Dodge Charger Hellcat Takes on the Nürburgring

Forget the drag strip. This Dodge Charger Hellcat manages to handle itself well around the famed Nürburgring.

What do you think of when you hear “Dodge Charger?” What do you think of when you hear the word Hellcat? I think of 707 hp, a V8 engine, and a dragstrip, but the thing is the car is more than a drag-strip monster, as demonstrated in the video at the bottom of this article. In that video, it takes on the famous Nürburgring in Germany.

Is the Dodge Charger Hellcat the quickest thing on the racetrack? Probably not, but it’s a heck of a car with plenty of power and what looks like from the video below three guys who are thoroughly enjoying themselves.

As Motor1 rightly points out, the car weighs a full 2.5 tons, and that means it’s a little heavy to really be carving it up at the ‘ring. However, the driver knows what he’s doing and knows the car and track and manages to get around in 8 minutes and 58 seconds. That’s fast.

The video below was posted by Bavarian MOPAR Works, so it seems the Germans love high horsepower muscle cars just as much as us Yanks do. If you’ll never have a chance to get behind the wheel of a Charger Hellcat or get over to Germany to drive the Nürburgring, then this might be the closest you ever get to this thrilling-looking experience.

The Charger Is Still Awesome Despite Its Age

One thing I found myself wondering is how long Dodge will be able to keep the Charger going. The second generation Charger’s dates all the way back to 2011, and the platform that car was built on goes all the way back to 2005, according to Motor1.

Talk about getting your money’s worth. The platform has to be near the end of its life, and Motor1 reported that the next generation Charger and Challenger may retain the same Chrysler LX platform.

It makes sense. The car is well-liked and Dodge seems to be able to just pile on more horsepower and keep selling these things. I’m not all that mad about it either, especially when people will take these things on the Nürburgring even if that’s not really what they’re meant for.

But really that’s the appeal of the Charger. It’s a big four-door muscle sedan that comes with a lot of power and is basically endlessly customizable. While Dodge isn’t breaking any new ground with the car from a chassis design standpoint, it doesn’t really seem to matter. They can just stick a bigger, more-powerful engine under the hood and tally up the sales as the car goes off lots.

It will be interesting to see how long Dodge can keep powering along with the LX platform, while it would be nice to see something new, it’s kind of cool they can still make the old one work.