The Ferrari 488 Pista is a very fast car. But how much faster than a beat-up old Golf TDI is it? Driven Media decided to find out with an interesting drag race.
Rather than simply give the Golf a head start, the team decided to let it get a run-up on the Ferrari, meaning that it could start the race at a given speed (they chose 60 mph [96 km/h] for the first race). The supercar then had to start the drag race from zero to see if it could get off the line and up to speed faster than the hatchback.
The Golf, a Mk6 TDI, is powered by a 1.6-liter diesel engine that makes 103 hp (105 PS/ 77kW) and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) of torque, which is sent to the front wheels via a five-speed manual transmission. Unsurprisingly, it’s not much of a performer, getting to 60 mph (96 km/h) in a leisurely 11.2 seconds.
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With twice as many cylinders and two turbochargers, the Ferrari‘s 3.9-liter engine makes 710 hp (720 PS/529 kW) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) of torque. It also has launch control to help it get off the line and up to speed, though even computers can’t contain all of that power on cold tires.
In the first race, although the Golf crosses the starting line at 60 mph (96 km/h) and the driver is allowed to pin the throttle as soon as he crosses the line, it can’t keep up with the Ferrari, which easily beats it in the quarter-mile race.
From there, the drivers keep ramping things up. Such is the power differential that the Golf actually has to start around a corner before the runway to get enough of a run-up to start the race at speed. We won’t spoil how the subsequent races go, but it is a reminder, if any was needed, of just how fast modern supercars are.