Dodge Challenger Hellcat Runs 10.71, Claims Unofficial Record (Updated)

Now, before we get into this latest quarter mile run by a privately owned 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, I should point out that the “record” claimed in this video really isn’t valid and the guy who posted the video acknowledges that by adding “unofficial” to the description. We have already seen one other Hellcat Challenger run significantly quicker with only tires and high octane race fuel, but this person either doesn’t know about the Hellcat in Texas that ran 10.40s or he doesn’t believe that car to have been stock. There could very well be other Hellcat Challengers around the country running quicker than 10.70s without posting about it on the internet and if the 10.48 car in Texas did have more modifications and this IS the quickest stock-except-for-tires Hellcat Challenger, there is really no way of verifying that right now.

Update: After this piece went live, a few different Hellcat fans emailed me and told me that the car running 10.71 was not stock. In fact, it had 1000cc injectors and a tune to run on E85. In other words, this Hellcat Challenger is making more than stock power with the MT drag radials helping to put the power to the ground.

However, semantics aside, this Hellcat Challenger gets down the track in a serious hurry. Unfortunately, there are already some skeptics demanding to see another run by this Dodge muscle car to prove that it can indeed run in the low 10.7X range.

The 10.71 Hellcat Run
The video below was posted by a YouTube user named Deldrick Ellsberry and his channel has a handful of fairly recent drag racing videos including at least one Dodge Challenger – including several different Hellcat Challenger racing videos. There is one particular Hellcat Challenger that is shown beating a variety of different vehicles, including another Hellcat Challenger. This same dark grey Challenger is in the left lane in the video below, but this isn’t the car that runs the record 10.71 pass, although this car does run in the 10.90s in another video.

On this record run, the aforementioned grey Hellcat Challenger is in the left lane against a bright red Hellcat Challenger in the right lane. Both cars are riding on aftermarket wheels wrapped in sticky “racing tires”, but we are to assume that both of these cars are otherwise stock. The grey car in the near lane red lights and gets an early lead, but as the two 707hp Mopar muscle cars storm down the track, the red car closes the gap. If you watch closely, the times for the red car flash up just before the times for the grey car, indicating that the right lane car got there first – even with the red light by the other Challenger.

More importantly, the times on the big board are very, very impressive. He runs a 10.71 at what looks to be 128.8 miles per hour. This isn’t as quick as the 10.48 that we saw a few months back, but this number is far more consistent with what the NHRA and the Chrysler Group expect a 2015 Hellcat Challenger with drag radial tires and the 8-speed automatic transmission to run in the quarter mile. However, we can hear that it is very windy in this video so this Challenger may have had the benefit of a tail wind, although the grey Challenger in this video ran 10.90s in another video yet he only ran an 11.04 on this run.

So, while there is no sign of an official record thus far, this bright red 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat has posted a 10.71 and that is one of the best times we have seen thus far. Hopefully, Deldrick Ellsberry will post a new video soon showing this Hellcat backing up those numbers.