As part of MOTOR TREND’s annual Best Driver’s Car competition
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 (alarm ringing)
00:05 (dramatic music)
00:08 (dramatic music)
00:10 (dramatic music)
00:13 (dramatic music)
00:16 (dramatic music)
00:33 - Hey Josh.
00:42 - Hey Johnny.
00:43 - How's it going man?
00:44 - Good, how are you?
00:45 - Thrilled to be here.
00:46 And you want to tell everyone watching
00:47 why you're wearing this fancy outfit?
00:49 - Absolutely.
00:49 I represent the United States Air Force
00:51 here at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
00:52 - And we're here at Vandenberg Air Force Base
00:54 'cause of your beautiful runway.
00:55 But what do you guys do in Vandenberg?
00:57 - We launch rockets.
00:58 - Okay, I can't compete with that.
01:01 But at Motor Trend, we launch cars.
01:03 And we're here at Vandenberg
01:04 because this is World's Greatest Drag Race 7.
01:07 (engines roaring)
01:10 (dramatic music)
01:12 (engines roaring)
01:15 (dramatic music)
01:19 (engines roaring)
01:21 (engines roaring)
01:32 (dramatic music)
01:47 (engines roaring)
01:50 - Welcome to 30th Space Wing, Johnny.
01:54 - Could you tell me about this fantastic runway
01:57 that we're standing on?
01:58 - You're at the Vandenberg Air Force Base runway.
02:00 It was built in the '70s for the NASA space shuttle
02:02 to actually land here.
02:03 And it's 15,000 feet long.
02:05 - So it's the runway of my dreams.
02:07 Well, let me ask you this.
02:08 These days at Vandenberg, what's your mission?
02:10 - It is to land, launch, and also test
02:13 any missiles or downstages that we need to.
02:16 Today, at least, our mission is to launch these 12 cars
02:19 down your runway as quickly as possible
02:22 and figure out which one's the winner.
02:23 Which one of these 12 do you think's gonna win?
02:25 - I think the AMG will win.
02:27 - Solid choice, big, powerful car.
02:29 - I'll tell you which one won't win, though.
02:31 That's the Mazda down there.
02:32 - That's a very good point.
02:34 Hey, can we get that Miata out of here
02:36 and replace it with the four-door,
02:38 five-passenger family sedan?
02:39 (engines roaring)
02:42 (dramatic music)
02:45 As you can see, there's no one in the car.
02:50 Okay, Tech Sergeant, would you do us the honor
02:53 of starting the launch countdown
02:54 for the world's greatest drag race?
02:55 - Absolutely.
02:57 - But first, let's meet this year's contenders.
03:00 Here's the first great Lexus coupe in a very long time,
03:03 the new V8-powered LC500.
03:05 This is the four-door, four-cheese Alfa Romeo Giulia
03:10 with a heart from Ferrari.
03:12 Aston Martin reinvents itself for a second century
03:16 with the lovely EB11.
03:18 AMG's beast from green hell is also known as GT-R.
03:23 McLaren returns with a luxurious,
03:27 glass-roofed, grand touring car, the 570 GT.
03:30 Marinello is in the house with the manic,
03:34 obviously red, Ferrari 488 GTB.
03:39 The Tesla Model S P100D with Ludicrous Plus
03:42 is the quickest car we've ever tested, 260 miles an hour.
03:46 Let's see how it does in the quarter mile.
03:49 The Porsche 911 Turbo S launches so hard,
03:52 the front wheels nearly come off the ground.
03:54 Godzilla has long been considered king of the quarter.
03:58 Let's see how this year's Nismo GT-R performs.
04:01 The Camaro ZL1 1LE is one of the most powerful cars
04:05 in the race, but can it put the power down?
04:08 The Porsche 718 Cayman S only has 350 horsepower,
04:12 though the quick-shifting PDK should help.
04:15 Somehow, someway, with only 460 horsepower,
04:19 the Corvette Grand Sport feels underpowered.
04:22 However, it is light.
04:24 Let's see how it does.
04:25 (dramatic music)
04:31 (engine revving)
04:34 Begin launch sequence.
04:43 T minus seven.
04:46 Six.
04:48 Five.
04:50 Four.
04:52 Three.
04:54 Two.
04:56 One.
04:59 Go.
05:00 (dramatic music)
05:02 (engine revving)
05:07 (dramatic music)
05:10 (engine revving)
05:12 (dramatic music)
05:15 (engine revving)
05:21 (dramatic music)
05:26 (engine revving)
05:30 (dramatic music)
05:35 (engine revving)
05:40 (dramatic music)
05:43 Just like that, America is on top.
05:58 A California-built P100D, the heaviest car in the race,
06:02 wins it all, once again demonstrating
06:04 the inherent advantage of electric motors
06:06 when it comes to acceleration.
06:09 That said, the Porsche Turbo S and the Ferrari 488
06:12 were charging hard.
06:14 Had the race gone longer than a quarter mile,
06:16 they both would have beaten the Tesla.
06:18 Also coming fast was the McLaren 570 GT,
06:25 just a tick off the podium.
06:26 The GTR shootout ends with the fifth-place Godzilla
06:32 just edging out the sixth-place AMG,
06:35 thanks primarily to the Nissan's all-wheel drive advantage.
06:38 The 350-horsepower Cayman ties the 650-horsepower Camaro
06:43 to 60 miles an hour, but then the Chevy's
06:46 massive power advantage begins to take over.
06:48 The Grand Sport nearly loses the race,
07:00 illustrating how badly it could use more power.
07:05 The Lexus is last, and that's just fine.
07:08 In the 68 years that Motor Trend's been testing cars,
07:27 the all-electric Tesla Model S P100D
07:31 is the hardest accelerating car we've ever tested.
07:34 It's a brave new car world out there,
07:36 and Tesla is the drag strip king.
07:38 Until next year.
07:41 - All right, driver's ready, driver's ready.
07:49 Driver's ready, let's roll camera and sound.
07:52 - Ooh!
07:53 - And test.
07:54 - And.
07:55 (whooshing)
07:57 you