ABDC 2018: Acceleration Testing

Testing times

When it comes to performance cars, nothing separates the wheat from the chaff better than standing-start acceleration runs to compare 0-100km/h and 0-400m (quarter-mile) times.

No, straight-line performance testing isn’t the be-all and end-all for ABDC contestants. But – in concert with the circuit testing we conducted at Winton Motor Raceway the following day – it does inform our judges as to how well each car gets its power to the ground.

Once again, instead of a sticky drag strip in cool, dense early-morning air – which is hardly representative of real-world conditions – we chose a less-than-perfect surface in the middle of a hot day.

Also in the spirit of a ‘fast road start’, we chose not to employ any of the launch-control functions available to us and instead relied on good old-fashioned footwork.

But before you flood us with accusations of sub-standard or inconsistent driving and point out that our times are well off all the manufacturers’ claims, know that – as usual at ABDC – all our numbers were recorded by Bathurst 1000 winner Luke Youlden.

A quick fang at Wang’

Except in cases of excessive wheel spin (hello Mustang, M5 and BRZ…), Luke ran each car down the surprisingly loose Wangaratta Airport runway twice – first to record 0-100km/h times, then 0-400m times.

He tested one car after the other in the same 27-degree ambient temperature, using the same technique for the seven manuals and seven automatic respectively. In the latter, it was a case of load up the throttle before the car creeps, then dump the brake and nail the right foot.

Each car ran one-up with a full fuel tank on maximum road pressures according to their tyre placards and with all traction aids switched off, and times were recorded with a Qstarz 6000S GPS timer.

Naturally, the three all-wheel drives (BMW M5, Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4MATIC+ and Audi RS 5 quattro) had a distinct advantage on the low-grip bitumen surface over the two-wheel drive cars.

But the differences between the AWDs was just as intriguing as the disparate performance of the four front-drives (Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai i30 N, Renault Clio RS 200 Cup and Suzuki Swift Sport) and the seven rear-drives (Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, Ford Mustang GT Track Pack, Kia Stinger 330Si, Lexus LC 500, Mazda MX-5 RF Limited Edition, Nissan 370Z NISMO and Subaru BRZ tS.

By the book

Running in our traditional alphabetical order, first up was the Alfa, which got off the line surprisingly cleanly but did spin its tyres into second gear.

Nevertheless the red-blooded rear-drive sports sedan smashed out a respectable sub-4.9sec 0-100km/h time, hit 400m in less than 12.5sec at more than 190km/h (see full times below) and sounded glorious while doing it.

Just as it did the next day at Winton, the same car that was withdrawn from ABDC 2017 a year ago lay down a formidable benchmark for the others to beat and looked odds-on to redeem itself.

The all-wheel drive Audi RS 5 quattro’s getaway was slick in comparison and, despite a momentary pause off the line, it lowered the Alfa’s 100km/h time by more than a second to 4.3sec.

Using its extra grip and less powerful – but identical-configuration – twin-turbo 2.9-litre V6 to good effect, it also nudged ahead of the Italian car’s 400m time by a tenth, at 12.4sec – although the Giulia’s trap speed was 5km/h higher.

The AWD BMW M5 bettered all those numbers despite delivering the most (rear) wheel spin so far, hitting 100km/h in a fraction under 4.2sec and 400m in a rapid 12.154sec at more than 192km/h.

The rear-drive Mustang V8 manual was harder to launch effectively, spinning up its rear rubber even into third gear and forcing Luke to slip the clutch off the line after two aborted runs.

In the end – despite riding on Pirelli P Zero tyres as part of the Track Pack option – the Mustang posted a lacklustre 6.6sec 0-100 time, at 14.4sec for the standing quarter at less than 140km/h.

Civic responsibility

The Civic Type R ran within a second on both counts, but it too suffered from a lack of grip (this time at the front-end, even in second gear), posting disappointing 7.4sec and 15.4sec times – the latter at a faster 166km/h.

Interestingly, despite producing less power, Hyundai’s first hot hatch posted almost identical figures -- 0-100km/h in 7.5sec and 400m in 15.4sec, although its trap speed was 10km/h slower.

Now to the rear-drive Stinger, which used its grunty twin-turbo V6 to good effect, laying the boldest black line of rubber so far to hit 100km/h in 5.68sec and 400m in 13.85sec – at an impressive 172km/h.

The rear-drive, $190K LC 500 also suffered from traction problems – even with its wider rubber, which constantly collected pebbles in its brakes – but sounded glorious on its way to 100km/h in six seconds flat.

It turned the tables on the Kia by being marginally quicker to 400m, and slightly quicker too.

In comparison, as you’d expect given the price difference, the evergreen Mazda MX-5 – this time in special-edition hard-top RF manual form – produced plenty of grip but was slow at 7.9sec (100km/h) and 15,85sec (400m), the latter at less than 145km/h

Next, the AMG E63 S – the priciest car here – stunned us all with its barking twin-turbo V8, lightning-quick nine-speed auto and physics-defying AWD system spearing it to 100km/h in less than 4.48sec.

Even more astonishing on this surface was its 400m time of 12 seconds dead, which at a faction under 200km/h was another benchmark.

Old-school cool

Time for the old-school, rear-drive manual Nissan 370Z NISMO, but its lusty atmo V6 was no match for the pricier, higher-tech machinery here, with a 100km/h time of 7.1sec and 400m in 14.76sec – at 163km/h.

The pint-size Renault Clio RS Cup showed why it’s not a drag car but a cornering car at Wangaratta, wheel-spinning off the line then getting good grip to post 7.5sec (100km/h) and 15.1sec (400m) times.

But it was the rear-drive BRZ tS manual that proved slowest – despite being one of the surprise packages on the road – lacking enough power and grip to hit 100km/h any sooner than 8.8sec and 400m in less than 16.3sec.

Finally the Swift Sport, which did break the 16sec mark for the quarter-mile, where it matched the Renault for top speed but failed to hit 100km/h in less than eight seconds.

Its problem was not traction but power from its puny 1.4-litre turbo-petrol four, which feels spritely on the road but forced Luke to slip its clutch off the line here, where its ‘soft’ rev-limiter also worked against it.

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Release the beast

Nevertheless, while this is the most eclectic group of ABDC cars ever, it’s the most closely grouped in terms of performance, even if the Merc was in a league of its own on the strip.

Indeed, the E 63’s quarter-mile time (just outside 11 seconds and more than 0.1sec quicker than the brand-new M5, which also packs a twin-turbo V8 and AWD) was eye-opening.

How it hit 100km/h almost three-tenths slower than the BMW in those circumstances still escapes us, but as we’ve observed in the past, straight-line acceleration can vary markedly from expectation at ABDC.

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2018 ABDC acceleration times:

Alfa Romeo Giulia QV
0-100km/h: 4.897sec
0-400m: 12.487sec @ 190.9km/h

Audi RS 5 quattro
0-100km/h: 4.331sec
0-400m: 12.386sec @ 184.6km/h

BMW M5
0-100km/h: 4.184sec
0-400m: 12.154sec @ 192.5km/h