The laws of physics indicate that big heavy tall vehicles shouldn’t naturally be as quick as sleeker, smaller, lighter ones. Of course, when you do enough clever engineering, you can flip that idea on its ear. And in the drag race film below we get a peek at just how audacious modern super SUVs really are in a straight line.
Jason Cammisa is back with another Drag Race Replay and this time it features the Rivian R1S (835 hp / 622 kW), the Aston Martin DBX 707 (697 hp / 519 kW), the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (631 hp / 470 kW), and the Maserati MC20 supercar (621 hp / 436 kW). To put it lightly, this is a lot of power on a single drag strip.
Typically, electric vehicles like the Rivian dominate straight-line testing but here, it comes in dead last. Unlike the rest of the vehicles here, it features everyday all-terrain tires and happens to weigh almost 7000 pounds (3,175 kg). In case those burdens weren’t enough, it’s also top-speed limited to just 110 mph, a speed that it reaches well before the quarter mile is finished which happens at 11.8 seconds and 110 mph (177 km/h).
More: The Ram TRX Feels “Big And Dumb” Next To The Rivian R1T
The Aston Martin, the ICE car with the most power here by some margin, manages to come in third place with a total time of 11.3 seconds at 122 mph (196 km/h). According to Cammisa, that comes down to tires and tuning more than anything else. While the Porsche can build full boost and put it down with 80 treadwear tires, the Aston has to make do with less sticky 280 treadwear rubber.
The Cayenne Turbo GT not only has the benefit of brilliant tire technology and big boost but it also benefits from the R&D done in-house at Volkswagen group. It does the quarter mile in 11.1 seconds at 120 mph (193 km/h). That happens to be just quick enough to keep up with Maserati MC20 too.
While the actual supercar here doesn’t have the benefit of AWD, it is sleeker and lighter, and almost as powerful. The result is that it lags off the line but manages to hit 100 mph (160 km/h) faster than the Porsche and then reel in the Cayenne by the end of the race while going 131 mph (210 km/h).
Sure, these SUVs wouldn’t have anything to throw at the MC20 if there were a turn or two involved in this race but it’s staggering to think of just how fast modern SUVs can be with the right engineering.