Check out this Jeep Trackhawk racing a Suzuki Hayabusa in what is most definitely a weird drag race.
We’ve seen SUVs drag race before, but usually it’s against other SUVs. We’ve never seen a big, hulking ute take on a teeny tiny motorbike, and we’re really wondering how the two will stack up.
On paper, the Hayabusa seems to have the edge. It’s capable of a 2.7-second zero to sixty time and running a quarter-mile in 10 seconds. That’s all thanks to a relatively large (for a motorcycle) 1.3-L 4-stroke inline 4-cylinder engine with 173 hp and 99.6 lb-ft torque. That might not sound like a lot, but remember a motorcycle weighs next to nothing.
Top speed was electronically limited to 186 mph, although that had more to do with preventing bike manufacturers from creating even more suicidally fast bikes than any real safety benefit.
This particular Hayabusa is a first generation, probably built in the early 2000s. So long as it’s been well maintained, we should see it shoot off the line, but even more than manual transmissions, a bike’s performance all comes down to the skill of the driver.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk doesn’t have that problem. It has a big 8-speed automatic, all-wheel-drive, and enough power to shoot it to the moon and back. Okay, maybe not that much power, but close.
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Under the hood is the same supercharged 6.2-L V8 from the Dodge Hellcat, producing the same 707 hp and 645 lb-ft. Zero to sixty is done in 3.5 seconds on its way to a top speed of 180 mph.
It also weighs roughly ten times as much as the Hayabusa, so we’ll see if that comes into play.
It doesn’t. Even though the Hayabusa has the potential for a fast start, the driver seems a little slow off the line. Maybe they were nervous, or maybe the inability for the Hayabusa to prep its tires in a burnout means that the driver can’t gun it off the line without spinning wildly out of control.
Whatever the reason, the Trackhawk takes the lead and keeps it for the entire length of the run. The Trackhawk finished in a respectable 11.94 seconds, while the Hayabusa finished in 13.10 seconds.