Putting a huge barge of a luxury car up against a superbike in a drag race might not seem like the fairest contest in the world, but despite the outcome, the BMW is still a mighty impressive car

Ducati Panigale V4 vs. BMW 760Li Drag Race

We've featured some great drag races in this series and, on the face of it, this one might seem like the most pointless one of the lot. Sometimes, however, it's not the outcome that's all-important but the nature of the protagonists.

The BMW 760Li is a barge of a luxury car but, with a 6.6-litre V12 engine producing 609bhp and 627lb.ft. of torque, it's a bloody fast barge of a luxury car. It weighs in at 2,255kg, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 270bhp/ton.

The bike, on the other hand, might have 'only' 214bhp but, with a weight of 195kg, that equates to a power-to-weight ratio of 1097bhp/ton!

Let's cut to the chase: the Panigale V4 destroys the car in every way: power-to-weight, acceleration, top speed and, not insignificantly, cost! And, naturally, we're on the bike's side in this. But you can't deny that the figures the car posts are pretty impressive.

A 3.7 second 0-60mph time for the BMW is only half a second slower than the bike. The BMW covers the standing start quarter mile in 11.3 seconds and the bike does it in 10.1 seconds.

By any measure that is a fast car and you can bet the occupants would be barely aware of the rapid progress the chauffeur was making.

So, chalk another win up to the bike although perhaps putting the Honda Goldwing up against the BMW would have been a more representative race!