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Dodge Durango SRT Pursuit concept has 797-hp Redeye heart

The supercharged, one-off SUV will compete in this year's One Lap of America race.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
Steven Ewing
2 min read
Dodge Durango SRT Pursuit Concept

There's a 797-horsepower, supercharged V8 under this Durango's hood.

Dodge

With its 475-horsepower, 6.4-liter V8, the Dodge Durango SRT is pretty much a muscle car with three rows of seats. But as it's Fiat-Chrysler's wont to Hellcat all the things, it was only a matter of time before the big Durango got a properly ludicrous engine upgrade. Enter the 797-horsepower Durango SRT Pursuit.

Now, before you get your hopes up, let's make one thing clear: this is purely a concept. Dubbed "Speed Trap," the Durango SRT Pursuit was created solely for the purpose of participating in the annual One Lap of America race, which takes place from May 4 to 11.

As its power output suggests, the Durango SRT Pursuit uses the supercharged, 6.2-liter V8 found under the hood of the Challenger Redeye. In addition to the added oomph, the one-off SUV gets a free-flow, stainless-steel, cat-back exhaust, as well as a 0.6-inch lower ride height. 15.7-inch front and 13.8-inch rear Brembo brakes should provide excellent stopping power, set behind a unique set of 20-inch wheels, wrapped in 305/35ZR20 Pirelli P-Zero tires -- the same rubber you'll find on a Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody. Good rubber is especially important, since One Lap rules stipulate that cars can only use one set of tires for the entire 4,000-mile extravaganza, with a single spare allowed for emergencies.

The "Speed Trap" name comes from the Durango's Pursuit Law Enforcement livery, which includes lights, sirens -- the works. Inside, this SUV uses the same interior as the stock Durango SRT, though a four-point roll bar and five-point safety harness have been added per racing regulations.

One Lap of America is a sort of successor to the original Cannonball Run of the 1970s, both of which were created by iconic automotive journalist Brock Yates. (His son, Brock Yates, Jr., now spearheads the annual One Lap event.) Racers will compete at eight tracks in seven different states over the course of one week. You can follow along on One Lap's website.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that the inclusion of the "Speed Trap" Durango drums up enough positive interest for Dodge to consider putting it into production. After all, if there's one brand that isn't afraid to shoehorn huge engines into its cars in order keep them fresh, it's Dodge.

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