Dodge's drifting Charger debuts
Amidst the hoopla surrounding the release of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Universal Studios held a Drift Party in its parking lot where Dodge quietly parked its Mopar-powered Charger drift car that will eventually be driven in the Formula D professional drift series by Samuel Hubinette.
Dodge unveiled a version of its drifting Charger at last year's SEMA show in Las Vegas, but it wasn't race ready and featured many bits and pieces that were tacked on for show. The car that will actually compete gets a much smaller hood scoop, less pronounced fenders and ditches the carbon fiber rear wing out back. A more realistic set of 19-inch Racing Hart wheels and Brembo brakes also replaces the show setup on the SEMA vehicle.
Tire-shredding power will be provided by a Mopar 392 crate engine capable of producing 650 horsepower on 104 octane fuel. Considering this Charger weighs 900 lbs. less than a consumer Charger R/T, we're pretty sure Hubinette will be able to dominate the field like he's been doing in his Viper drift car.
More pics follow after the jump...
[Source: IGN]
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2005 Dodge Charger / Mopar drift show car - SEMA 2005
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
njshift 7:53AM (6/24/2006)
I'm so sick of drifting already, however I don't think I will ever become sick of these Mopar/SRT creations!
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RacetrackOwner 9:40AM (6/24/2006)
It's too bad they put so much money into such a moronic form of "racing" yet completely ignore the many legitimate forms of competition available....
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digitalzombie 9:51AM (6/24/2006)
Drifting is hard. But Too fast Too Furious is gay, spawn buncha ricers and stupid kids with money to do stupid stuff with their cars.
Yep, this is going to be a fad.
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njshift 9:52AM (6/24/2006)
I whole heartedly agree. / / /
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georgejetson 10:08AM (6/24/2006)
Finally, Mopar builds something that actually LOOKS like a Charger should. Where's the street version of that lightweight, hot-rodded two-door?
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Cody Peterson 10:54AM (6/24/2006)
I think drifting is kinda lame but that charger is pretty bitchin...
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AutoFan 11:24AM (6/24/2006)
I think that these Fast and Furious movies are like dance movies. Like, you know how you know a dance fad is fading when they make a movie of it? Same thing here.
Drifting was nifty the first time I saw it. 15 years ago. On some video from Japan about clowns doing it on mountain roads. That was kinda cool for a few minutes. But competing? For style points? Any motorsport where hanging out the car's window while moving puts you ahead of the competition...well, it just isn't really a sport.
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LoneWolf 12:08PM (6/24/2006)
It's just boring.
Drifting sux
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Stoneman 12:23PM (6/24/2006)
Drifting is a waste of good tires.
Stoneman
http://www.stonemanautoreview.com
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Finished.Law.School 12:40PM (6/24/2006)
"Amidst the hoopla surrounding the release of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift"
What sort of "hoopla" is surrounding this film?
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Michael La Framboise 12:42PM (6/24/2006)
Goodness gracious; this is so dreadful... I like drifting and all, but this.. thing... is just pathetic... And I thought the stock charger looked like crap... Leave drifting to the small Japanese cars, not these oversized deathtraps, I mean hell, might as well put 25" rims on a Chevy Saburban and try drifting with it...
But still... ass ugly or not, I'm quite curious as to how it performs... But then again doubt it would perform any better then that GTO from few years back... kept spinning outta control far as I remember...
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epp_b 12:53PM (6/24/2006)
A bit of oversteer/powerslide in a corner is fun, but all-out drifting is just dumb (yes, there is a difference). Any sport where judges decide on how many points you get for "style" is not a sport.
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stan 1:45PM (6/24/2006)
don't you mean three fast three furious?
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naggs 4:10PM (6/24/2006)
its thrice fast thrice furrious! get it right
La Frambroise, that GTO your thinking about won 2 years in a row. nothing else was close. the 05 mustang gt driven by an american is doing well in japan. the japaneese drivers all trade engine response for lighter weight and that seems to be a mistake.
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.T 5:56PM (6/24/2006)
I'm surprised they didnt put a Mitsubishi engine in it after what they did to the Mustang.
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hans 6:29PM (6/24/2006)
i mean i like sliding in a corner and all, but style points for it in a "competition" is pretty stupid.
then again i also think drag racing is pretty stupid too, since well at least you require some sort of practice / skill to drift well, whereas almost any moron can learn to drag race.
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chewy 6:55PM (6/24/2006)
I think that drifting is already out of hype/fashion/trend/whatever you call it. The movie is about two years to late.
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ik 9:50PM (6/24/2006)
to people involved in the drifting scene, the whole popularization of the sport, and the "tokyo drift" movie is a few years late.
however, most people don't even know what drifting is.
To me, drifting is something you do on the track to display a driver's skill. Or on the touge.
I hate movies like this because the price and insurance rates for rear-wheel-drive imports jump.
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That One Person 9:55PM (6/24/2006)
Too Slow, Not Quite Furious Enough...
Drifting is a waste. I remember all the kids who are into the tuner scene were all about it like three years ago. Now all of them are in college or out of college and have lives. No one makes a big deal of it anymore (well no one really made a big deal of it in the first place). The way I see it, more and more people are getting into the Trans Am races or races like Le Mans. This whole Fast and the Furious crap is dying down and its about time...
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Carlos 11:37PM (6/24/2006)
Wow you guys are amazing. Its funny to read all of your comments. First off none of you probably have the talent nor the balls to even try drifting, and second why complain about waste of tires and all this other bs about style points. It doesn't come out of your pockets, and who cares if it's about style, it's freaken cool. So please when you can actually do it yourself correctly don't hate.
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