Horsepower wars

I got on facebook when I got home today and came across an interesting news story, The Dodge "Demon" Challenger. As of right now its just a teaser and doesn't have much for context, but one would assume that they have found a way to make even more power out of a Hellcat. Dodge isn't the only one stepping up their horsepower game, a ZL1 Camaro is making 650hp in stock form with just shy of 200mph top speed. Even the low horsepower Mustang GT350 is making over 500hp out of its new normally aspirated, flat plane crank V8.  With all this hype over horsepower you have to wonder when will it finally be enough? I feel like at this point the power figures are nothing more than a big dick contest for people with more money than brains. I feel like if I'm honest in my beliefs and tell people "hey 700+ hp in a daily driven street car is a little excessive" that they will want to strip me of my man card. What I want people to realize is that this car is street legal and can be bought by anyone with enough money to purchase it...... think about some of the bad drivers you know and picture them driving down a public road in a 700 hp rear wheel drive death machine. Picture your 60 year old dad buying one to re-live his glory years with his current hand-eye coordination and reflexes.

I want to push rewind a little bit and direct your attention to a different "lesser known" period of horsepower wars, Group B Rally cars. Group B was a set of regulation used to classify rally cars in the early 1980's, it was very short lived (only 4 years) but in that span of time influenced the building of some of the most legendary rally cars the world has ever seen. It pushed man and machine to the very limit of human capability and was eventually ended for safety reasons. (seriously if you don't know about the killer B's you have to check them out)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_B
https://youtu.be/tRtyT9WQzdY


 Don't mis-understand me though, I'm not against the idea of horsepower wars, I actually think its great. Its driving manufacturers to build more power and push technology to levels that we have never seen before. All the technology that is used in making these low production "niche" cars eventually trickles down into the average production car. Its a fine example of the free market showing the car makers what it wants and the car makers actually listening to consumers. Its a great time to be a car enthusiast, and I'm glad I get to witness it in all its glory. Its a whole lot better to get to live through it than to just hear our grandfathers talk about it.  Let the modern day horsepower wars begin!