The aftermarket world has reached a point where you, as a customer, can walk into a shop and demand a 2,000+ hp incarnation of your favorite supercar.
This mostly refers to the two most used platforms in the 7s street car quarter mile business, namely the Audi R8/Lamborghini Gallardo and the Nissan GT-R.
And while the battle used to see rival tuners trying out their development cars, the fight now involves private owners. We want to show you exactly what happens when such a clash of horsepower titans takes place and the recent Texas Invitational gave us the perfect opportunity to do so.
Today we want to talk about two of the fastest street-legal cars in the US, which were thrown at each other during the event.
We'll start with the Underground Racing Audi R8. This came to the world as a 2012 R8 GT, but once the tuning company introduced it to the twin-turbo world, it emerged as a machine capable of delivering up to 2,300 hp at the wheels, when working at full boost.
It's factory transmission is now gone, having been replaced with a sequential six-speed gearbox.
As for Godzilla, this example comes from T1 Race Development, whose crew also managed to generate the level of horsepower mentioned above. We can't help but giggle when we see such an octane behemoth using street tires and being able to drive on the road.
The two engaged in a half-mile race using a rolling start and the results were memorable. The GT-R managed to hit 210 mph (338 km/h), while the R8 took the cake with its 213 mph (343 km/h) velocity.
As it often happens with such battles, the war is far from over. In fact, T1 Race Development posted a dyno chart on their Facebook page after the race, one that looks more like a declaration of war:
"So I was a bit curious how much power my car was making in the finals at TI, I'd never had it up to 60psi at the track or on the dyno. Turns out it was misfiring a bit up there and was way too soft on the tuneup. Made 1955whp as it sat in the finals. A couple pulls later with the tune cleaned up and no misfires, she's up to a new record, 2276whp. Next event can't come soon enough!"
"Difference in boost response is from the baseline being on fresh ice water in the IC and the red run being two pulls later, without an ice change," the tuner explains (check out the dyno graph below and you'll understand).
And while the battle used to see rival tuners trying out their development cars, the fight now involves private owners. We want to show you exactly what happens when such a clash of horsepower titans takes place and the recent Texas Invitational gave us the perfect opportunity to do so.
Today we want to talk about two of the fastest street-legal cars in the US, which were thrown at each other during the event.
We'll start with the Underground Racing Audi R8. This came to the world as a 2012 R8 GT, but once the tuning company introduced it to the twin-turbo world, it emerged as a machine capable of delivering up to 2,300 hp at the wheels, when working at full boost.
It's factory transmission is now gone, having been replaced with a sequential six-speed gearbox.
As for Godzilla, this example comes from T1 Race Development, whose crew also managed to generate the level of horsepower mentioned above. We can't help but giggle when we see such an octane behemoth using street tires and being able to drive on the road.
The two engaged in a half-mile race using a rolling start and the results were memorable. The GT-R managed to hit 210 mph (338 km/h), while the R8 took the cake with its 213 mph (343 km/h) velocity.
As it often happens with such battles, the war is far from over. In fact, T1 Race Development posted a dyno chart on their Facebook page after the race, one that looks more like a declaration of war:
"So I was a bit curious how much power my car was making in the finals at TI, I'd never had it up to 60psi at the track or on the dyno. Turns out it was misfiring a bit up there and was way too soft on the tuneup. Made 1955whp as it sat in the finals. A couple pulls later with the tune cleaned up and no misfires, she's up to a new record, 2276whp. Next event can't come soon enough!"
"Difference in boost response is from the baseline being on fresh ice water in the IC and the red run being two pulls later, without an ice change," the tuner explains (check out the dyno graph below and you'll understand).