Straight-line acceleration testing isn't the definitive decider of a winner at Australia's
Best Driver's Car, it does help our judges form a better opinion of which cars
get their power to the ground best.
The numerical value also gives us a real-world look at how our rivals rank against one another;
times set on the runway at Wangaratta Airport representative of a hard start on a public road
Running in alphabetical order it's the Alfa Romeo that leaps from the line first, the
twin-turbocharged V6 howling away from the runway numbers in surprisingly clean fashion.
The red-blooded rear-drive sports sedan hits 100km/h in 4.9 seconds,
and crosses the 400m mark in 12 and a half
sounding glorious while doing it.
Next up it's the Audi RS 5 quattro which puts its all wheel drive grip to use in shaving
a full half a second from the Alfa's naught to 100 time.
at the end of the quarter mile though, it's advantage over the Alfa
Was just a tenth of a second
And its trap speed was more than 5kM/h slower at under 185
Sticking with the all-wheel drive German theme it's the M5 that lines up next.
Using twin-turbo V8 grunt to full effect, the Beemer smashes to 100 in a tenth quicker than the audi
to 400m, three-tenths quicker. And sets the highest trap speed for the day so far.
Our next contender needs no introduction, the V8-powered Mustang GT be no stranger to quarter-mile
testing at motoring.com.au
The manual gearbox made it harder to launch effectively, all that rear-drive
mumbo struggling to make traction on the loose Wangaratta runway.
From rear-drive to front-drive it's the Honda Civic Type R that heads down the runway next,
suffering similar traction issues to the Mustang GT before it.
This time at the pointy end
Crossing the 400m mark in just over 15 seconds the Civic's time is far from quick, but it's certainly
representative of a hard start on a public road.
The front-drive theme continues with the newly-launch Hyundai i30 N which posts a near identical
naught to 100 and 400m times as the Honda Civic Type R.
Next in the queue is a new rear-drive favourite, Kia's twin-turbocharged Stinger sports sedan.
Despite struggling for grip the Stinger sets an impressive time at Wangaratta, its sub
14 second pass one of the best rear-drive efforts for the day.
The most expensive rear-drive coupe at ABDC 2018 heads down the quarter-mile next.
And the Lexus LC 500 faster than the Kia Stinger by a couple of tenths.
From one of the dearest to one of the cheapest cars on test, it's the Mazda MX-5 RF Limited
Edition next, setting one of the slower times for the day.
Far from the slowest time of the day is our next runner, the tarmac shredding Mercedes-AMG
E 63.
With 800 Newton metres of torque and all-wheel drive grip the brawny benz is a force to be reckoned with,
although it fell short of the BMW by three-tenths to 100
it was a tenth quicker over the quarter mile at almost 12 seconds dead
And also set the highest trap speed of the day
Back to rear-wheel drive the Nissan 370Z NISMO's
normally-aspirated V6 power and a manual transmission clocking a decent sub 15 second pass.
From rear-drive to front-drive again and it's the alliance partner Renault whose updated
Clio RS 200 Cup rips a 15-second pass straight out of the blocks.
Getting off the line cleanly was an issue for our next contender, and the T.S-enhanced
Subaru BRZ ran the day's slowest time.
Hitting 400 metres in just over 16 seconds, straight line acceleration is simply not one of the BRZ fortes.
Forcing it to rely on other strengths to pull back points at ABDC
It's a similar story for our final entrant, with the Suzuki Swift Sport's agile chassis proving far
superior to its straight-line speed.
Still, with a sub 16 second pass and 153km/h trap time the pocket rocket's efforts are
far from the day's worst and prove the old adage about the size of the fight in the dog.
So, we’ve just run all 14 cars down the Wangaratta Airstrip,
which was a lot looser than we expected, so not surprisingly good old-fashioned footwork beat launch control every time.
Yes, that and all-wheel drive, which the E63 used to slightly better effect than the M5
and, on the day, was a quicker car.
No doubt with a whippier surface, all the cars would have gone quicker and the order may well have changed.
But on this day, with this surface, the Benz is our winner.