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Street Race: McLaren MP4-12C vs 2013 SRT Viper

There’s no replacement for displacement? Yeah right! There most definitely is, and it’s called British engineering.
MP4-12C vs 2013 SRT Viper 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
This weekend, we bring you a drag race between two unlikely competitors, built using polar-opposite philosophies that ultimately are designed for one thing: speed. One car is the 2013 SRT Viper, the 5th generation of Chrysler’s supercar, powered by a huge 8.4-liter V10 engine good for about 640 hp. Its rival from overseas is the 2012 McLaren MP4-12C, a supercar powered by a 3.8-liter V8 twin-turbo engine.

Two times 3.8 oftentimes is 7.6, so the Brit has less than half the displacement of the Viper. It’s also slightly down on power. Both the aerodynamics and the gearboxes play a big role, but ultimately, the McLaren is the faster car. Had this been a 2013 model, it would have had even more of a lead.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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