Adding to its long list of wild stunts, Hennessey Performance decided to strap a Christmas tree to the roof of a Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody to see just how fast the car could run. Needless to say, the Hellcat comes perfectly equipped for speed. Its 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 makes an astounding 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque that’s mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

As a refresher, the Widebody version of the Challenger Hellcat has a wider track than the standard car, which allows for fatter tires. Naturally, wider tires offer better traction – something that’s desperately needed with the Hellcat’s power levels.

John Hennessey, CEO of his tuning and performance company, took the Challenger Hellcat Widebody to Continental Tire’s test track for some top speed trails, tree and all. The baseline run without the tree but with the suction cup-mounted roof rack posted a top speed of 177 mph. That means the Hellcat Wideboy only lost three mph off its top speed with a live tree strapped to its hood. That’s impressive.

References

Dodge Challenger

Read our full review on the 2018 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody.