Hennessey Viper beats Veyron in 0-200 dash
Road & Track thought it might be fun to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend by taking a half dozen supercars out to Lemoore. That would be the nearly three-mile-long runway at the Naval Air Station Lemoore in California's San Joaquin Valley. Not that the air base isn't a nice place to visit, but the reason they were there was to test the cars' acceleration from 0-200 mph. R&T refers to it as the "World's First Supercar Drag Race." They had used this same strip for a standing mile acceleration run back in September '05, but this test was strictly for streetable cars that had claimed top speeds of more than 200 mph.
They nabbed Kiwi racer Steve Millen as their test driver once again, and basically told him to just get the best launch he could and get to 200 as quickly as possible. They further asked him, given the fact that two of the assembled cars had more than 1,000 hp on tap, not to let up until past the one-mile mark if 200 mph came before that, but not to go past the two-mile mark so as to allow enough shutdown room. Besides the 0-200 time they also wanted to record standing mile acceleration like the last time they visited the naval air base. So what were the results? Follow the jump to see, and don't forget to click the Read link for the full rundown.
[Source: Road & Track]
The full rundown of the cars tested and their results are below. Note that Ferrari and Lamborghini didn't provide cars for the test, but the crew found a sympathetic Lamborghini owner who volunteered his own 2002 Murci. Perhaps due to its age, it could only manage 190.1 mph. Similarly, although provided by Mercedes in this case, the SLR only hit 199.5 mph, despite a claimed top speed of 207. Non-stock wheels were given as explanations for both, which is really a shame. Additionally, the Veyron and the RUF were praised for their civility while attaining these incredible velocities. The big surprise in the test was the fact that although the Veyron was quicker through the mile, the extra horsepower of the Venom let it reach 200 faster, making it the king of the hill for this group. Without further ado, here are the results:
Car | HP | 0-200 | secs | Distance covered in feet
- Hennessey Venom 1000TT Viper: 1,100 20.3 3488
- Bugatti Veyron 16.4: 1,001 24.2 4770
- Lingenfelter C6 Corvette: 880 26.5 4894
- RUF Rt 12: 650 35.5 7385
- Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren: 617 47.2 (199.5 mph) 10560
- Lamborghini Murciélago: 580 50.1 (190.1 mph) 10560
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Finesse 2:46PM (8/01/2007)
It all comes down to power-to-weight ratio and gearing... If you read the article, the Viper could have done better but there is simply too much power @ the wheels to gain sufficient traction... However if it was up to me Viper < Bugatti, no questions asked ;)
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Mike Jenkins 2:57PM (8/01/2007)
That must have been a typo, of course you mean Viper>Veyron ;)
CB 3:01PM (8/01/2007)
Well the viper is like 1/6 the price of the veyron while out performing it. The veyron is exclusive because of the price and that it's not a tuner car. Depends on what you're looking for I guess.
Dave 3:06PM (8/01/2007)
The Bugatti is AWD and the Viper is RWD.
No surprise that the Viper would have more trouble hooking up at launch.
Don 4:24PM (8/01/2007)
Let's hear it for American Muscle!
Bugatti Schmugatti.
Derek 6:32PM (8/01/2007)
Actually, once you're up in the triple digit area it's more about ho to drag than hp to weight.
John P. 3:01PM (8/01/2007)
Not surprising the Viper stomped the Veyron 0-200 (4 seconds is a LONNNNNG way at those speeds), but what did surprise me was that the Corvette wasn't able to beat the Veyron, it was close though. It was probably hampered by no traction off the line.
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vectorbug 3:05PM (8/01/2007)
meh, the dodge is a tuner car, might as well put a rocket car with bumpers in the mix. At least the veyron has the research behind it to probably keep it on the road longer.
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sfast 3:24PM (8/01/2007)
What? No 0-100-0?
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BirdmanSTX 3:37PM (8/01/2007)
Or in this case..... 0-200-0!
Proud Japanese 3:41PM (8/01/2007)
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/06/29/bugatti-veyron-0-100-0-in-9-9-sec/
Veyron does it in 9.9 faster than the Ariel Atom or GSXR1000.
Laba 3:41PM (8/01/2007)
What a piece of crap. The Veyron can really do 0-200mph in 19,5s. I watched the other videos on Road & Track website, and they launched the Veyron in Top Speed mode. But the Veyron is muvh faster to 200mph in handling mode with the spoiler giving very important downforce in the 0-100mph part.
Anyone can make a skateboard and put a rocket engine to it to make it go 0-200mph in 15s. But the Veyron is so much more. I bet the Viper broke down atleast 20 times making this test. If Bugatti made a stripped out 1400kg "superleggera" Veyron it would outperform anything. Buy for bugatti that isn't the point of the car.
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DCragTop 3:39PM (8/01/2007)
Who cares who got there first....I'd take ANY or ALL of these rockets. If these penis extenders are being tested to/for a 200mph run because they actually CAN go 200mph in under 1 minute...then that car has my respect.
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biggins 6:32PM (8/01/2007)
you really have to look at the cars, as well. I mean, if you want pure, straight line performance, sure, grab the viper.
if you want the exclusivity, luxury, and all-round performance of the veyron, i'd say get it, but only if you've got a huge amout of disposable income lying around.
the veyron is just a better car, flat out. afterall, the viper is just, well, a viper.
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Hwins 3:48PM (8/01/2007)
Not surprising. The Veyron is a one-dimensional automobile, the car equivalent of a Hayabusa. It is designed for one thing, and oddly enough, they both ugly and resemble some kind of deformed turtle.
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Sean Morris 4:05PM (8/01/2007)
http://gtrusa.blogspot.com/2007/07/keith-cowie-and-rb-motosport-in-uk-set.html
0-60MPH in 2.5secs, 0-100MPH in 4.35secs, 0-150MPH in 8.09secs and 0-200MPH in 14.75secs all in the space of half a mile.
Derek 3:06PM (8/02/2007)
The Veyron is one-dimensional? As opposed to the Viper? How do you figure? The Viper is the most one-dimensional car in the group. Its a track/trailer car. The Veyron was designed to be mind-blowingly fast but as comfortable as any other super-exotic luxury car on the market.
ckm 4:11PM (8/01/2007)
What about the Carrera GT? Or the Pagani Zonda? Or the Koneigsegg? It seems that this test was mostly designed to show that American tuner cars are fast.
Chris.
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James 4:19PM (8/01/2007)
Too bad the Viper probably blew up after it was done with its run. Hennessey-touched cars have a tendency to not last too terribly long, much like their namesake's customer loyalty.
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zamafir 4:26PM (8/01/2007)
"The big surprise in the test was the fact that although the Veyron was quicker through the mile, the extra horsepower of the Venom let it reach 200 faster"
Step 1, find something with 1000h to give the veyron a bloody nose
Step 2, run them down a straight, graph, and find the point where the bloody nose giver beats the veyron - crucially, it doesn't have to be 0-60 or say the 1/4 mile or even top speed, just wherever it beats the veyron, hopefully a round number
Step 3, grab a few more cars for a shoot-out.
Right. No shock here, there are plenty of supercars which may be faster then another to sixty but slower in the quarter mile. The point of the veyron is it was purpose built to be unmatched to sixty and in top speed, it's still achieved those goals.
How about a rematch to 240? :P
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