People used to look at the Tesla Model S and say, "what business does a sedan have at the drag strip?", but then the EV proved everyone that, based on performance, it was more entitled to be there than a lot of sports cars.
But the Model S has all-wheel-drive, instant torque, and a lot of horsepower, so it kind of makes sense. The Honda Accord 2.0T, on the other hand, has none of that. It gets, as the name suggests, a two-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine good for 252 hp and 273 lb-ft (370 Nm), a ten-speed automatic whose role is to multiply the non-instant torque, and a front-wheel-drive architecture that's a lot more practical than it is sporty. All wrapped in a body that feels a lot more at home in the parking lot of a supermarket than lined up at the drag strip for a race.
That's probably what a lot of unsuspecting drivers think when they line up against the Accord in their stock muscle cars, already preparing to celebrate their victory in just a few seconds. However, some of them will be in for a surprise, and not of the pleasant kind.
This 2019 Dodge Challenger driver doesn't kick things off very convincingly. We don't know if he's a rookie or he just couldn't be bothered after looking at the car next to him, but we do know his burnout was not at all convincing. In fact, it wasn't much of a burnout at all. The Honda Accord, on the other hand, did its best, but being a front-wheel-drive car, it's never going to warm up its tires very effectively like that.
With a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 sitting under that hood and making 375 sweat-free horsepower, the Challenger is the clear favorite for this race. Granted, since it's a naturally aspirated engine, it might lose the launch to the torquier turbo in the Accord, but the extra power should prevail in the end. It's a short, eighth-of-a-mile race, though, so there won't be too much room for mistakes.
It is, indeed, a very close race, and we think the Challenger could have actually lost it had the owner not ticked one very important option: the eight-speed automatic replacing the six-speed manual. With just 0.19 seconds separating the two and considering how difficult it is to launch these RWD cars with a clutch pedal, it's not very difficult to imagine a different result. But the best part about the duel is seeing how well the Accord driver took the defeat. At the end of the day, winning is nice, but having fun is more important.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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