2015 Challenger SRT vs ESS 550 M3?

[Rat3d ///M]

Just wondering what would win in a straight line race..an E90 with ESS VT1-550 and some exhaust mods putting it closer to 585 bhp or a 2015 Challenger SRT? I have a reason for asking which may be disclosed in a later post. Discuss..

[Shredicus]

Uhh even a stock DCT car should do the deed

[Golddots]

If you are talking about a hellcat, a sc m3 would put up a good fight.

[chrisg123]

well i have an aa level 2 on my e92. I raced a hellcat with a good amount of traffic. I know not smart. But he had me. Those hellcats r no joke. They r underated from the factory. they have close to 800 bhp.

[SSJTrunks523]

Make sure he's in the wrong engine mode. Supposedly there's like a 200hp kick down for economy haha

Seriously, not accounting for gearing, we are talking 700lb extra. Napkin math here - that's ~25 extra weight. You are down 100hpof his.

3600/600= 6lbs/hp 4400/700=6.3lbs/hp.

Rolling, you should have him. From the get go he's probably got wider tires and much better low end than you.

Ballpark guestimation with no tq or gearing.

800hp would put you spanked at 5.5lbs hp. Again this is napkin math and a lot is missing. Getting a vehicle like that to hook up at low speed is an art.

[Bucki14]

I'm not sure he's referring to the hellcat model?

[Rat3d ///M]

The reason I was asking, is because I had a small run-in with a lime green Challenger SRT on the Autobahn in the unrestricted zone the other day, and I don't feel it was a fair comparison, so I wanted to see how these cars would really stack up against one another.

Let me preface that I don't know if it was a regular SRT model or the Hellcat. For my sake, I hope it was the Hellcat, but I honestly don't know the difference in the way they look, so I am going to assume for argument purposes it was the regular SRT model. I didn't share this story in the OP because I know you aren't supposed to share race stories, but let me say that this was done in the unrestricted portion of the Autobahn where there is no speed limit, and FWIW, it wasn't much of a "race" as it was me getting rocks flung up at my front end as the Challenger tried to pull from me. So here is the story:

The other day on the way home I was driving on the Autobahn where it goes to unrestricted. I decided to stretch the cars legs for a short period (maybe a mile until it goes down to 50mph for a pass through a tunnel). I got up to about 130mph, and there was a lime green Challenger SRT in the right line doing maybe 90. It was coming up to the 50mph zone, so I began to slow down, and passed him at maybe 110 as I continued to slow. As soon as I passed him he got into the passing lane and sped up to pass the other cars and get on my ass. I got down to about 60 and got into the right lane and continued my slow down to the speed limit and he got behind me. Okay, I knew he obviously had something to prove, and I knew after the tunnel it goes back to unrestricted for a couple miles, so I minded my own business through the tunnel, going the speed limit.

When the tunnel ended, there is a stretch maybe 1/16 of a mile that is still 50mph before it goes back to unrestricted. He got over into the left lane, and was riding maybe 1 1/2 car lengths behind me, then a couple seconds before the unrestricted sign he took off. He flew by me, and basically when he got his rear bumper at my front bumper (he was probably doing 80mph at this point) I decided to downshift to 3rd and go for it. Of course I couldn't go anywhere because there was a truck in front of me, so I had to wait for him to get a safe distance passed me then get over behind him and go for it. I began to accelerate and quickly caught up to him. I basically chased him all the way up to about 140-150mph, and then he let off and got over in the right lane. I slowed too, passed him and then got over and we both got off. At the end of the off ramp, I went left, he went right.

My reason for asking which would win, is that I honestly don't know if it was a Hellcat or a regular SRT model. If it was a regular old SRT, I thought that even with his higher torque output, I would have killed his fat ass. As he accelerated well before me, and was already moving at about 90mph or so before I even got over behind him and punched it, I found it kind of funny that he wasn't pulling from me. I basically caught him, and then he just stayed there. If anything I was probably only at 80-90% given that if I was at 100% and redlining I probably would have rear-ended him. Okay, now I'm probably just exaggerating a little to make myself feel better. Bottom line, I expected to beat a regular old SRT Challenger worse than I did, not just "keep with him", which makes me think it might have been a Hellcat? It seemed fast for being as heavy as it was, but I certainly hope he looked in his rearview mirror and saw me on his ass the entire time even though he got the jump on me. I know there is no way he was expecting that. He probably thought "oh look, an M3 that thinks he's cool driving all fast on the Autobahn, I'm going to have some fun with him and fuel my ego by teaching him a lesson".

[FMLYSDN]

I am gonna say SRT.

No Hellcat.

Good story. Thanks for sharing.

[Golddots]

Likely an srt
.
When I tracked my e30 , I noticed you needed 100 HP more than me to keep up if i exited around 10mph faster at the end of a turn. The fact that he had several mph head start gives me the impression that you would beat THAT car heads up.

[Rat3d ///M]

Originally Posted by FMLYSDN

Good story. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you enjoyed it. have a good day

[Rat3d ///M]

Originally Posted by Golddots

Likely an srt
.
When I tracked my e30 , I noticed you needed 100 HP more than me to keep up if i exited around 10mph faster at the end of a turn. The fact that he had several mph head start gives me the impression that you would beat THAT car heads up.

