Savage 1,200 HP S2000 Takes on Tuned McLaren 720S in Drag Race
After a couple of promising test runs, this race between a mega-power S2000 and a McLaren ends prematurely.
It goes without saying that the McLaren 720S is one of the quickest and fastest cars in production today. The supercar lays down 9-second passes at the drag strip all day long in stock form, and things get even more impressive when owners dare make modifications to them. But even this tuned 720S doesn’t measure up on paper to its rival in the latest Driving Line Driver Battle – a 1,200 horsepower Honda S2000.
The owner of this insane S2000 – Stuart Leiby – has pretty much maxed out his ride with goodies including fully forged internals and a 68mm Xona Rotor turbo, which helps it produce four-digit horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet of torque, all of which flows through a sequential transmission to the ground through some select rubber. “I chose the 275/50/15 Nitto NT555RIIs,” Leiby said. “I remember running the old NT555s way back in the day when I was in college drag racing, and they worked really good on everything.”
On the other side, we have Kenny Tran‘s 720S, which has been treated to an M-Engineering tune and IDS titanium exhaust and downpipe. Those minor mods help the car put down an impressive 870 horsepower and 700 pound-feet of torque at the wheels, which are wrapped with Nitto NT05R tires. “That’s what I needed to hook,” Trans said. “I had the factory tires on there and I spun a bit, so we’re going to see if I can run a better time today.”
Tran laid down a 9.40-second pass at 154 miles-per-hour at the same track the week prior to this showdown, so we were certainly excited to see what it could do with some stickier rubber. And on the first test pass, both cars hook with no problem as the S2000 edges out the McLaren with a low 9-second pass.
Things were looking good for the “money run” until the S2000 suddenly stops mid-track and slowly creeps toward the wall. Apparently, Leiby was playing around with the launch boost on his Honda, and when it kicked in, the car wheel-hopped and appeared to hurt either an axle or the differential. Thus, the two line up in a pair of Charger “control cars” to see who is the best driver, and today that turns out to be Tran by a hair.
It’s a somewhat disappointing result any time a car breaks or fails to finish the race, of course, but it’s clear that the S2000 was the faster car here. Perhaps we’ll get a rematch at some point in the future, so this wicked Honda can demonstrate what it’s truly capable of.
Join the Honda-Tech forums now!
