While most owners probably won’t bring a new Challenger to the racetrack, I assume they still want to see what a new 707-horsepower torpedo can do—without the pesky constraints of traffic laws and speed limits. So I headed in my Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat loaner to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. for a Speed Ventures track day.
Not all racetracks are equal. Certain cars are inherently better suited to specific types of racetracks than others. After manhandling a Challenger around Streets of Willow last month, it became clear that tight, technical courses with short straights do not play to the Challenger’s strengths. These are courses where you’d want something small and light, like a Mazda Miata, Honda S2000, or Porsche Cayman.
Waiting to head out on course at pre-grid.
Auto Club Speedway’s course is a different situation. Consisting of a road course that weaves through the infield and then spills out onto the high-speed oval, Fontana’s layout might remind NASCAR fans of the Daytona Speedway. With an array of different corners, a sizable infield straight, and more than half of the banked oval as part of the layout, the Challenger is more at home here.
A look at Auto Club Speedway’s “Roval” Sports Car course layout.
Taking It to the Bank
Getting acclimated to running the banked oval section is intimidating at first. So I gradually picked up the pace with each lap—to establish a rhythm for the course.
Once you’re clear of Turn 21, you can seriously open up the taps. How fast you’ll go is largely based on courage, until you’re about to enter Turn 1. At that point, the turn gets sharper—but it does so with a substantially steeper grade of banking. That banking helps to pin the car to the ground. You can feel the lateral G-forces pushing the car up toward the retaining wall. I typically scrubbed off about 25 to 30 mph for this corner, leaving a lot on the table here. I’d rather find that limit over time rather than very suddenly (and unexpectedly), if you catch my drift.
Entering Turn 1 with a group of very eager drivers. Always remember that track day events are not races.
Over the day, with dozens of laps of hard braking and full throttle pulls past 150 miles per hour, the car didn’t so much as hiccup. If you recently got your hands on a serious piece of high performance hardware, you owe it to yourself (and the car) to get out there for a track day to see what it’ll do in a safe, controlled environment.
As far as the Hellcat goes, it proved to be more than up to the task. But the real takeaway is that you’re just not going to find a place to unlock all the capabilities of a vehicle like the Hellcat outside the confines of a road course. So if you want to get the most out of your new toy, spring for a helmet and head out to the track.
