Having one of the coolest rides on the face of planet Earth is nothing compared to possessing the skill to tame it according to your will. Let's find out why that's important when trying to handle supercharged beasts.
The videographer behind the Wheels channel on YouTube is a major fan of anything riding on two or four wheels, especially when they reconvene at The Strip for a quick battle (or two) at the famous four-lane Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
While the dragstrip is notorious for its high-powered skirmishes, the fact that organizers put the best conditions to perform at their disposal doesn't always guarantee spectacular results. Unfortunately, this is also the case here with a singular exception.
So, the videographer probably thought he struck gold when he captured a cool-looking matte black with orange touches Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 preparing to duke it out with the eternal Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. They're both extinct now, but no one will deny they are some of the greatest supercharged American rides out there thanks to their great platforms and the 5.2-liter or 6.2-liter supercharged V8s.
Even the burgundy-shaded Hellcat was a little out of the ordinary thanks to its gray hood and roof, plus gold rear wheels, by the way. So, we immediately expected a skirmish for the ages – especially considering the known rivalry between Mopar and Blue Oval fans. Well, it wasn't meant to be that night. Instead, one was slow to react off the line while the other probably got scared of taking the lead and stuttered for a moment, enough for the other side to recoup the lost distance.
After that, it was a game of pursuit and who had the higher trap speed – or who had the granny-style speed, actually. In the end, none of them brought fame and honor to their respective teams due to the boring ETs: 13.37s versus 13.65s! If you don't think they were slow, may we remind you that those are Shelby GT500s and Hellcats that we're talking about?
A little frustrated, we go on to check out the second skirmish – hoping for the better when we see another Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 (a blue one) that was ready to duke it out with another supercharged rocket, Kawasaki's Ninja H2R motorcycle. The Blue Oval driver finally seemed to know what they were doing, judging by the massive cloud of pre-race burnout smoke.
Alas, it wasn't meant to be for cars that night – the Ninja easily took the lead, and then you could drop a couple of buses between them without fear of hitting any of the participants. The Kawa did its job – 10.79s at 151 mph, but the GT500 was another disappointment: 14.04s at just 92 mph! What's up with those trap speeds?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News