Hellcat vs ZL1
 

I'm currently in a rush, but I just wanted to update the forum with a personal observation. I just raced a hellcat charger today, the race was so close that he followed me into another city. I believe he had underestimated the ZL1's potential lol. We evenly had won a few pulls over each other but it was cool, although the Hellcat is fast, I just feel as though the ZL1 can last longer for some reason. It won't be hard for our vehicles to catch up and win the race.

I let my son drive my zl1 friday night and he beat a hellcat. We ran a 11.15 hellcat ran a 11.19. We were on stock tires and the cat had drag radials. No doubt the zl1 is faster than alot of people expected. Oh and we ran 127 and the cat went 126. Air was 1400ft.

Depends on a lot of things, but tires and driver are the two biggest.
The Zl1 is more athletic, the Hellcat is more of a heavyweight boxer.
We live in great times to be car guys!

I own a Hellcat Charger. Before I say anything else, let me point out that I'm planning on adding a ZL1 after the holiday season.

As a sports car: The ZL1 STOMPS the Hellcat because it has NEARLY the same power, but has world class handling. On a road course, the Hellcat in dead meat. End of story.

As a muscle car on the track: The Hellcat, setup correctly, is quicker. High 10's are common with just drag radials. I don't see ANY ZL1's doing that at all. People who own both already stated that the big Cat is a quicker car.

As a road car: Hellcat (especially the Charger) is a REAL 4-5 seat family machine with a huge trunk. There is no comparison at all for comfort and utility. Hellcat for the easy win.

General driving: It's going to be a drivers race. On the open road the Hellcat has LONG legs. All the way to over 200 MPH. Sheesh. But better stock rubber and a more planted chassis makes the ZL1 feel a lot more stable to me. It's not too hard to get to 60 MPH in under 4 seconds in the ZL1. But with the 275's you'll struggle to do that with a Hellcat and need great technique. Some folks have managed 3.4 second (car and driver) and I've seen 3.2 a few times.

Bottom line: Only a fool won't own BOTH of these fantastic cars! ;-)


R

Jst wait,

As this will be my first Gen Camaro I have decided to make it a Project Race Car staying withing the factory specs(similar to NHRA Stock class but without ANY internal mods)

I have Two Objectives that I WILL achieve with my 1LE;

1) Break the 200mph barrier(Done) and;
2) Improve existing sec 1/4 mile times 1-2 full secs on DOT tires.

Limitations; Stock Factory ZL1 1LE using the existing factory Engine/Drivetrain WIHOUT ANY INTERNAL MODS.

I won't go into details (as is good racercar builder always keeps his Trump card for last)

I plan to post my results in about 12 months.

Bonus; If everything goes well, a trip to Bonneville might be in the future, (late 2019-2020).

That should be fun. But we're talking stock unmolested cars here. There are stripped Hellcats running low 10's out there, but that aint stock!


R.

That is one of the best statements I've ever read.:thanks: here is a guy who really appreciate two cars. There is no rivalry between those two. Both of them are damn good and powerful cars. I would buy both of them if I could.

Got em both. They are both amazing.

Is there any good reason why Dodge decided to only put 275s on the rears of the Hellcat? Did they think that was "good" or did they just expect everyone to toss them for DRs?

The Dodge is a 20+ year old chassis they bought from Mercedes. Cost to much to reengineer it and have it work properly.

One thing is for certain is the hellcat will never be a ''car's length'' ahead of the ZL1. Even if it pulls ahead of it (except on the track) it will only be a few inches ahead like the hood will line up with the location of the Hellcats' gas tank. The ZL1 catches up pretty quick too, not sure why it just does.

I really don't know but I do know they originally wanted to put 245's on the Hellcat, but that was just way too :bonk:

I think A10 to A8 it will always be close enough that either car can claim a victory. But M6 HC (obviously not the Charger since it comes with A8 only) to A10 ZL1 might be a clear ZL1 win. And A8 HC to M6 ZL1 should be a HC victory. Once you start getting into the higher speeds is when I think the ZL1 will pull away as it has a higher top speed, less weight, and is lower to the ground. That is with all else remaining stock. The HC makes more power but at a certain speed that extra weight will start to wear it down. I think some of the HC owners do underestimate the ZL1 for some reason. But it is clear that both cars are formidable. Once there are more ZL1s out there we'll see more good runs with these two heavy weights.

Regardless of the chassis or how old it is, it does exactly what Dodge designed it to do and then some. Plus that design is why they're able to keep the cost low. Maybe our Camaros wouldn't be soo expensive if they weren't getting refreshed every 4 years and then 2 getting a completely new design 2 years after that.