What looks like a seemingly ordinary Audi A5 is anything but normal when you look at what’s sticking out of its rear end. Dressed in a polished white garb, this particular A5 has been stripped bare of just about everything except for the body panels. What it now has, though, is a 1,000-horsepower turbocharged drag engine complete with a parachute on its behind and a full roll cage for safety.
The work was done by Jens Eklund and his team over at Eklund Racing, no strangers to turning Audis into 1,000-horsepower vehicles of mayhem. Apparently, their appetite for cars of mass destruction is once again being satiated by this unassuming A5.
Just goes to show how far boost junkies will go to to get their fix. We’re just hoping that they didn’t remove the seat belts like they did to just about everything else.
There are plenty of photos of this one-of-a-kind Audi A5 at your disposal. But more important than the photos is a 12-minute video of the car in action. Best be warned, this isn’t like any Audi A5 you’ve ever seen in the past.
Henry Ford introduced the automobile to the masses with his less expensive vehicles built on an assembly line. Once cars were being used widely, it was only a matter of time before the human love of competition took over. Dry lake beds and two lane strips of roadway became the first places to test your vehicle against another driver. These non-sanctioned events were essentially illegal drag races that took place throughout the country. A few fans of this growing competition began developing rules and regulations that have led to the NHRA or National Hot Rod Association that we know today.
Speed demons were able to break the 100mph barrier on the Muroc dry lake bed in California’s Mojave Desert, but it was not until 1950 that a man by the name of C.J. Hart was able to open the first official drag strip for racing. As soon as people saw the opportunity to race in safer and well-timed events the sport of drag racing was truly born. This first drag strip ran races until 1959 and by that time the NHRA had multiple national events taking place throughout the United States.
The NHRA has become a larger success than anyone could have imagined and now comprises 80,000 members. Wally Parks was the associations first President and once noted, “we did have ambitions of its becoming a national sports entity. We weren’t planning or marketing geniuses or anything like that. Things happened and we went with our instincts.”
Hit the jump for more details on the History of Drag Racing
In the high-octane, torque-twisting world of the drag strip, a paradigm shift is slowly taking shape with the most unlikely of cars leading the way. Unassuming look aside, the “Black Current” Volkswagen Beetle EV by Oliver Young is an electric vehicle that has done some serious damage on the drag strip becoming the first street-bodied EV to post a nine-second, quarter-mile time. That time looks more impressive when you take into account the fact that this little Beetle once destroyed a Tesla Roadster on a drag strip.
While it’s not the fastest quarter-mile time ever posted by an EV – that title belongs to the Current Eliminator, which covered the same distance in seven seconds at 160 mph – the Black Current does hold the record for being the fastest ‘street-bodied’ EV in the world - at least until proven otherwise.
For now, though, Oliver Young can stake claim to this tremendous achievement and on a grander scale, he and his ‘Black Current’ Beetle EV are giving EVs the proper exposure in the world of drag racing, something that was unheard of as late as a decade ago.
More details on the Volkswagen Beetle EV “Black Current” after the jump
Crazy as it sounds, there are just people that have nothing better to do with their money than waste it away on a meaningless drag race between an American classic and an Italian thoroughbred. Yep, you read the title right, too: a $400,000 bet to see which car is faster in a quarter-mile run.
Can you say nuts?
Dan Bilzerian owns what’s described as a tuned-up 1965 427 Shelby Cobra and with nothing else better to do, he decided to engage his friend Tom Goldstein to race against the latter’s 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia in a good old fashion quarter-mile drag race. But instead of settling for bragging rights or a Diet Pepsi at the vending machine, the two men decided to raise the stake to the tune of $400,000.
One race. One winner. One $400,000 bet. Unbelievable.
In what will go down as one of the most expensive “friendly” bets we’ve ever seen, the two buddies bring their machines to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to settle the score and, more importantly, who takes home that ridiculous amount of money.
So, who won? Well, something like this doesn’t deserve a spoiler. Check out the video after the jump and find out.
On paper, this match-up between a Lamborghini Gallardo and a scooter looks to be as lopsided an encounter the likes of which we haven’t seen since Randy Couture pummeled James Toney into submission a minute into their encounter in UFC 118 a month ago.
We already know what a Gallardo is capable of, but to even the playing field – somewhat, at least – the challenging scooter, dubbed the JetVespa, was outfitted with a rocket engine. Will the added power be enough for the diminutive JetVespa to stage an upset over the mighty Lamborghini on par with the 1980 Miracle On Ice?
