With the Melbourne Cup over for another year, we thought we’d come up with a bit of a cup of ourselves. A factory quarter mile cup if you will. Ever wondered what a top 24 all-star car list would look like, comprising of some of the quickest cars around in terms of factory quarter mile time? So have we.
The list is obviously not official as there are so many possible models out there, some that we may have missed. But for this runners’ list there is a couple of rules we’ve imposed to take into account. There’s the issue of whether or not the car is truly a road-registrable car, and whether or not the car has been modified in any way – kind of like performance-enhancing drugs. So we’ll go with these guidelines:
The car has to be road legal, in factory trim, and feature at least two seats.
All cars have to have video proof of the quarter mile time, specifically, videos produced by a publication of some sort so there’s little chance of modifications. If we can’t find a video, the car isn’t included. (We tried our best to find the best times of each car. If you find a better stock time video, don’t be afraid to let us know.)
Note: some of the videos need to be fast-forwarded for the actual quarter mile sprint, as indicated.
Here are the 24 runners, in alphabetical order:
1. Ariel Atom 3 Supercharged
2. Audi R8 GT
3. BMW E92 M3
4. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
5. Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
6. Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
7. Ferrari 458 Italia
8. Ferrari F40
9. Ford GT
10. Koenigsegg CCR
11. Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV
12. Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
13. Lexus LFA
14. McLaren F1
15. McLaren MP4-12C
16. Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG
17. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
18. Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
19. 2011 Nissan GT-R
20. Noble M400
21. Porsche Carrera GT
22. Porsche Panamera Turbo S
23. 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo
24. 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S
Place your bets…
24. BMW M3 Coupe
Rear-wheel drive sedan, 1580kg, 4.0-litre V8 producing 309kW and 400Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 12.7 seconds at 180km/h (112mph)
23. Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG
Rear-wheel drive sedan, 1716kg, 6.2-litre V8 producing 336kW and 600Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 12.6 seconds at 181km/h (112.3mph)
22. Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1912kg, 6.2-litre supercharged V8 producing 415kW and 747Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 12.2 seconds at 189km/h (117.5mph)
Watch below as it chirps into fourth gear on every run.
21. Porsche Panamera Turbo S
All-wheel drive sedan, 1970kg, 4.8-litre twin-turbo V8 producing 405kW and 800Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.9 seconds at 189km/h (117.2mph)
20. Ford GT
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1581kg, 5.4-litre supercharged V8 producing 410kW and 678Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.84 seconds at 200km/h (124mph)
(Fast forward to 40 seconds for the run)
19. Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
All-wheel drive coupe, 1430kg, 5.0-litre V10 producing 390kW and 510Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.8 seconds at unknown
(Fast forward to 8:23 for the run)
18. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1768kg, 5.4-litre supercharged V8 producing 460kW and 780Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.8 seconds at unknown
17. Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1620kg, 6.2-litre V8 producing 420kW and 650Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.7 seconds at 199.8km/h (124.1mph) See below.
16. Audi R8 GT
All-wheel drive coupe, 1524kg, 5.2-litre V10 producing 412kW and 540Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.5 seconds at 201km/h (125.1mph) See above.
15. Lexus LFA
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1480kg, 4.8-litre V10 producing 412kW and 480Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.6 seconds at 198km/h (123.2mph)
14. Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1515kg, 6.2-litre supercharged V8 producing 476kW and 819Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.5 seconds at 204km/h (126.9mph)
(Fast forward to 1:50 for the run)
13. Ferrari F40
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1100kg, 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 producing 352kW.
Factory quarter mile: 11.5 seconds at unknown
(Fast forward to 1:40 for the run)
12. Noble M400
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1060kg, 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 producing 317kW and 530Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.4 seconds at 193km/h (120mph)
11. Koenigsegg CCR
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1180kg, 4.7-litre twin-supercharged V8 producing 593kW and 920Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.4 seconds at unknown (claimed time of 9.9)
(Fast forward to 2:45 for the run)
10. 2011 Nissan GT-R
All-wheel drive coupe, 1730kg, 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 producing 390kW and 612Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.2 seconds at 198km/h (122.7mph)
9. Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV
All-wheel drive coupe, 1565kg, 6.5-litre V12 producing 493kW and 660Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.2 seconds at 199km/h
8. Ferrari 458 Italia
Rear-wheel drive coupe, 1485kg, 4.5-litre V8 producing 419kW and 549Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.1 seconds at 202km/h (125.2mph) and 11.0 seconds in another race further down
7. Porsche Carrera GT
Rear-wheel drive spyder, 1380kg, 5.7-litre V10 producing 456kW and 590Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.1 seconds at 202km/h (125.5mph)
6. McLaren F1
Rear-wheel drive, 1140kg, 6.1-litre V12 producing 461kW and 651Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.05 seconds at unknown.
5. 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo
All-wheel drive, 1660kg, 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat six producing 368kW and 650Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 11.0 seconds at 202km/h (125.4mph)
4. Porsche 911 Turbo S
All-wheel drive coupe, 1585kg, 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat six producing 390kW and 700Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 10.9 seconds at 206km/h (128mph)
3. McLaren MP4-12C
Rear-wheel drive, 1399kg, 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 producing 441kW and 601Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 10.7 seconds at 216km/h (134mph)
(Fast forward to 50 seconds for the run)
2. Ariel Atom 3 Rotrex supercharger
Rear-wheel drive, 612kg, 2.0-litre supercharged Honda four-cylinder producing 280kW.
Factory quarter mile: 10.6 seconds at 207km/h (128.4mph)
1. ‘Melbourne Cup’ performance car factory quarter mile winner:
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, of course
All-wheel drive coupe, 1840kg, 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 producing 883kW and 1500Nm.
Factory quarter mile: 9.9 seconds at 233km/h (145mph)
Well there you have it. Not a bad collection of cars. There’s certainly a few surprises in there. Any that you were bidding on that were quicker/slower than expected?