1,400-HP BMW X 3 M Drag Races an Audi R8, Guess Who Breaks Down

And yes, my question applies to all the drag racing videos going live today. I think there's a small chance personal transportation will look completely different a century from now. Drones may become so advanced that cars could become obsolete. But that doesn't mean they'll just vanish off the face of the Earth. I'll be long gone by then, so there's no need to worry about that.

I find it strange and somewhat sad that drag racing as a professional motorsport isn't doing as well as it did 20 or 30 years ago. It's weird because people seem to consume 1/4-mile-focused content constantly,but mostly when it's centered around road-going vehicles. It rarely happens that these cars can even come close to most of the vehicles you'd see in the NHRA.

But it's probably their duality that keeps bringing people in. Just yesterday,we saw a confrontation between six different Audi R8 models. It was interesting to watch, especially considering the German manufacturer stopped the model's production. And today, you're about to see an R8 that will put any of its factory-spec siblings to shame.

It was already a good starting point with the 5.2-liter V8 under the hood, but the AMS Performance Alpha 10 package makes it truly terrifying. The cost of this upgrade alone is worth twice as much as my 1991 Mazda RX-7. If you don't mind spending $50K on performance parts alone,you can enjoy driving around in a 1,150-horsepower supercar.

We've all seen what these twin-turbo R8s (and Huracans) can do, and it almost doesn't even matter that the BMW X3 M is packing more power. I can understand why the owner wanted to build something like this, as he probably wanted to drive something unique. And I've seen people using SUVs for drifting before. But that doesn't mean they can match against factory-built, pure-bred race "horses."

It's mind-boggling to see that the X3 M has a stripped interior but still uses the standard seat; what's that all about? Anyway, to each his own. As always, with these challenges, the roll-race is up first. That way, there's a lesser chance of it ending right from the get-go. The R8 immediately lunges into the lead, even though the Bimmer is no slow poke.

Mechanical gremlins are quick to make an appearance, and on the second run, the BMW's fate seems sealed. Can you imagine how huge the gap would be between the two if they raced around a racetrack? It's already over once the two vehicles line up for the main event (starting from a dig). You can imagine which of the two suffers a serious malfunction, right?