On foot, the Foxhole is a collection of meandering bends that flows gently downhill before climbing into a lazy sweeping left-hand curve. In a charging Chrysler 300C SRT-8, it's a whip-crack 100mph flurry of tight turns that test body control and chassis dynamics to the extreme. Shimmering tarmac, new-old-new Armco, towering oaks and candy-stick rumble strips are hurtling towards me at unfeasible speeds.
The big American saloon hunkers down, bullets through the curves and rockets up the incline with only the slightest of squirms at the bottom, as the front strut and multi-link rear suspension gets heavily compressed. Then it's hard on the brakes, pitch it left into Adenau Forest and onto the next part of this impossibly demanding Nurburgring. All the way through, the Chrysler feels capable and at home.
The car's makers are keen to demonstrate that their newly hotted-up 300C - complete with 6.1-litre V8 Hemi engine - is sharp enough to take on the 13 miles of Europe's most demanding road circuit, which is open to the public for about a tenner a lap. That's a lot of confidence, because the Nurburgring will mercilessly expose any dynamic shortfalls within a single lap.
Chrysler has yet to crack the tough European sports saloon market. When you have cars like the BMW M5, Mercedes E 63 AMG, Audi's upcoming RS6 and Jaguar's S-type R to deal with, you need something pretty special to lure buyers away.
Chrysler believes the 300C SRT-8 could be the car to do it. Fettled by Chrysler's SRT division - that's Street and Racing Technology - the SRT8 combines steroid-enhanced performance and bouncer looks in a good-value package.
It certainly looks the part - in fact, it's almost a caricature of an American muscle car. Check out those deep flanks complete with kerb-kissing bodykit, gun-slit windscreen, 20" alloys and massive discs, split exhaust, vast grille and out-of-my-way headlamps. Few cars give such a vivid visual description of their performance potential.
Beneath the SRT-8's dining table-sized bonnet sits one hell of an engine. The 6.1-litre 90-degree V8 is an enlarged and significantly modified version of the 5.7-litre found in the standard 300C. Bored out by 3.5mm and fitted with new intake and exhaust manifolds, bigger valves and reshaped cylinder ports, the iron-block engine whips up 425bhp at 6,000rpm and 430lb-ft of torque at 4,800rpm
High-performance cams, a forged steel crank, powdered metal conrods and sodium-filled valves have also pushed the peak engine speed up from 5,400rpm in the regular 300C V8 to 6,200rpm in the SRT-8. It's hooked up to a five-speed automatic gearbox with manual override and drives the rear wheels.
Even with a hefty 2340kg kerb weight, the SRT-8 still touches 60mph in five seconds dead and goes on to 168mph, which pokes a sharp stick in the eye of the M5 and E 63 AMG, both of which are limited to 155mph.
To ensure the chassis can keep up with the engine, the SRT-8 gets bespoke Bilstein dampers, recalibrated springs, fatter anti-roll bars, a 13mm lower ride height and less assistance on the power steering for improved feel. The brakes also get overhauled - Chrysler turned to Brembo to develop the anchors on the SRT-8, getting 360mm front and 350mm rear discs, all ventilated and gripped by four-piston racing calipers.
The cabin gets the full works, too, with electrically adjustable leather-wrapped sports seats, dual-zone climate control, leather and brushed aluminium highlights, and a whopping 280-watt, six-speaker audio system. Build quality is decent enough, but some of the plastics are a little hard and brittle.
Track time. Oddly enough, for a mildly tuned big V8, the Hemi feels merely very brisk below 3500rpm, as if the torque curve is not quite as high and flat as it should be. But wind it over 4,000rpm and the engine really shifts. In-gear go is terrific, the SRT-8 squatting down on its fat haunches, catapulting forward and blaring out a nape-tingling V8 wail that would sound at home on a NASCAR oval. This engine loves to rev, and blipping the throttle at idle zips it up to an easy 3,000rpm and rocks the whole car for that true muscle car feeling.
One of the great things about the Nurburgring is that its surface is rutted, pitted, peppered with off-camber corners and generally made up of dozens of different patches of tarmac and concrete - just like a typical British A-road. Despite its huge wheels, stiff suspension and rubber-band tyres, the big Chrysler's suspension does a pretty good job of dealing with all but the worst intrusions, only getting jittery over the most acned surfaces.
The SRT-8 feels more than capable of anything the circuit can throw at it. Body control is good, with roll, pitch and dive well contained. It doesn't feel scalpel sharp, but there's enough of a glint in its eye to make you want to tackle another lap. The engine's ability to hustle out of corners and make short work of the straights is matched by the wonderfully strong and resilient brakes and the slick, quick-shifting automatic transmission.
The weakest point is the steering. For a start you have to grip an almost comically large steering wheel, reminiscent of a mid-70s Mercedes-Benz. Even though the SRT changes include reduced hydraulic assistance, the steering still feels mushy around the straight-ahead position. Lob it into a corner and there's less clarity and more vagueness than you'd hope for. Instead of being able to hold a line confidently through a long, sweeping corner, you find yourself having to make a number of small adjustments to keep repositioning the big saloon where you need it.
It's difficult to pigeonhole the SRT-8. While it has the performance to sit alongside the M5, E 63 and S-Type R, it's nowhere near as nimble and focused as those rivals.
Then there's the question of money. Although it's not as finely honed as the BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar, it's dramatically cheaper, despite being fully laden with luxury and safety goodies. At 39,040 it's 24,455 cheaper than the BMW and 27,505 less than the Mercedes.
It's no replacement for an M5, but for less money than some pretty ordinary family cars, the SRT-8 is a performance car that will put a grin on anyone's face.
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