Aston Martin Vantage GT8 Drag Races VW Golf R, Gap Is Bigger Than the GT8's Wing

After going through a very rough patch, the British company has now stabilized and is offering a surprisingly vast array of models to anyone looking for an alternative to the usual German and Italian suspects. Whether it's a better alternative or not is up for anyone to decide, but the spec sheets sure don't make it sound as if it might be.

Take the Aston Martin Vantage GT8, for example. Introduced in 2017, just as the model's generation at the time was nearing its end, the track-focused limited-edition GT was powered by the same 4.7-liter V8 you could find in the regular Vantage, except here it made 440 hp. If it only made 440 hp here, it begs the question of how much less did it make in the regular V8 Vantage? Answer: 430 hp.

Judging the GT8 by its raw numbers is probably the wrong thing to do since the car was built primarily (perhaps even exclusively) for track use. Just look at it—would you feel comfortable pulling in one of those at your local supermarket? That wing alone is enough to get three scoffs and five disapproving head shakes.

Still, since this is a drag race, it's precisely those numbers that matter the most, and they don't look too good by today's standards. In fact, they look so poor that even a hot hatch such as the Volkswagen Golf R stands a chance of beating it in a straight-line acceleration, which can't possibly look good for a car that plays in Aston Martin's league.

This particular Golf R VII makes things even trickier for the GT8 by sporting a few modifications that boost its power from 306 hp all the way to 414. The Aston Martin driver mentions his weight advantage, but just because the GT8 is mostly made of plastic doesn't mean it's lighter than the Golf—they both weigh in at just over 1.5 tons.

Other than that, the British sports car has a slight advantage in the torque department, though the Golf's mods might actually change that, and they both feature seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions. However, this is where potentially the most important difference comes. The VW hot hatch notoriously sends power to all four wheels, whereas the Aston only gets the rear wheels spinning. Without a clear power advantage, that might prove to be the GT8's undoing. The 3:30 mark is where the races start, but you might not want to skip the Aston Martin driver's rant against the Golf R and what it stands for.