Three fast AWD cars line up for drag races: the Audi RS3, BMW X6 M50i, and BMW X3M Competition. Mixing E85 fuel into the RS3 cut its 0-60 time by over a second. The tuned X3M dominated the field even with extra weight.
Questions this video answers
400 horsepower
Just under 3,600 pounds
Can sprint to 60 in less than four seconds
"a high 12 second 6130 time on 93 octane" (transcript wording)
523 brake horsepower and 553 pounds-feet of torque
Chapters
Good morning, beautiful people. In the next few episodes we're going to be heading back to our lovely little airstrip where we're going to do another 3x3 showdown. And if you don't know what that is, basically we take six cars, bracket them into two groups and then do a three way drag race elimination style, and then the winner from both groups then head on to race each other.
In the final round.
A few months ago we did the.
Series with a bunch of entry level supercars, breaking them down by front engine versus mid engine layout.
So for the next couple weeks we're going to be doing the exact same thing, except with some mid range sports cars. Now, no particular segment. The only thing they do have in common is how many wheels power gets sent to. And what that basically means is rear wheel drive versus all wheel drive. Now, the lineup might be a little bit unconventional, but I assure you it should be pretty interesting, at least to me.
That's probably because I love all things racing. Or that maybe because I have a dog in the race.
Today we're going to start with the all wheel drive cars. Let's take a look at who we got.
This is the Audi RS3. I raved about this platform for quite a few episodes. Now, it's a 400 horsepower pocket rocket that's stimulated by a rather unique turbocharged inline 5. It carries five people and can sprint to 60 in less than four seconds. Weighing in at just under 3,600 pounds, the power to weight is a respectable 9. 1. In our acceleration test, we were able to ride a high 12 second 6130 time on 93 octane. However, we also talked about how it needs exceptional fuel to see its full potential. So today we're popping in a few gallons of E85 to see what it can really do and to see if my theory is true. Here's our very own BMW X6 M50i. It seems a little out of place, but it's the middleman in terms of power output. With a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8, we're looking at 523 brake horsepower and a massive 553 pounds of torque. However, it does weigh a good 5200 pounds, so the power to weight ratio is a hefty 9.9 to 1. In our initial test of the car, we were running 13 flat in the 600 130, but I've been breaking her in a little bit more. So now it's putting down high 12's pretty consistently. And of course yours truly will be piloting this beast today, so we'll have some home field advantage there. Last but not least, we have the BMW X3M comp stock. We're looking at 503 horsepower and we already know how fast these things are, so adding a tuned one into the mix is just pure overkill. This particular car has a BM3 stage one tune optimized for E30. Sounds simple enough, but now we're talking about a ridiculous 600 WHP or over 650 to the crank. Definitely not a fair fight here, but we didn't have a choice because our original contender had to drop out last minute due to technical problems. So in order to even things out a little, we decided to pop in five more adults into the car, which brings it up to about £5,400 or so. And now our power to weight is around 8.3 to 1. Still mega op, but let's see what happens. It. It's. Right.
So we handicapped the X3M as much as possible, but no matter what we.
Did, it still demolished both the RS3.
And our X6 M50. Pretty much a given though. Don't blame me, I tried to level the playing field as much as I.
Possibly could given the circumstances.
If you're looking for an asshole to blame, look at the guy who was.
Supposed to show up in race up us and that's my buddy John Bromley.
With the full bolt on stage 2 focus RS who talked a whole bunch of smack and then decided to do.
An oil change the night before. Leave his old cap off, show up, get a check engine light, cry about it, run home, come back and then.
We did get a one on one.
Race at the end, but let's just say the results weren't very pretty for him.
Anyway, I wanted to follow up on.
The fuel theory for the RS3.
He ended up putting a little bit too much E85 in the tank so the mixture was around E30ish. So that's about 97 octane.
But let's take a look at the data.
You can see that the increased octane.
Over 93 made a huge difference. Low end was negligible, but over a whole second faster in the 60, 134 miles per hour and a half. That's phenomenal. These numbers are correct at the sea.
Level, but both times we ran the.
Car the conditions in DA were almost identical.
So I feel like that's a non variable there. At some point I want to do.
A dedicated episode on whether or not increased octane actually makes a difference.
It's a topic that's probably been beaten.
To death on the Internet forums for like two decades now. But as with all things in life, I like to see the results for myself.
Regardless, looks like the X3M is moving on to the final round. So on the next episode, we're going to need to find a rear wheel drive contender who can give him a run for his money. Given the circumstances, I think I have.
Just the cars that are up for the challenge. Hopefully they can keep up.
Stay tuned and I'll catch you guys soon.
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