Was also thinking SRT. Just wasn't sure but I know the Hellcats are fat pigs so 700 hp doesn't go too far

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by SSJTrunks523

Make sure he's in the wrong engine mode. Supposedly there's like a 200hp kick down for economy haha

Seriously, not accounting for gearing, we are talking 700lb extra. Napkin math here - that's ~25 extra weight. You are down 100hpof his.

3600/600= 6lbs/hp 4400/700=6.3lbs/hp.

Rolling, you should have him. From the get go he's probably got wider tires and much better low end than you.

Ballpark guestimation with no tq or gearing.

800hp would put you spanked at 5.5lbs hp. Again this is napkin math and a lot is missing. Getting a vehicle like that to hook up at low speed is an art.

The VT550 might be making 500 rwhp. A Hellcat might be making 700 rwhp. 20% more weight, 40% more rwhp.

[SSJTrunks523]

3600/500 =7.2 4400/700 = ~6.3. No questions.

Kind of what I said depending on whether the numbers were accurate. At 800 v 600hp (see above with no drivetrain loss)

We don't have OPs actual dyno sheets, nor the Challenger, nor have them weighed. Kind of hard, hence the napkin math analogy =)

I'm going to guess that a hellcat will pull a 550hp e9x pretty bad stock bodies on both (full weight). E9x would have it in the twisties.

Also OP didn't immediately say if it was a stoplight pull or 60-120, etc. Hooking up with 800hp isn't easy w/o awd. My 500hp sti spins from a stop......

The Hellcat is a big bruiser of a cruiser. Not what the E9x platform is designed for =)

[Doc Oc]

Could've been a scat pack Challenger. 485 hp and pretty impressive. I ran one last weekend, 60-140 we were dead even. Pretty impressive for a 4200 lbs. I'm full bolt on.

[pbonsalb]

I got smoked bad in my FBO E90M3 by a C6Z06 that looked like it had a stock exhaust. Top of 3rd tbrough 4th, 6MT. Made me wish I had at VT650.

[777eThOd*]

Haha this is great, I literally just had some kid in a loud one rev at me at a light while I was stopped on the other side of the light and he went and then I went and caught up behind him and I barely downshifted and was going to get next to him and he punched it so I punched it and I flew by him so fast he looked like he wasn't even trying and he didn't even want to get next to me hahaha. But I'm a VF 650 lol so he messed up and I had the top down and everything lol I was just cruisin but he messed with the wrong E93.

[Rat3d ///M]

Originally Posted by 777eThOd*

Haha this is great, I literally just had some kid in a loud one rev at me at a light while I was stopped on the other side of the light and he went and then I went and caught up behind him and I barely downshifted and was going to get next to him and he punched it so I punched it and I flew by him so fast he looked like he wasn't even trying and he didn't even want to get next to me hahaha. But I'm a VF 650 lol so he messed up and I had the top down and everything lol I was just cruisin but he messed with the wrong E93.

He wasn't ready for the 650 My 550 kit is unreal. Can't imagine how the extra 100 hp feels

[Bucki14]

Originally Posted by 777eThOd*

Haha this is great, I literally just had some kid in a loud one rev at me at a light while I was stopped on the other side of the light and he went and then I went and caught up behind him and I barely downshifted and was going to get next to him and he punched it so I punched it and I flew by him so fast he looked like he wasn't even trying and he didn't even want to get next to me hahaha. But I'm a VF 650 lol so he messed up and I had the top down and everything lol I was just cruisin but he messed with the wrong E93.

Priceless

[davcrz5]

The OP stated he's at 585bhp, I've seen similar setup putting out between 490 to around 510hp with tq numbers between 300 range 340 so he around that 500hp mark. So that right on track for his setup.

Hellcat whp and tq numbers vary between low 620whp to as high as 680whp. K&N dyno their Hellcat at 635whp 591tq, while Ignition magazine dyno their at 671whp 606tq. If you use K&N which one of lower numbers the Hellcat is actually putting much more than claimed 707hp #. I've seen several in 640whp to 650whp range.

So your looking at hp difference of between 130hp and 250tq on low end K&N numbers to 150hp and 270tq using midrange numbers throwing out higher hp&tq #'s. That being said from dig the M3 would have the advantage of lighter weight and easier time putting down the power but on the highway at speed with plenty of room once he has that mass up and moving the additional 130 plus hp and 250 plus tq would give him the advantage especially if he ditches the way to undertired 275 OEM tires and runs wider and sticky 295, 305 or even 315 toyo R888, yok AD 08, RE 11, Nitro NT01, Michelin cup tires, new PS4 etc.

[Bimmer4Kikz]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

Could've been a scat pack Challenger. 485 hp and pretty impressive. I ran one last weekend, 60-140 we were dead even. Pretty impressive for a 4200 lbs. I'm full bolt on.

I ran a scatpack Charger and got beat by half a car, but im stock as it gets

[Doc Oc]

You did well considering the hp difference. They're pretty tough for the weight they carry. I was toying with the idea of a hellcat for my next car until I saw reviews on their handling and braking deficiencies.

[whats77inaname]

Had to be an SRT. Given this is a 625 kit VS a Hellcat, and you have a 550 kit, pretty sure a Hellcat would have put in the work.