During the final event of the Modern Street HEMI® Shootout season back in late October, Johnny Caputo lined up in his Dodge Durango SRT® Hellcat against Jeff Stull in his Ram 1500 TRX during time trials. It was the first time for both of these racers to run at the track, yet on this run, they each set a world record for their respective vehicle.
Caputo set the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat quarter-mile world record with an 8.497 at 165.23 miles per hour while Stull set the Ram 1500 TRX quarter-mile world record with a 9.234 at 149.25 miles per hour, and both of these HEMI engine-powered heavyweights are built by the same shop – Ripatuned. We talked to shop owner Steven Ripa and got the full details on his latest record-setting builds, along with video footage of the side-by-side record-setting runs.
This Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat and Ram 1500 TRX both feature the Ripatuned RT-1750 package, which offers 1,750 horsepower at the rear wheels. The heart of this package is a Ripatuned custom 420-cubic-inch HEMI engine, topped by a Ripatuned Assassin Heads and Camshaft package featuring a custom grind turbo cam, but where it really differs from other Hellcat-powered vehicles is in its induction setup. The Ripatuned RT-1750 package swaps the IHI supercharger for an intake manifold and a mid-mount twin turbocharger setup, featuring Comp Turbo oil-less turbochargers with Turbosmart wastegates and blow off valve.
The turbocharged HEMI engines in both of these record-setting machines are fed by a Ripatuned triple-pump fuel system that is modified to provide proper fuel pressure at such high horsepower levels, with 2150cc injectors introducing the Ignite E90 fuel to the combustion chambers. Both of these vehicles are tuned in-house.
All of that power is sent through a Pure Drivetrain Solutions-built stage 2 ZF 8HP95 8-speed automatic transmission with a Ripatuned proprietary spec turbo converter. The Durango has a transfer case that has been built by Pure Drivetrain Solutions while the TRX is running the stock transfer case, while both are running Ripatuned custom driveshafts.
Both vehicles are running the stock rear differential, but the Durango has Gforce axles while the TRX has all stock axles. The Durango made its record pass on Mickey Thompson tires while the TRX was running Hoosier rubber.
The video below shows the side-by-side pass that led to a pair of new world records, first from trackside and then from a dashcam inside of the TRX. The inside view from the truck does a great job of showing how hard an 8.40s vehicle pulls on a vehicle running 9.20s.
On the world record run by the Durango, Caputo had a 1.411 60-foot time and an 8th mile time of 5.529 at 132.62. Stull’s record-setting TRX covered the first 60 feet in 1.549 seconds, getting to the 8th mile mark in 5.963 seconds with a speed of 121.42.
For those wondering, the previous quarter-mile world record of 8.871 at 157.661 miles per hour was set by Tina Boggess back in March. Johnny Caputo ran an 8.7 to claim the record the day before the side-by-side record run shown here, but with the 8.497, he claimed the SRT Hellcat Durango record by a massive margin. As for the Ram 1500 TRX record, the previous record was a 9.31 by Jeremy Brown, who is also running a Ripatuned twin turbo system on his HEMI engine-powered half-ton pickup.
“We look to put the Durango into the 7s this winter/spring with the addition of larger turbochargers and nitrous,” said Ripa. “The TRX is just some tuning tweaks and good air away from an 8-second pass.”
All images and video courtesy of Ripatuned