We Drove 1,400 Miles Across the West in America’s Most Powerful Muscle Cars (Gear Patrol)
Westward Ho.
Go West, young man, goes the old saw ascribed to Horace Greely. It was meant to encourage 19th-century Americans to pursue their dreams in the vast, untapped land beyond the Mississippi River. But it’s a saying that applies just as well to today’s road trippers. The West (capital W) has been emblematic of the rugged independence at the heart of our national identity practically as long as we’ve had a nation. It’s a land of breathtaking beauty, soul-stirring silence and abundant peace.
It’s also a perfect venue to uncork seriously powerful cars. Here, you’ll find constant elevation changes, sweeping curves, four-mile straightaways and, most importantly, barely any other vehicles or people to pass. Speed limits are higher, and drivers seem more likely to push beyond them than in other, denser states. (Montana actually abandoned highway speed limits for a few years in the late ’90s.)
This landscape calls for speed, and not just any variety. European exotics and Japanese sports cars, though they have the chops, would seem incongruous here. No, these roads were made for American muscle. And 2020 turns out to be a serendipitous year for a three-way shoot-out between the best — and perhaps last — of their breed.
2,207 Horses, No Waiting.
Less than a decade ago, people spoke of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s as having been the golden age of American muscle. How times change. Today, each of Detroit’s Big Three offers up a two-door four-seater with the sort of power even the wildest hot-rodders of the wonder years couldn’t have dreamt of.
Chevrolet’s Camaro ZL1 is the least powerful of the bunch, but that’s like being the worst player at the Pro Bowl; it makes a mere 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. The new-for-2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is down 25 lb-ft to the Camaro, but it kicks Chevy’s ass in the horsepower race with a stunning 760 ponies. Yet even it’s not the most powerful horse in this race. That would be the Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody, a true brute that screams out 797 horses and 707 lb-ft.
Each car gets its power from a supercharged V8 and each channels it to the rear wheels alone — but that’s where they part ways. The Camaro is the only one to offer a manual transmission; there’s a 10-speed automatic available, but we opted for the six-speed stick because, well, of course we would. The Redeye comes only with an eight-speed automatic, presumably so you never have to put down your coffee to shift. And the Ford packs a newly developed seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual gearbox, just like the speediest European cars do. That comparison isn’t a stretch; Ford’s new gearbox is every bit as fast and smart as the ones in those super sports cars.
