In today’s edition of drag races with crazy results, we've brought you a race between a drag race-ready KTM 1290 Super Duke and an equally tricked-out Suzuki Hayabusa.
Let's dive right into it.
The Contenders
On one side of the drag strip, we have KTM’s flagship naked, the 1290 Super Duke. This is the 2016 model which has a 1301cc, twin-cylinder engine making an insane 180 horsepower and 106 pound-feet while weighing just 479 pounds wet.
Lined up on the other side is a second-gen Suzuki Hayabusa. With its 1342cc, inline-four engine, the second-gen Hayabusa produces 197 horsepower and 102 pound-feet. The Busa's biggest setback has to be its curb weight coming in at 582 pounds, making it 100 pounds heavier than the KTM.
Both bikes here are strictly tuned for drag racing with extended swingarms and dedicated performance mods, albeit with no turbos or superchargers.
KTM 1290 Super Duke vs Suzuki Hayabusa Drag Race
The Suzuki Hayabusa has a substantial power advantage over the KTM and there’s a high chance you’re rooting for it.
However, as soon as the lights go out, it’s the KTM 1290 Super Duke that gets a blistering launch off the line. With the ‘Busa struggling with slight wheelspin, the Super Duke is good as gone, leaving the former in the dust.
At the line, the Super Duke recorded a mind-boggling quarter-mile time of 8.55-seconds compared to the Hayabusa’s fast-but-not-fast-enough 9.06-seconds.
Top Speed Says
By the looks of it, there were two factors at play here. One, the rider reaction time, and second, the simply absurd power-to-weight as well as the torque-to-weight ratio of the Super Duke.
While the first helps the Super Duke gets a slight initial jump, the other two factors help it keep its advantage and record a blisteringly quick time which, for reference, is comparable to the 1900+ horsepower Rimac Nevera electric hypercar!}
As impressive as this, there’s no discounting the fact that the Suzuki Hayabusa could’ve gone a tad bit faster had it not struggled with wheelspin. Whether it had the juice to fly past the rapid 1290 Super Duke is something we’ll have to wait and find out.