A speed competition recently took place at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne (Australia, duh!) between the Red Bull F1 car, a factory-spec Mercedes SL63 AMG, and a”production racecar” Holden V8 Supercar… and the results are rather eye-opening.
Those not familiar with F1 cars, here’s a brief synopsis: they’re stupid fast, have 2.4 liter engines that can rev to an unreal 18,000 rpm, and have about 700hp. And when that 700hp gets you into trouble, there’s some crazy fighter jet-like aerodynamics to save you from impending automotive doom.
Meanwhile, the Holden V8 Supercar is (more or less) based on a Commodore, does not use an LS motor (sad face), instead making do with a fuel-injected 5.0L small block, and cranks out nearly 600 horsepower. This is the exact car that Team Red Bull uses in the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series.
In the chase, the Mercedes went first with a 16.8 second head start on the Holden. The Holden V8 Supercar was given a 23.9 second lead ahead of the Formula One car. But the early starts were to no avail to either the Benz or the Holden, as the F1 quickly made up the 40 second gap between itself and the Mercedes, and crossed the finish line first, with just three-tenths of a second between the three cars. The Mercedes and the Holden seem to have tied.
What’s truly amazing is how much faster an F1 car is in comparison to a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz SL AMG, and a modified Holden Commodore — cars that are known to be fun-to-drive and fast on the street. Consider us “put in perspective”.
Comments
What is it about Australians? There must be something in their DNA that motivates them to pull a stunt like this. Maybe a combination of their can-do attitude with a healthy dose of delinquency allows them to believe anything is possible. No one can convince them that Holden is owned by GM, because they completely ignore Detroit directives. Pity we can’t all be like them. I would love to know who instigated this little match.
Easy, they have “petrol” in their veins!
What I love about the Australian Car scene (as well as the Japanese and European) is that they just flat out love ALL thing automotive. It doesn’t come off like a enthusiast culture driven by “me-too’ism” or heavy handed corporate involvement. It’s all about the cars MAYNE!
This is something gear-heads talk and bench race about all the time. It would be nothing for ESPN, or SPEED, to do something like this. IZOD could have done something like this last weekend in ST. PETE. They had the latest in Indy tech, as well as World Challenge GT and GTS cars. They even had famous nostalgic race cars from Trans AM racers to Big block Lola T-70s from Can Am racing golden era.
I honestly think that things are so sanitized and money based in the US, that it doesn’t even occur to do exhibitions like this because the powers that be aren’t really “Car Guys”. To them it’s just another sport to exploit for as much cash as possible. That means appealing to non-car people first, and enthusiast second, if at all.
We know full well GM owns Holden but we will not except that because an American company owns Holden, Holden is American. IT’S AUSTRALIAN! Does Kraft owning Vegamite make Vegamite american?
This is just plain cool.
I think the Eau Rouge comparison has a much better impact
Awesome vid! My son and I watch stuff like this all the time on youtube, just so I can show him why things like the wings on open wheeled race cars make such a difference, or how much faster new race cars are vs old ones.
Check this out for a comparison of a “state of the art” 1000hp turbo monster era F1 car at Monaco vs a modern F1 car…
The modern car almost makes the 80s Monster seem “quaint” in it’s performance.
I’ve seen that one too, it’s pretty incredible the comparison. Imagine what Senna could’ve done with today’s F1 cars.
For those who don’t know, the Dunlop series is the second division of V8 Supercars. When a division 1 team replaces a race car, they sell the old one to the division two teams. So sometimes you get old models in the second division. Currently all Holdens in division one are VF’s and in Dunlop, they are the old VE’s like the one pictured. This one is raced by former Moto GP rider, Casey Stoner.
Fun fact: The name of someone obsessed with cars/motors in 3 different parts of the world:
Britain: Petrol head
America: motor head?
Australia: Rev head
America: gear head
Thanks.
Jalopnik has certainly amassed a following of “Jalops”
I wouldn’t say it’s specific to different parts of the world, more like those who have fallen prey to Ray’s sultry jew-charm and are now entangled in a cult of Volvo wagons, where the answer to every question is Miata, and the only recognized currency is V6 Mustang. It is a wonderful place.