My Car's Better Than Your Car
For every race, from a quarter mile down a strip to 500 miles around an oval--and every kind of track in between--there's a car built to produce MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE. Here's a comparison of those machines, each significantly different, but each the best horse for its course
SPRINT CAR
HORSEPOWER 700
0-60 mph N/A
TOP SPEED 155 mph
COST $50,000
LENGTH: 148 INCHES
Former United Sprint Car Series champ Kenny Adams's methanol-fueled, 360-cubic-inch Chevy V-8 racer delivers its power to the rear wheels through direct drive, meaning there's no gearbox. The car has to be push started, and once it hits top speed, it doesn't slow up until it rolls across the finish--or rolls over.
FORMULA ONE
HORSEPOWER 850
0-60 mph 2.3 sec
TOP SPEED 225 mph
COST $14 million
LENGTH: 178.9 INCHES
Michael Schumacher's 183-cubic-inch V-10 Ferrari has a semiautomatic, finger-operated transmission with a gear for every F/1 world championship that he's won--seven.
AMERICAN LEMANS SERIES
HORSEPOWER 750
0-60 mph 2.9 sec
TOP SPEED 210 mph
COST $1 million
LENGTH: 183 INCHES
The Champion Racing Audi R8, co-driven by 2004 series winners JJ Lehto and Marco Werner, is powered by a 220-cubic-inch V-8 and has headlights, taillights and side position lights for night racing.
NASCAR
HORSEPOWER 850
0-60 mph 4.0 sec
TOP SPEED 200 mph
COST $150,000
LENGTH: 200.7 INCHES
Greg Biffle's Ford Taurus may look like yours and may run on Sunoco unleaded (112 octane), but the 358-cubic-inch V-8 engine hits 9,000 rpm--and the headlights are decals.
INDY CAR
HORSEPOWER 675
0-60 mph 3.6 sec
TOP SPEED 235 mph
COST $500,000
LENGTH: 202.7 INCHES
The 183-cubic-inch Toyota V-8 in Sam Hornish's Penske Racing Dallara runs at 10,300 rpm for 500 miles--and gets two miles to the gallon (of methanol).
TOP FUEL
HORSEPOWER 7,000
0-60 mph 0.5 sec
TOP SPEED 327 mph
COST $250,000
LENGTH: 300 INCHES
That 0-60 time? It's a guess. Driver Morgan Lucas's nitromethane-burning dragster has a 500-cubic-inch V-8 and hits 100 in 0.8 of a second.
COLOR PHOTO
LARRY SAMS
COLOR PHOTO
GERO BRELOER/DPA/ABACA
COLOR PHOTO
DAN BOYD
COLOR PHOTO
CRAIG PETERSON/ICON SMI
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JONATHAN FERREY/GETTY IMAGES
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KEN SKULTE/RACERS EDGE PHOTOGRAPHY