We’ve successfully attacked the Road Courses at The National Corvette Museum (NCM) and Virginia International Raceway (VIR) with the Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack.
The grueling One Lap of America event tests both man and machine. Our tireless pursuit of performance is tested as we put the Charger through its paces on two of the most challenging road courses in America and the roads between them.
“We’re definitely learning a few things to optimize performance,” says David. “At each track, I’m tweaking my driving style to keep the battery’s state of charge as high as possible and smoothly rolling out the power to keep battery temps down and performance high.”
The NCM’s road course provided our first challenge of this leg. David managed the track’s technical sections with increasing confidence, using the curbs to his advantage in a way that showcased the Charger’s composed chassis dynamics.
“There are quite a few places at NCM where you can use the curbs to rotate the rear of the car,” David explains. “Instead of using just the front wheels to steer the car and carry speed into and through the corners, using the curbs to our advantage is helping to minimize front tire wear. This is critical when you have to finish the event on the same tires you started on. “I’m basically moving the tire wear from the front to the rear for best grip throughout the entire session.”
This technique might sound counterintuitive, but it’s effective. By briefly unsettling the car with a curb strike, David can get the rear end to step out slightly, rotating the car more efficiently than with braking alone. It’s a dance that requires precise timing and a predictable, forgiving chassis.
The Charger’s suspension tuning and electronic systems allow this aggressive approach. “In track mode, we get the most rear-biased torque distribution to help rotate the car on throttle,” David notes. “I can turn stability control off when I want, giving me complete control. The car is predictable and stable, so I can make it do anything I want.”
After two sessions at NCM, we finished 41st overall out of 82 competitors. Most impressively, we were just 0.9 seconds behind our closest class competitors, the team from Grassroots Motorsports.
It’s time to hit the back roads and highways between NCM and VIR. Just under 500 miles separate us from much-deserved sleep and a shower. The Charger ate up the miles on this leg of the trip just as we have come to expect. It’s composed and quiet on the open road, allowing both of us to grab a little nap during our time in the right seat.
I don’t have anything fascinating to report on this transit stage, except for literally hundreds of deer lining the sides of the roads as if they were spectators on a Dodge Charger parade route. I can say though, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it’s not fun to wake up at 2am, sit at a charging station, and the first thing you see as your eyes crack open and start to focus is a large black SUV with HUGE blue letters spelling the word POLICE on the side!
The first thing popping into my head was, “What did you do?” Then, I heard laughter and realized the police had pulled in to check out the Charger. This is a common theme. Everywhere we stop, the car draws a crowd. David and I are fielding questions ranging from, How fast is it?” to “ How does it ride on the highway?” and everything in between. The Charger has put smiles on faces from Indiana to western Missouri all the way back to Virginia, and we still have 3 days to go!
It’s just past 4:00 a.m. in Virginia when we pull into Track Out, a racer-owned “barndominium” just 2.5 miles from Virginia International Raceway. We’ve completed a 500-mile trek from the National Corvette Museum Road Course in Bowling Green, Kentucky, running on adrenaline and too much caffeine. The Uconnect clock seems to mock our fatigue. The time is a number that would amuse many, but for us, it simply marks another milestone in our marathon journey.
One Lap of America isn’t just a test of vehicles—it’s a test of human endurance. Between track sessions at NCM and VIR, we managed perhaps seven hours of sleep each, with most coming in brief naps during the transit stages.
I feel better today than I did yesterday by leaps and bounds, after our first night implementing a strategy of taking turns sleeping in the passenger seat between charging stops. “Each of us got maybe a couple hours of sleep in the car on top of the refreshing three-ish hour nap we had at Track Out.”
After finishing up at VIR with another solid performance and completing our passage control stop at Skip Barber Racing on the way out of the track with a brief tour of the facility and their massive fleet of race cars, the Charger continues to draw attention at every stop. Not too far down the road at a Flying J truck stop, a family examined every aspect of the car while it charged, from the ambient lighting to the unique “squircle” steering wheel. These interactions highlight the spirit of One Lap, where sharing enthusiasm with fellow car lovers is part of the experience.
As we prepare for the next leg of our journey to Pit Race International Raceway and then Quaker City drag strip for a low ET challenge and bracket race, we’ve settled into the rhythm of the event. The Charger Daytona Scat Pack has proven itself a formidable competitor and a comfortable companion for the long road ahead.
We’ve figured our way around a few challenges out on the highway. The Charger has allowed us to conquer everything One Lap has thrown our way to this point with style and power. With each session, each mile, and each charging stop, we’re learning more about extracting maximum performance from this machine — proving that the future of Dodge muscle car performance driving is bright, even at 3 in the morning in the mountains of Virginia.
Get ready, Pennsylvania and Michigan! David and I are loaded up, heading your way, and ready to show three more race tracks no mercy!
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