CleanMPG Forums - A Dart Goes Racing

Following a racing lineage that goes back almost a century, Dodge places its latest offering on a real “high flying” circuit.

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Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - March 29, 2012

Artist rendering of the GRC Rally Dodge Dart in action.

On Monday, Dodge announced that it will enter a yet to be released 2013 Dodge Dart in the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship (GRC) Series piloted by four-time Rally America Champion and 17-time X Games Gold Medalist Travis Pastrana.

While Pastrana may makes no headlines here, at 28, he has built a small media empire that includes a television show, live tours and a 3D feature film project. Pastrana is also one of the most searched athletes in the world and has more than 3.5 million Facebook followers according to Dodge.

600 Horses of dirt wrenching terror

The Dart rally car is custom built specifically for the Global RallyCross racing series. While the production and racing cars share only an exterior shell, it is under the hood where things get hot. The rally car is powered by a 600 HP and 550 lb-ft. of torque, turbocharged 2.0L I4 mated to a 4-wheel drive gear box.

Global RallyCross enters its second season and features high-flying extreme competition. The series consists of seven racing events in closed-course rally tracks and incorporates bumper-to-bumper competition among 600 horsepower AWD vehicles. There are 70-foot jumps over racing traffic, creating a “motocross with cars” action.

The series begins May 26 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and concludes Sept. 29 in Las Vegas. Also included are races at X Games scheduled for June 30-July 1 in Los Angeles. It’s one of the most anticipated stops on the schedule. The ESPN family of channels will broadcast live coverage of the entire 2012 race series.

2012 Global RallyCross Race Schedule:

May 26 – Charlotte Motor Speedway
June 10 – Texas Motor Speedway
June 30 – X Games, Los Angeles
July 1 – X Games, Los Angeles
July 14 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sept. 1 – TBD
Sept. 29 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Maybe this is where the NASCAR fans are gravitating too? And maybe Dodge will have a heads up when it comes time for the youth of the nation to purchase what they deem to be their car of choice? All the while we just hope they choose the 1.4L Turbo variant with a rumored 40 mpgUS highway?

The Dart we'll get to drive.

Enough with the racing, now let us get back to the 2013 Dodge Dart. It will arrive with a choice of 3 all new powertrains, 3 different transmissions across 5 trims.

New owners will be able to select from a 160 HP 16-valve 2.0L, a 160 HP 16-valve 1.4L MultiAir Intercooled Turbo engine and a new 184 HP 16-valve 2.4L MultiAir I4. These three engines can be combined with a six-speed manual, six-speed automatic or six-speed dual dry clutch (DDCT) transmission across five trims: SE, SXT, Rallye, Limited and R/T.

Inside, the all-new 2013 Dodge Dart is the class-exclusive floating island bezel, which houses an optional segment-exclusive and absolutely gorgeous 7-inch Thin Film Transistor (TFT) customizable gauge cluster display with light pipe surround that also houses the available class-exclusive Uconnect Touch 8.4-inch touchscreen Media Center – the largest touchscreen in its class.

The Dart incorporates a 68 percent high-strength steel chassis resulting in a lightweight and rigid structure providing both a safe platform and a performance oriented handling one.

Another class exclusive feature is the standard bi-link independent rear suspension sure to provide top of the class road holding depending on the tires it will be shod with.

The Dart was engineered with 60 safety and security features beginning with the rigid safety cage described above. Driver and passenger safety features matching the current safety leader, the Chevrolet Cruze with 10 standard airbags (front driver and passenger, front-seat-mounted driver and passenger side, two outward rear-seat-mounted side, front driver and passenger knee and side-curtain air bags.)

The Dart also features a reactive head-restraint system; available Blind-spot Monitoring and Rear Cross Path Detection, three-point safety belts in all five seating positions; front driver and passenger dual seat belt pretensioners at the anchor and retractor positions and active load limiters. These features and more all work to protect passengers in the event of a crash. All three rear seat positions feature Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren (LATCH).

Additional standard safety features on the 2013 Dodge Dart include:

ABS
EBFD
BA
Brake-lock differential
Ready Alert Braking
Rainy Brake Support
Hydraulic boost compensation
ESC
Electronic Roll Mitigation
Hill-start Assist
Trailer-sway Control
ParkView rear backup camera
ParkSense rear park assist

Full scale production of the consumer purchasable Dart begins in the next few weeks at the Chrysler production facility in Belvidere, IL.