 |
| Chrysler 300C SRT-8 Gallery |
 |
When two worlds collide... well, they just have. The collision is between American musclecar and European supersaloon, kind of Dodge Charger meets Mercedes E55 AMG. Here are the credentials: a Chrysler Hemi-reborn engine of 6.1 litres and 425bhp, 0-62mph in 5.3 seconds with a top speed beyond 155mph (or a full ton beyond the US's usual open-road limit, some Interstates excepted), suspension and other underpinnings sired by Mercedes but brought up the American way.
Nature or nurture? The American upbringing brings the obvious attributes of a relatively simple pushrod V8 with loads of big-lung power, plus style of the big-brawn brutalist school, but it's rendered civilised and free of embarrassment in sophisticated society by some input from the Old World. Much of this was already true of Chrysler's 300C, which will finally make it here in right-hand drive at the end of this year in obvious 5.7 Hemi, and less-obvious V6 and turbodiesel, forms. But this one's the SRT-8, eight cylinders massaged with Street and Racing Technology. And it's a beast of the next level.
 |
| 6.1-litre Hemi is good for 425bhp and then some |
|
It will cost around £39,000 when it arrives here next spring in right-hand drive form, but 4Car has been to Canada (where the 300Cs are made, although RHD versions will be built in Austria) to bring you this exclusive first report. First, though, the parts you can't see. The extra capacity comes from bigger bores, the extra breathing ability from bigger valves (sodium-cooled in the case of the exhaust valves), bigger ports, freer-flowing intake and exhaust systems, and a camshaft with revised timing and lift. A forged steel crankshaft, sintered con-rods and a strengthened block help it all to stay together, and despite its lengthy exhaust-valve pushrods the valvetrain is accurate enough to keep that power flowing beyond the 6000rpm at which the testbed dyno read 425bhp.
|
