Racing on the street is dangerous, let alone illicit; at the same time, there is no denying that it is thrilling to watch, especially when the vehicles dueling each pack 1,500 horsepower or more. Yes, 1,500 horsepower.
The first contender is a fire-spitting Lamborghini Gallardo tuned to produce 1,500 horsepower courtesy of Underground Racing — a tuning company made famous for their work with exotic cars. The other is a C6 Corvette tuned by Late Model Racecraft, which according to the video’s description, was pushing 1,700 horsepower (!) at the time of the race.
Despite the power advantage, it seemed to be the superior all-wheel-drive grip and faster shifting of the Lambo that gave it the edge over the Corvette during multiple pulls. However, the LMR Corvette could have the last laugh if it wanted to, as its output can be adjusted to make 2,200 fire-spitting horsepower — a setting the driver uses for standing mile races. Watch the high-octane, high decibel video:
Comments
Hmmm, something is amiss here. Even with AWD and flappy paddles, (neither of which give a decisive advantage in a roll race) that’s a 500hp deficit that the Lambo had to overcome. I think somebody got hustled. There is just no way a roughly equal weight car running a 500hp deficit would make that up with better shifting and AWD from a roll.
Only thing I can think of beside an outright lie about the HP from the Lambo is too tall gearing in the Vette (it is a flying mile car) or maybe even a little white lie on the Vette’s hp… either way, if it truly had more HP it would have started reeling the Lambo back in. It couldn’t even do that!
Stupid.
My buddy has a first-gen Viper with a supercharger = 750 HP. He opted for the
“smaller turbo option” and not the 1000 HP version and he still can’t get
traction from a dead stop. He eats up rear tires ( Viper tires aren’t cheap! ) like
dogmeat and his 1987 Buick Grand National eats the Viper for dinner.
Pure HP isn’t the be-all-end-all some make it sound like. You have to get the
power to the road and that’s not an easy task.
You are right, it isn’t just power that wins races. But in this cases the Vette was running slicks and there is no indication in the vid of a loss of traction. No bouncing off the limiter, no surging rpm. Just a supposedly 1700hp ZR1 leisurely winding up to 190mph plus while the Lambo tears of like a scalded cat.
The more I watch, the more I think someone brought their “mile racing” set up to a classic “all I gotta do is stay in front” highway roll race. A race of this type favors short gears and a car that can tolerate being in the lowest gear at the start (50-60) mph.
When I used to street race in Va, I knew a guy with a 84 nochback Mustang with a 351ci making roughly 380-420hp. ( never dynoed) from a roll of 50 mph to 150+ NO ONE could keep up with his car. All thanks to 4.30 gears and a TKO 5speed with a specially selected gears for 8th mile racing. Except for the odd 550-700+hp car, in that mph range he was king on the highway.
That’s also why you’ll never see a GM 4 speed equipped car consistently win roll-on highway racing. Even with stupid hp the gear spread is just too wide and tall.
Manoli when will GM bring these damn 8-speed transmissions to market on all their premium Vehicles? And I also hope that GM can offer an automated manual found in the Porsche 911 and Nissan GTR for the ATS-V, CTS-V, Z06 and the ZR-1 as an option. Look Manoli, having more power is great, but my research have revealed that a less powerfull Lamborghini Gillardo actually whips the ZR-1 from 0-180mph by at least 3 seconds! All because our favorite Vette do not have one of these modern transmissions as an option.
Seriously, GM needs to employ these updated transmissions very soon, and not just introducing them on new models. Look man even Chrysler have 8-speeds on their vehicles, why the hell does GM take so long to respond to market trends to keep their vehicles competitive. Example: the ATS seems to be a good car, but lacks those 02 extra gears to adequately exploit that great V-6.
Hence with an 8-speed tranny the ATS should definitely perform better in terms of speed an mpg wise. Result! More of these sweet caddys will be park at peoples houses rather than the dealership lots. When Manoli, when will GM arrive at the party? Remember fellas, when you want to increase market share, you have to stay with the competition, or simply pull ahead. It is simple, GM needs to use this advice, and spread the competitive edge throughout their vehicle line up to increase market share. Furthermore, people buy vehicles base on perception of the brand.
