The Red Bull energy drinks brand is heavily involved in motorsports, including Formula 1. The Milton Keynes-based team currently dominates both the drivers' and constructors' championships, yet the video featured below doesn't star the RB19 of Max and Checo.
Pictured on the runway where the good folks at carwow film drag races, the Formula 1 car before your eyes is the RB8 from the 2012 season. Think Sebastian Vettel in his prime. Driven by the hugely promising Liam Lawson, the V8-engined classic belts out circa 850 horsepower (metric rather than mechanical) on full song, and weighs just around 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds).
Next up, we have WRC rally driver Adrien Fourmaux behind the wheel of the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1. An extremely different animal from the road-going Puma, the rally car is a lightweight hybrid with 550 ponies on deck. Tipping the scales at 1,260 kilograms (2,778 pounds), the Puma Rally1 is lighter than the Peugeot 208 of World RX rallycross driver Timmy Hansen.
Estimated at 1,300 kilograms (2,866 pounds), the French car puts out in the ballpark of 600 horsepower. Bear in mind these are combustion-only ponies. The Puma Rally1, by comparison, is equipped with a 100-kW electric motor in addition to a turbo four-pot engine.
The only two-wheeled vehicle in this video is the incredibly loud KTM RC16 of Dani Pedrosa, a MotoGP bike that boasts a 1.0-liter V4 with approximately 270 horsepower to its name. As for weight, this incredible machine is estimated at 157 kilograms (346 pounds).
That being said, care to guess which of these four is the quickest in the quarter mile? The answer is – of course – Dani Pedrosa's KTM RC16. The Adrian Newey-designed RB8 had the poorest start of the bunch, yet Liam Lawson clawed his way back to second place over the finish line. The rallycross and rally cars of Adrien Fourmaux and Timmy Hansen end up in a dead heat.
In typical Red Bull fashion, the Austrian company couldn't resist spicing things up with a fifth contender. The culprit is a four-motor electric van designed by Ford Performance. It's a bit heavier than the WRC and WRX cars at 1,680 kilograms (3,704 pounds), yet it summons a staggering 1,500 kW on wide open throttle. That's 2,039 ps or 2,012 hp, which is more than the Rimac Nevera has to offer from its four-motor arrangement.
The man tasked with driving it is Romain Dumas, who has participated in every 24 Hours of Le Mans race since 2001. The Porsche Motorsport factory driver couldn't catch Dani Pedrosa in the quarter mile, but – somewhat expected from the instant torque of those four motors – Romain pipped Liam to the finish line. This time around, the rallycross car proved quicker than the rally car.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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