How good is the new Hemi, REALLY?

Congratulations on the new Challenger !!! I've got around 8,000 miles on my 6.1 Charger SRT8, and I've raced it (mostly for fun) several times the past two seasons ... You might wanna check out the Charger forum, if you haven't already ?? There's a ton of guys there who have done all kinds of mods to their motors... http://www.chargerforums.com/forums/index.php

I don't know how serious you're gonna get racing it, but the motor seems to be pretty reliable by most accounts.. If you're gonna supercharge or turbo it, then from what I've read you'll need to beef up the bottom end ... The weakest point in the SRT8's so far seems to be the half shafts.. The left one in particular seems problematic when you start beefing things up, or using drag radials.. I've seen a few videos of guys snapping them at the track ...

The 6.1 in my car came with a 203 degree thermostat, which I change to a 176 for the Summer .. I don't care what anyone says, but with the stock thermo it'll run up to 215 -225 degrees and "they" say it's OK..

Coolant gunk build-up has been an issue, and I've had my engine flushed and filled twice so far, and each time the dealer replaced the cap and over-flow bottle .. (John at Wilson Dodge in Torrington, CT is the best service manager I've ever dealt with, just an awesome guy).. The gunk is a nasty, white substance and when you remove the cap has a seriously strong ammonia smell, which CAN'T be good ?? I'm going to install a coolant filter to remedy this in the Spring...

Again, I'm far from the serious drag racer, but I've read a ton, and I just LOVE that hemi !!! If I were 20 years younger I'd be selling my Charger and ordering the Challenger, but I've gotten used to the four-door family car that'll run very low 13's, basically stock ...

Best of luck to ya !!

Kenny