Twelve of the world’s best driver’s cars line up on an airstrip for MotorTrend’s sixth drag race showdown – and then an uninvited Dodge Charger Hellcat, parked nearby for entirely unrelated reasons, ends up joining the field anyway. The results surprise viewers more than the official lineup does. Watch to see which cars actually back up their reputations.
Twelve of the best driver’s cars in the world lined up on an airstrip for the sixth installment of MotorTrend’s drag race series – and then a thirteenth car showed up that nobody had planned for. It was not a supercar, and it was not even part of the official lineup. It was a personal Dodge Charger Hellcat parked nearby, and once one of the hosts noticed it sitting there, there was no version of this video where it was not getting added to the field.
A Lineup Stacked With Six-Figure Metal
The official field reads like a wish list: Acura NSX, Aston Martin V12 Vantage S manual, Audi R8 V10 Plus, BMW M4 GTS, Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE, Dodge Viper ACR, Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R, Jaguar F-Type SVR, McLaren 570S, Mercedes-AMG GT S, Nissan GT-R, and Porsche 911 Carrera S – twelve genuinely different approaches to going fast in a straight line, from mid-engine exotics to a purpose-built Viper track weapon.
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Why an Airstrip Beats a Traditional Drag Strip
MotorTrend runs this series on an airstrip rather than a sanctioned drag strip specifically because it lets them line up this many cars side by side for a true multi-car launch, something no conventional two-lane strip could accommodate. It trades NHRA-grade timing precision for spectacle and direct visual comparison, which is exactly what a lineup this varied needs.
The Hellcat Nobody Invited
The Charger Hellcat’s appearance is pure happy accident – Senior Features Editor Jonny Lieberman’s own car, parked nearby for entirely unrelated reasons, that Jason Cammisa noticed and could not resist adding to the field. An American four-door sedan built for family duty ends up lining up against cars costing three and four times its price, purely because it happened to be within walking distance.
What the Comments Actually Remember
Ask viewers what stuck with them and the answers are not about the official podium – they are about the R8’s understated dominance, described in one comment as “the quiet kid who always sits in the corner” because it does not need to prove anything, and about a German V10 out-punching cars built specifically for straight-line bragging rights.
Domestic Muscle in a Field of Exotics
The Hellcat’s presence matters for a reason beyond comedy value: it puts a genuinely mass-produced, four-door American sedan directly against purpose-built European and Japanese performance icons, and the resulting comparison says as much about modern muscle car engineering as it does about any single result on the day.
Straight-Line Speed Versus Track Capability
One recurring comment thread notes the irony that several European entries beat the field in a straight line but would likely lose on an actual road course – a distinction MotorTrend’s broader Best Driver’s Car competition, which this drag race supports, exists specifically to explore. Straight-line bragging rights and genuine driver’s-car credentials are not always the same conversation.
Why This Format Keeps Getting Requested
Six installments deep, MotorTrend’s drag race series keeps drawing requests for more precisely because it sidesteps typical car-media rivalries in favor of a simple, visual format – everybody lines up, everybody launches together, and the tape does not lie about who got there first, planned entrant or last-minute addition alike.
The Broader Best Driver’s Car Competition Behind It
This drag race exists as a supporting feature within MotorTrend’s larger Best Driver’s Car competition, an annual event that evaluates cars on a genuine road course rather than a straight line, with the same group of editors driving back to back and comparing notes in real time. The drag race functions almost as comic relief within that larger, more serious evaluation – a chance to answer the simplest possible question, who is fastest in a straight line, before the harder work of judging chassis balance and steering feel begins in earnest.
Why a Sedan Ever Got Taken Seriously in This Field
A four-door Hellcat getting taken seriously alongside genuine supercars says something about how far modern Detroit muscle has closed the gap on outright straight-line performance, even if it can never quite match the price tags or badge prestige of an Aston Martin or a McLaren. Horsepower figures on paper increasingly tell a more level story across categories than badge snobbery would suggest, and this drag race exists specifically to put that theory to the test in front of an audience.
What a Multi-Car Launch Actually Tests
A true multi-car launch tests something a one-on-one drag race never can: consistency under pressure with eleven other cars launching at the exact same instant, no do-overs, no isolated timing lights to hide behind. Reaction time matters just as much as raw power in a field this size, and a driver who hesitates even briefly ends up losing ground that no amount of horsepower can make back up over a quarter mile.
The Editors Behind the Wheel
Jason Cammisa and Jonny Lieberman, the Senior Features Editors narrating and driving in this installment, bring years of back-to-back seat time across dozens of these comparison drag races, giving them a frame of reference for exactly how each car’s launch characteristics compare that a first-time viewer would have no way of judging alone. Their commentary throughout the video functions as much as expert analysis as entertainment, translating raw elapsed times into context that explains why a given car performed the way it did. Watching all thirteen cars launch together also exposes something a spec sheet never can: how a car actually behaves under real load in the first tenth of a second, when wheelspin, launch control calibration, and driver confidence matter more than peak horsepower ever will. That first moment off the line, more than any trap speed further downtrack, is usually what separates the cars viewers remember from the ones they forget by the next video. It is the kind of detail only repeat viewers of MotorTrend’s drag race series tend to notice, which is exactly the audience this format was built to reward. Even the Viper ACR, built purely for lap times rather than straight-line bragging rights, earns its spot in this field simply by showing up and holding its own against machinery costing far more.
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