3 minute read
World’s Greatest Drag Race 9
ecause we can” is the reason we gave
Bfor doing World’s Greatest Drag Race the first time, eight years ago. Now it’s more like, “Because we’d be crazy not to. ”
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We love it, you love it, and apparently so do the fine airmen of the 30th Space Wing, headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base; this is the third year in a row they’ve agreed to host our madness. This explains how we ended up with our 12 Best Driver’s Cars lined up and revving on the clean, grooved concrete of America’s fourth-longest runway.
But here’s the thing: You already know who wins—you blew right past it. Thumb back to all the test numbers in the spec panels on page 44. There, in each competitor’s acceleration line, is the elapsed time and trap speed in the quarter mile. Match those times to each of the vehicles you see in the photo below, and, well, there you go. It’s a
WORDS ED LOH PHOTOGRAPHS MOTORTREND STAFF tedious and deeply unsatisfying exercise, yes? Hang on.
Last year we doubled down on WGDR by taking five of the drag race competitors twice the distance to a half-mile stretch and adding Roadkill star Mike Finnegan’s Hemi V-8-powered ’55 Chevy (nicknamed “Blasphemi”) to the mix. Window-blowing, hood-scoop-shattering shenanigans ensued.
How do we improve upon that combination? By taking the entire 12-car field to the half-mile and adding a German comedian, a Polish car collector, and the world’s luckiest Australian dentist to the mix. Yes, we put the aforementioned colleagues from the German and Polish affiliates of MotorTrend, Axel Stein and Patryk Mikiciuk, behind the wheels of the AMG GT 63 S and Bentley Continental GT V8. For fun and for free dental work for the rest of my life, I let my cousin Quang take my spot in the drag race in the fun but relatively slow BMW M2 Competition (editor-in-chief privilege in full effect). The real question is what happens when you take 12 cars and double the 1,320? We don’t regularly test acceleration to the half mile, so we didn’t know who would win when we first pulled onto the tarmac at Vandenberg. Sure, we had our guesses, but only in the race could we confirm for sure. Which car gets faster after the quarter? Which one runs out of breath? Once the 797-hp Hellcat Redeye hooks up, surely it shows its taillights to the field, right? Or is it the DBS Superleggera and its twinturbo V-12 that most effectively uses its
OUR 12 COMPETITORS RACE TO A QUARTER MILE—AND BEYOND
700-plus horsepower? Will the track specialist Senna be held back by all of its downforce-inducing fins and wings? Will any of the cars capable of 200 mph even come close at the checkered flag? So many questions.
This medium of print is good for many things, but it’s truly terrible at bringing to life the raw and righteous riot of 48 tires and nearly 7,000 horsepower igniting on the word go. I know, I know, you’re tired of hearing it, but please put this magazine down and pull out your smartphone. Open your browser and head to MotorTrend.com/bdc to watch World’s Greatest Drag Race 9.
I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. But if you are, hit me up on Twitter @edloh, and I’ll send you some swag—if I believe you. Q
