Eight years isn’t a long time, but it’s long enough to forget. The World’s Greatest Drag Race has become such a normal part of what we do at Motor Trend that it’s hard to remember when we didn’t undertake the rather loony quarter-mile experiment of launching 12 sports and supercars simultaneously down a runway.
Now that the drag race is a given around here, we’re too busy looking forward to look back. The question is not whether we’ll do a race this year; it’s what we’ll do differently this time. Some would argue a new crop of cars is enough, but we know we can do more to boost the excitement factor.
Easter eggs in past drag races have varied. In the second race, the Subaru BRZ, which was going to come in dead last no matter what, did a donut across the finish line. In the fifth, I jumped the start in the Miata (and still lost). The next year, we added in a Dodge Charger Hellcat. Last year, it was the Miata that got the boot in favor of the quickest car we’d ever tested, the Tesla Model S P100D Ludicrous.
If you need a refresher or just a good binge-watching Saturday afternoon, you can find all seven previous drag races on MotorTrend.com/bdc.
This year, we were once again the guests of our outstanding hosts at Vandenberg Air Force Base, home of the cleanest, most race-ready airfield in the world (no hats on the flight line, please). You’ve already seen the pictures and know we had a special guest. Once again, the Miata was excused in favor of something with a bit more horsepower—the old-fashioned, gas-guzzling kind. Meet the 1320.
Formally known as the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320, this 485-hp bracket racer’s dream stole all the Demon’s drag racing goodies, including a transmission brake, line lock, heavy-duty axle shafts, and drag-special damper and traction control programming. On the way out, the 1320 ditched its rear and front passenger seats and swiped a set of Nexen street-legal drag tires.
The 1320 will need every last advantage, as it’s lined up against some of the top supercars on the planet—each equipped with barely street-legal tires, launch control, and even more horsepower. Our quarter-mile times provide a hint of the finish, but if you want to really experience WGDR 8, you’ve got to watch the full video.
Watch World’s Greatest Drag Race 8 right here!
Bonus Race!
The half mile, double or nothing
Some years, World’s Greatest Drag Race is a blowout. Others, it’s a nail-biter. Last year was the latter; by the end of the quarter mile, the Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren were running down the Tesla and would’ve beat it if the race were a bit longer. This year, we’re not playing “what if” bench racing games. It’s time to see who’s a quarter-mile star and who has real legs. To find out, we added a standing half mile and brought some special guests. To find out who’s there and who wins, you gotta subscribe to Motor Trend OnDemand.
The post World’s Greatest Drag Race 8: Who Wins? Lambo, McLaren, Porsche, ZR1, or a Surprise Guest? appeared first on Motor Trend.
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