Getting back to this wild V10 powered Challenger, I’ve got to say my ears perked up when Tom mentioned the word “production”. He described how the third requirement – to keep it looking real world - was made to prevent the show poodle syndrome where all the glitz and shiny stuff forces the assumption it’s a pure one-off exercise. This one had to look real because it was born for two jobs.
Yes, it had to dazzle SEMA show-goers, but it was also recently shown to Chrysler executives as a potential production model for the near future. With management approval, it’d become a limited production halo vehicle – as if the 6.1 Hemi-powered Challenger SRT8 isn’t enough! Tom says the executive look-see happened a couple of weeks before the V10 Challenger’s SEMA debut. The word is they liked it well enough but the shaky economic situation in Detroit resulted in no firm decision one way or the other. To me, that means there’s a ray of hope!
Now if a Viper-powered Challenger sounds far fetched, let’s not forget the recent Dodge Ram SRT10 pickup. As popular as they were, there is no doubt an SRT10 Challenger would sell out even faster than the limited run of 6,300 ’08 SRT8 Challengers did earlier this year.
The only potential fly in the ointment centers on federally mandated front impact testing – a nasty detail that every new car designer must address. Tom says the all-aluminum Viper V10 weighs about the same as the SRT8’s iron block / aluminum head 6.1 liter Hemi. That’s a good thing because engine mass is figured into the design of the front frame’s crumple zones to dissipate crash energy. Since the V8 Hemi Challenger has already passed government crash test standards, the same-weight V10 should be a shoe-in, right? Not so fast.
It’s the extra length of the V10 that’s cause for concern. When a stock V8 or V6 Challenger takes a frontal impact, there’s anywhere from 4 to 6 inches of empty space between the back of the engine and the fire wall. Even in a high speed impact with a telephone pole, that’s enough room to allow the crumple zones to absorb energy before the engine meets the firewall. But with the positioning of the V10 a mere inch or less from the stock Challenger firewall, there is the possibility a hard hit could force the engine into – and through – the firewall.
Another possibility would be that the engine unit might have an undesirable tendency to submarine under the car. Again, this is all doomsday stuff, but it is something designers like Tom McCarthy must deal with before a car like the Challenger SRT10 can seriously be considered for production.
You might ask, “Why don’t they just make extra room in the firewall for the longer V10 and solve the problem?” In your garage or mine, that’d be a reasonable solution. But in the realm of mass produced passenger cars, any changes to existing substructures – like a specific SRT10 firewall stamping – add tremendous cost and are usually deal-killers. Go back to Tom’s rule number 2, the prohibition of changes to the car’s “body in white” structure; that’s what we’re dealing with here.
It remains to be seen whether the V10 will disrupt the Challenger’s excellent safety features but there is no doubt an animal like this would become an instant legend. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope this one makes the grade and becomes a real world production offering. There’s plenty of rumbling from the Mustang and Camaro engineers about super-duty performance models. Let’s give ‘em a case of snake bite!