'World's Greatest Drag Race' Lives Up To Its Name With 12-Car Showdown

Nearly 6500bhp of cars were involved in Motor Trend's eighth 'World's Greatest Drag Race', which threw out some interesting results
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For the second year running, the Motor Trend team is back at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, using its three-mile runway - once used to land the Space Shuttle - for a massive drag race.

A hugely impressive roster of cars is present for the race, resulting in a list that looks like a Forza car pack. But bigger. And without the pointless appearance of a Honda minivan.

Are you ready? Take a look:

McLaren 720S
Porsche 911 GT2 RS
Honda Civic Type R
Lamborghini Huracan Performante
BMW M5
Ford Mustang GT PP2
Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q4 Quadrifoglio
Kia Stinger GT
Audi TT RS
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Aston Martin Vantage
Dodge Challenger RT Scat Pack 1320

There’s also a half-mile battle with some omissions and interesting substitutions, although the viewing of that requires Motor Trend On Demand access, should you want to check out that race.

As for the quarter-mile run, there are a few things we need to talk about, so there are a few spoilers the other side of this image.

'World's Greatest Drag Race' Lives Up To Its Name With 12-Car Showdown

The 720S taking the victory should come as a surprise, but we didn’t expect the GT2 RS and Performante to be quite so close behind. The BMW M5 was hugely impressive meanwhile, finishing a mere three tenths behind the Corvette ZR1.

Further back, the Aston Martin Vantage only just beat the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio across the line. Is that embarrassing for the Vantage, or impressive for the Stelvio? We’d say a bit of both…

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Comments

GTRTURTLE 🔰 🐢(Oo \ S K Y L I N E / oO) (Koen

Not surprised that the 720S won

09/21/2018 - 15:08 |
56 | 4

spoiler alert would have been nice

09/21/2018 - 16:23 |
6 | 0

I wish i would have watched the video first before i looked at the comments but i assumed the 720 would win

09/21/2018 - 16:25 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

You know, whenever there’s a post of something drag racing a 720s, I think it’s pretty much assured the 720s will win

09/21/2018 - 15:31 |
88 | 0
Spartan Night Glider

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

That’s why the Kawasaki Ninja H2 exists. I love both, but Supersport Motorcycle > Supercar 99.99% of the time

09/24/2018 - 02:20 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Not surprised that the Civic Type R won

09/21/2018 - 16:27 |
6 | 2
Anonymous

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Type R, but there are tons of better choices they could have gone with

09/21/2018 - 16:29 |
6 | 2
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Well, there aren’t many more new hot hatches in the US. Too late for a Focus RS. But yeah, there was no point.

09/21/2018 - 16:35 |
2 | 0
TonyRaven27

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Why do you think?

09/21/2018 - 20:54 |
4 | 2
Smiller

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I would say RS3 Sedan but the TTRS has near identical figures

09/21/2018 - 23:54 |
0 | 0
RodriguezRacer456 (Aventador SV) (Lambo Squad)

At this point drag races in Horizon 4 would have to ban the 720s

09/21/2018 - 17:18 |
4 | 0

Nah all they’ll have to do is not allow V12 AWD swaps.

09/21/2018 - 20:45 |
2 | 0
Wrangler

Maybe I missed something but why a scatpack and not at the very least a hellcat

09/21/2018 - 17:33 |
6 | 0

They did another drag with the Redeye and a low wing zr1 and the blasHemi but you have to pay to see that one

09/21/2018 - 20:54 |
4 | 0
Tomislav Celić

Now waiting for the next year one, with Rimac in hopefully

09/21/2018 - 17:35 |
12 | 0

And project one and valkyrie

09/21/2018 - 18:15 |
2 | 0

regera and SVJ maybe

09/21/2018 - 19:05 |
4 | 0

I think Rimac have learned their lesson when it comes to lending million-dollar cars for filming…

09/21/2018 - 20:44 |
22 | 0
J Mazda

My favourite is the BMW M5

09/21/2018 - 18:32 |
4 | 0
LotusRaptos

Anyone else putting the whole winning thing aside and taking in the fact that this might have been one of the most beautiful things… ever?

09/21/2018 - 18:35 |
2 | 0
Mr.Roberts

Not a muscle fanboy, but why, out of all the available muscle cars, did they only use Mid-range ones? No demon/Viper or GT350/ GT but a ZR1? seems fishy

09/21/2018 - 19:49 |
2 | 0

GT350R was used last year IIRC

Viper is discontinued, and was also used last year IIRC

Demon is a one-trick pony (more like a unicorn cuz it’s the best lol), most of these cars are good all around. ZR1 is supposed to be excellent all-around as well, so they picked it. ZL1 1LE would have been a nice pick too imo, but the ZR1 eclipses it.

09/22/2018 - 02:06 |
0 | 0