Example, the Chevy Volt, made the internationl public take note that GM can be a be atechnological force to recond with. So why the hell did the Malibu lagged the Accord, Camry ,Mazda 6 and the Altima in Mpg and 0-60mph and have the most powerful 2.5 excluding the Sonata? I love GM vehicles, but the damn company must stop letting every competitor from moving ahead of them, thus lowering their credibility and perception of all of they brands.
However, you know what? My advice is going to cost you. Since I live in Barbados, And drive a blasted 2006 Ford focus that is currently giving me a few problems (that all I can afford), it would be nice if you could send me a 2008 and up used company Malibu or Cruze preferably from your European division (right hand drive country). Or if it could only be left hand drive, I will make do with and Equinox or Malibu instead.
Seriously, who better to give you feedback about your vehicles than someone that drives them everyday. Just think about it!
What’s Barbados like? But to answer your question, the eight-speeds are going to begin rolling out this year starting with the new CTS. It’s a single-clutch, but shifts in .3 seconds, rivaling the best double-clutch automatic transmissions. And honestly, a double-clutch isn’t really needed if you can figure out how to make the automatic shift that fast. And as any driving enthusiast will tell you, manual>automatic any day. It doesn’t matter if they shift slower more often than not. It’s far more engaging and rewarding to drive.
As a driving enthusiast, I approve of Manoli’s message!
I want to see a monster EV just kick cars like this’ butts!
Here’s a couple candidates to do the job:
Or this:
Or even THIS —>
Remarkable stuff huh? Remember, unlike the gas hogs in this article,
these speedsters are powered by 100% American-made energy!
@ Valiance and Manoli:
A agree with you 100% Valiance – GM has this habit of letting it’s
competitors get out to the early lead. There’s literally dozens of examples.
You’re right – Volt showed the world what their engineers can do if given
the green light. BMW is struggling with it’s i Series at thousands more –
and not reaching the capabilities of a Volt/Ampera* at much less MSRP.
* even after hiring Frank Weber – one of Volt’s chief engineers!
GM has bought the rights to “CrossVolt” but do we see a Voltec CUV yet?
Nope? Do we see a competitive hybrid for that price category? Nope.
GM shows glimmers of hope, but believe me, a new Corvette or Z/28
is not going to save jobs and the company. GM needs to flex it’s technical
muscles and take more chances like Volt – say a more affordable Volt,
or different battery sizes and ranges for different budgets.
Manoli – CTS can have a 22 speed transmission for all it matters. The trend
to increase efficiency by adding gears has limitations and makes more
complex transmissions with more parts and expense. Look to Tesla –
who outperforms even a ( probable ) future CTS-V next gen. The entry-
level Tesla Model S with the 40kwh pack and 160 mile range will go for
CTS money and ——- NEEDS NO TRANSMISSION at all! Add a powerplant
with one moving part for reliablity and SHAZAM!
GM goes to the NY Auto Show with Z-28 and blasting rock music – to
introduce yet another ( ELR anyone? ) halo car upon it’s numerous
( SS anyone? ) other halo cars. GM seems to be run by fools in the
accounting office and dinosaurs living in the small block fantasy world
of yore. GM can do the future – they have it in Volt. They need to
pull their heads out of the ground and make mainstream cars that will
rival Tesla at a better price.
AWD does help in a “roll race”. If you think otherwise then you obviosly have never downshifted while driving athigh speed. For example if both cars are in 5th gear while driving at 60mph and they both downshift at the start of the race into 2nd gear and floor it. The car with AWD will have lesswheel spin (probablynot have any) and the rearwheel drive car will indeed have wheel spin. Even if both cars are in 2nd gear,and going 60mph; if they both floor it then the RWD car will have wheel spin if its pushing that much powerand the AWD willhave the advantage.
If ur in a extreme high hp RWD car and agreeing to races that have your car in the thick of its torque band then you deserve to loose. It doesn’t matter if you are racing FWD, RWD, or AWD, if u wanna win you make sure the other guy is at a disadvantage.
AWD or not, there’s a big hp deficit against the Gallarado. The Vette should have been able to reign him back in if not catch and pass him. There’s no evidence of wheel spin in the vid. Most likely the Vette was either not packing the hp they claimed or it was geared way too tall to deal with this adversary.