In the interest of spoiler alerts, we won’t spare you the details because you have to watch the video to find out. We’ll tell you something, though. The Gallardo/JetVespa throw-down was a lot more competitive than we initially thought. Then again, it wouldn’t be as awesome if the result was predictable, right?
Okay, does anyone else think this whole crazy horsepower thing is getting completely out of control? Yeah, we don’t either, but we thought it would be interesting to ask anyway. The reason we asked is because Vauxhall will be unveiling their most powerful and fastest model ever at the VXR Power Festival in Northamptonshire on August 28th-29th. It’s called the "Red Victor 3" and it will be powered by an 8.8 liter twin-turbocharged GM V8 engine that delivers a total of 3000 HP. Take a minute to let that soak in....
The car was inspired by Vauxhall’s original 1967 Victor FD and is a collaboration between VXR and the Red Victor team who will be partners for the 2011 MSA Pro-Modified Drag Racing season. The team is predicting a top speed, to begin with, of 240mph in the quarter-mile. This should be achieved in 6.5 seconds. For those of you who do not know, their last project (Red Victor 2), was capable of nearly 200mph in the quarter-mile and was able to make it from 0-153mph in 4.8 seconds.
"We’re sure visitors to the Power Festival will make a B-line for the Victor,” said Stuart Harris, Vauxhall’s Group Product Manager. "We’re really looking forward to working with Andy Frost, Red Victor’s creator, and his team next year and see this as a great match for the VXR brand." Yes sir, and we are looking forward to seeing the Red Victor 3 in action. It’s going to be killer.
You think a supercharged 750 horsepower Russian Porsche 997 Turbo SPI750 by Switzer Performace Innovation can hold its own against its supercar brethren in a good ol’ fashion drag race?
If you’re having trouble answering that question, you’re in luck because somebody’s going to answer it for you. That ’somebody’ - or some bodies - happens to be the folks from Dragtimes.info and the drag race-addicted members of GT-Board happen to have a number of supercars ready to meet the challenge that is the SWI-tuned Porsche 997 Turbo.
We’re not spoiling the results for any of you, but one thing that you guys can be absolutely certain of is that these cars are no lightweights by any stretch of the imagination. So you better gear yourself up for a slobberknocker of a race - or three.
The rumored upgrades that Nissan is planning on doing with the GT-R just so it could keep pace with cars like the Porsche 911 Turbo may have been triggered by this race video from GTBoard featuring the two aforementioned sports cars engaging in nice and friendly quarter-mile drag race.
Okay fine, we don’t think Nissan would be spending their time watching videos like this, but nonetheless, this video does show you just how much legs the 911 Turbo has over the GT-R, something that the makers of Godzilla would be wise to take note of.
And if you’re watching the video, the GT-R vs 911 Turbo drag race throwdown is not the only thing you’ll find here. There’s also a look at some pretty awesome supercars getting their sunbathing fix, plus a parade of the very same cars on a nice patch of road.
For whatever reason, drag racing SUVs aren’t all that common in today’s world. Whether they’re a little too bulky or they just don’t make for good drag racers, SUVs have served far bigger purposes in our lives than for just the 12-second, quarter-mile thrill-ride.
That being said, when we do chance upon the rare sight that is a quarter-mile race between two high-powered SUVs, we certainly won’t miss the chance to see which one takes the cake and which one ends up whiffing on it. In this video, we have a BMW X5M taking on a Range Rover Sport Supercharged. Pretty even race, don’t you think?
Well, it was pretty even for a while before one of them decides to take-off, leaving the other one staring at the winner’s rear end. Care to venture a guess as to who crossed the quarter-mile first? Check it out and find out.
America’s ’bad boy’ sports car, the Corvette ZR1, is pretty fast in its own right, but sometimes, even the fast is no match for the faster. Putting the ZR1 in its place is Sweden’s super bullet, the Koenigsegg CCR Evo, which, to be honest, is just about head and shoulders faster than a lot of cars on the planet.
Despite the proverbial long chances of the ZR1, it doesn’t stop it from throwing the gauntlet at the CCR Evo. Bad move, buddy. While we enjoy a pretty good drag race every chance we get to see one, we didn’t enjoy this one for the competition, but for the way the CCR Evo just about wiped the tarmac with the ZR1.
