Even though the 650S didn’t win this drag race, it most certainly won a lot of respect from the drag racing community – as if it needed more.
I’m not going to stand here and tell you that with around 900-1,000 HP, a Nissan GT-R should be afraid of a car that doesn’t even come close to that number. In fact, it’s the AMS-tuned GT-R that most people are afraid of, because they’re usually either incredibly fast or even record-setting fast.
It’s a pick your poison type of thing, where you’re probably not going to win, unless you’ve got an equally powerful car that just happens to put its power down more efficiently.
So how come this McLaren 650S kept up within what, four car lengths of the AMS GT-R? I mean, it clearly loses the race but, with that power deficit, you would have expected the margin to be way bigger, right?
It goes to show that the recipe of the 650S is very sound. Lightweight, efficient, powerful, surgical. It’s tough to leave it way behind while racing against it.
Also notice that the video description about the GT-R’s power output says one thing and the image another. Does it have 900 HP or 1,000 HP? Does it come with the AMS Ronin Performance package or the Alpha 9?
Based on how well the 650S stuck with it, I’d say it’s the Alpha 9 Performance package with stock-like turbo spool and over 900 HP on race gas. However, we already saw a 650S race an Alpha 9 GT-R and definitely fall behind way more than this.
Either way, major props to the McLaren.