

I'm not going to insult the people at MotorTrend, but journalists aren't exactly known for their "incredible" driving. There were several journalists that were afraid of the car, both in the rain and dry, and needed the instructors and engineers from SRT to give them laps so they can see what the car is capable of. I went there with a Challenger in mind, assuming similar to my Charger but with a kick, all of their new cars have shown significant improvement, the hellcat however I'd say is 100x more capable in every way than I expected, simply because with every lap I did I was repeatedly faster than almost everyone (except engineers and instructors) that was there for a number of reasons. But, another example would be the fact that several journalists went out, and they went out in different groups just to give you background, the SRT 392, R/T 392 Scat Pack, 5.7L RT, and the V6 all with 8-speed transmissions went out, the guy who was driving the V6 lapped 2 RT's in front of them.

SRT's have phenomenal braking, acceleration, and handling if you learn and understand the characteristics of the vehicle. In comparison to my ZL1 I'd definitely say that the brakes are incredible on all the SRT's but the braking on the hellcat is well beyond the ZL1. Wet or dry tap the pedal it grabs, no fade, very aggressive. When the ZL1 is wet, hahahahaha son keep your distance from the car ahead of you. Handling was in my opinion on par to if not better than the ZL1 - the car instills a lot of confidence after a couple laps, I'll admit at first it was very intimidating because I didn't know the track or what to expect from the car, similar to how the ZL1 can be intimidating but that doesn't mean that it can't handle, it just means 'You' as the driver are not capable and/or the fear of impending death is than the thrill seeker in you.

I'm at the airport right now heading home

Well said...very well said .....

Did you hear any talk about how the Manual Hellcat performed during SRT testing as compared to the 8 speed?