(heavy engine revving) (car revving) - Hey, Josh.
- Hey, Jonny. - How you doin', man?
- Good, how are you? - Thrilled to be here. And you want to tell everyone watching why you're wearing this fancy outfit? - Absolutely. I represent the United States Air Force here at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
- And we're here at
Vandenberg Air Force Base because of your beautiful runway. But what do you guys do at Vandeberg? - We launch rockets. - Okay, I can't compete with that. But at Motor Trend, we launch cars.
And we're here at Vandenberg because this is World's Greatest Drag Race Seven! (Engines revving) (intense electronic music) (cars revving) - Welcome to 30th Space Wing, Jonny. - Could you tell me about
this fantastic runway that we're standing on? - You're at the Vandenberg
Air Force Base runway. It was built in the '70s
for the NASA space shuttle to actually land here,
and it's 15,000 feet long. - So it's the runway of my dreams.
But let me ask you this. These days at Vandenberg,
what's your mission? - It is to land, launch,
and also test any missiles or downstages that we need to. - Today at least, our mission is to launch these 12 cars down your runway as quickly as possible to figure out which one is the winner. Which one of these 12 do
you think is going to win? - I think the AMG will win.
- Solid choice. Big, powerful car. - I'll tell you which
one won't win, though. That's the Mazda down there.
- That's a very good point. Hey, can we get that Miata out of here and replace it with the four-door five passenger family sedan? (Car revving) (intense orchestral music) - I see there's no one in the car. - Okay. Tech Sergeant, would you do us the honor of starting the launch countdown for the World's Greatest Drag Race? - Absolutely.
- [Jonny] But first, let's
meet this year's contenders. Here's the first great Lexus
coupe in a very long time, the new V8-powered LC500. This is the four-door, four
cheese, Alfa Romeo Giulia with a heart from Ferrari. Aston Martin reinvents
itself for a second century with the lovely DB11.
AMG's beast from Green
Hell is also known as GTR. McLaren returns with a
luxurious glass-roofed grand touring car, the 570GT. Maranello is in the house
with the manic obviously-red Ferrari 488 GTB. The Tesla Model S P100D
with Ludicrous Plus is the quickest car we've ever tested, to 60 miles an hour.
Let's see how it does in the quarter mile. The Porsche 911 Turbo S launches so hard the front wheels nearly
come off the ground. Godzilla has long been
considered king of the quarter. Let's see how this year's
Nismo GT-R performs.
The Camaro ZL1 1LE is one
of the most powerful cars in the race, but can
it put the power down? The Porsche 718 Cayman S
only has 350 horsepower, though the quick-shifting PDK should help. Somehow, someway, with
only 460 horsepower, the Corvette Grand Sport
feels underpowered. However, it is light. Let's see how it does.
(Intense dramatic music) (cars revving) - Begin launch sequence. (Cars revving) T minus seven. Six. Five.
Four. Three. Two. One.
Go. (Intense dramatic music) (tires screeching) (cars roaring) (engines shifting gears) (dramatic silence) (cars revving) - Just like that, America is on top. The California-built P100D, the heaviest car in the race, wins it all, once again demonstrating
the inherent advantage of electric motors when
it comes to acceleration. That said, the Porsche
Turbo S and the Ferrari 488 were charging hard.
Had the race gone longer
than a quarter mile, they both would've beaten the Tesla. Also coming fast was the McLaren 570 GT, just a tick off the podium. The GT-R shootout ends with
the fifth place Godzilla just edging out the sixth place AMG, thanks primarily to the Nissan's
all wheel drive advantage. The 350 horsepower Cayman
ties the 650 horsepower Camaro to 60 miles an hour, but then the Chevy's massive power advantage
begins to take over.
(Dramatic orchestral music) The Grand Sport nearly loses the race, illustrating how badly
it could use more power. The Lexus is last, and that's just fine. (Cars revving) In the 68 years that Motor
Trend's been testing cars, the all-electric Tesla Model S P100D. Is the hardest accelerating
car we've ever tested.
It's a brave new car world out there, and Tesla is the drag strip king (car humming) until next year. (Voices giving directions
over microphones) (car revving).
