The pride of the German automotive industry takes on an Indian sportscar in a drag race between four convertibles. If doubts persist about what type of racing event this is, then please know it is another “car versus car” happening. All courtesy of Mat Watson from the carwow YouTube Channel.
So, without further ado, here they are - the Teutonic triad of Mercedes, BMW, and… not Audi, but the “sportscar-most” machine from the land of the wrench-savvy people: Porsche. On the outside of this “Made-in- Deutschland” mutual hatred triangle sits a conglomerate with imperial roots: a Jaguar – pride of Britain, owned by India.
Right: a Mercedes SL 55 AMG, a Porsche 911 GTS, a BMW M850i, and the Jaguar F-Type R – this is the fast gentlemen’s club. But which is faster? The paper favors one over the others. But numbers tend to be deceiving when seen through the lenses of a 1,320-foot-long strip of tarmac in England.
The SL 55 is an all-wheel-drive four-liter V8-powered soft-top that brings 469 twin-turbocharged horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque (476 PS and 700 Nm). Its biggest apparent drag race drawback is its weight – 4,300 lbs. (1,950 kg).
On the other end of the scale, the 911 GTS from Porsche is the featherweight challenger in this bout – 3,560 lbs. (1,615 kg) should give it a significant sprinting advantage. Also, it has the lowest hand at the “Cylinder Hold ‘em” poker table: a three-liter twin-turbo boxer-six.
Still, they don’t call it boxer for no reason, as the tiny fist packs a mighty punch: 473 hp and 428 lb-ft (480 PS and 570 Nm). However, there is a crack in its shiny armor – this rearing horse puts all the power at the back.
The final “Wrenchmacht” fire-powered convertible is the BMW M850i – this is the heavy cruiser in this Germany-Britain battle. 4,685 lbs. (2,125 kg) is a lot of weight to carry around, even if the 4.4-liter has a pair of turbine swells to blow air in the V8-stacked cylinders. 523 hp over 553 lb-ft (530 PS and 750 Nm) means this Beemer is heavy on the artillery side, not just displacement and mass. And it also drives all its wheels.
But the German is behind the Indo-Brit feline in several aspects: engine size, power, and weight. Five liters of supercharged V8 roar out 523 hp and 516 lb-ft of crankshaft-twisting might (575 hp and 700 Nm). Four-wheel-drive and 1.8 tons are two severe arguments in favor of the wild cat.
But the paper can take any fabulations and hypothesis: in reality, the fastest sportscar in this showdown is the one that has been training all its life to be fast, agile, sleek, and quick. The Porsche takes it all in the speed contest (apart from one event, but that’s not the car’s fault – watch the video to see what happened).
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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