Dodge Challenger: 1970 vs. 2008
Reunited with the 1970 Trans-Am car, driven back-to-back with the 2008 Challenger.

By Sam Posey • Photos by Marc Urbano



I had wanted to get my hands on a new Dodge Challenger SRT8 ever since I found out it existed, and the day had come at last. I had driven its ancestor in the Trans-Am in 1970, a year that has assumed almost mythic stature among racing fans — and the car I drove, No. 77, still exists and would be at the test, too.

Something old, something new...it promised to be a memorable day.


We spent the morning photographing the new Challenger in the wooded hills south of San Francisco, then drove north over the Golden Gate Bridge to Infineon Raceway, formerly known as Sears Point. Facilities at the track include an industrial park that is home base for the 1970 Challenger. It could easily be in a museum, but luckily its owner, Ken Epsman, prefers to race it in historical Trans-Am events. He really stands on the gas, and No. 77 — complete with its original Sublime paint — has acquired the aura of a venerable old war horse.

We placed the two cars side by side. The older one is noticeably lower, wider and longer; the beefy rollcage and wide slicks are evidence that it was meant strictly for the track. By contrast, the new car is a solid brick of machinery that you sense is crammed full of the latest techno wizardry. The badges on the hood read Hemi 6.1, so it has over a liter more displacement than the 305-cu.-in. Trans-Am car. Earlier, among the redwoods, the SRT's engine had emitted a primordial growl, as if a dangerous beast was on the loose. Its styling recalls both the earlier Challenger and its sibling, the Plymouth Barracuda, having the flowing character line of the former and the latter's short overhangs, front and rear. Our model was particularly distinctive, with tiny green and silver particles suspended in the black paint like atoms in a private universe.

During the photography session I had left the driving to Road & Track's veteran tester Douglas Kott because I wanted my first impressions to be on the track. Doug had teased me with little glimpses of the Challenger's speed, but as I accelerated out of Infineon's pit lane, I was curious to find out for myself what this second-generation machine could do. The quick answer: a lot. In the open spaces of the track, you don't notice acceleration as much as you do on the street, but I felt the Hemi nevertheless, a flat power curve with plenty of muscle. I quickly concluded that the automatic and I agreed where the shifts should be made, so I didn't use the clutchless manual option — why bother? I also had the traction and stability control switched off. I'm all for driver aids, but when you're going for a lap time, they tend to stabilize the car by making it understeer — and understeer is slow.


Infineon has every sort of turn, and I couldn't find any weakness at all in the Challenger's handling. In the fast stuff you can be absolutely certain the tail isn't going to come around on you, and in the track's two hairpins the car stays neutral. You can work with the throttle in the longer, medium-speed turns to adjust your angle of attack. There's a section of track that connects two turns like a straight but is itself a long, off-camber curve, with a sort of catenary swoop down and back up, and there's a lot of weight transfer. Most cars heel over and work the outside tires to death, but the SRT stays almost level, and the shocks keep the ride from getting choppy. In the Esses, the car changes direction crisply and remains stable over the curbs — again, credit to the shocks. The Brembos (with slotted discs and 4-piston calipers) are first-rate anchors, but at this particular track I'd like a bit less bias to the rear because the back end moves around too much approaching the tricky downhill turns. The seat, the steering effort,

 

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