Turbo LSX RX7 vs Wicked Nissan GTR for $5000! Grudge Street Race

I’ve been posting lately about quite a few races where factors other than horsepower affect the outcome. Factors like weight and aerodynamics can play a huge role in determining the winner of a race. And then, I’m reminded that sometimes weight doesn’t matter when there is a drastic difference in horsepower, although I have to say the lopsidedness of this race kind of blows my mind.

Comparing the numbers, the GTR has a decided advantage in horsepower, but also carries a massive amount of weight over the RX7, almost 1,000 pounds lighter. By conventional math, that’s the equivalent of a 1,000 horsepower difference between the cars, although top end runs and dig races may not translate the same when it comes to weight vs performance, so don’t quote me on that as fact.

Regardless of the shifty math, the RX7 comes in nearly 1,000 pounds lighter while the GTR has approximately 400 horsepower over the LS-swapped Mazda. It seems like this would make for a reasonably close race.

It doesn’t.

When the drivers drop the hammer, the GTR absolutely obliterates the RX7, to the point of causing the commenters on YouTube to almost universally accuse the GTR driver of hustling the RX7. However, it turns out the callout went the other way, with the RX7 having called out the Nissan, apparently not realizing just how well the GTR puts power to the pavement. I can’t help but wonder if there was as issue with the RX7, because I’ve seen LS swapped RX7’s that make less power than this one that would have given this GTR a much better race. Perhaps he was down on boost or had an issue with the transmission, or maybe he lost traction.

Or… maybe he just got spanked!