Toyota Supra Flexes Muscle when Racing Hennessey V8 Raptor
Is the Supra more potent than Toyota Claims? It takes a supercharged V8 swap for the Hennessey Raptor to put a bumper on it.
We’re starting to think Toyota might be holding back on their power numbers for the Supra. After watching this video of a Supra roll racing a Ford Raptor tuned by Hennessey, our suspicions seem likely to be true. To start out, we definitely know this is an apples-to-oranges comparison, but the details of this roll race video got our interest.
The hosts of this video know this is not a straight forward comparison. They start by saying the obvious. One host notes “the VelociRaptor V8 is obviously a big, lifted, full-size pickup truck. And comes in at 2,000 pounds over the Toyota. There’s a big disparity in weight but also a big disparity in horsepower. Plus aerodynamics come in to play as well.”
So what are the stats? We’ll start with the Supra. At 335 horsepower, the Supra will definitely be no slouch. However even for a smaller coupe is roughly a 3,400 pound car. Hennessey’s Raptor is powered by a supercharged 5.0 V8 making 758 horsepower. Its horsepower advantage is leveled out by a 2000 pound penalty in additional weight. But we already know some off-roaders can also be fast on the strip.
Hennessey decided that roll racing would be the best way to see how the two vehicles stack up. Interestingly, both vehicles were left in regular drive mode instead of manually using gears. The first race ends in a near dead heat. Regarding the close race, the host says “That’s pretty impressive considering this weighs 2000 more pounds with 35 inch tires. So with it that close, they go back for a round two.
The host driving the Supra says some things we might disagree with. He says “don’t buy one thinking that you’re going to have the fastest car on the road because you will not. That guy with the Raptor with the V8 will definitely be faster than this.” We understand that Hennessey will be hiking their own products, but the 0-60 and 1/4 mile stats show them nearly identical according to Car and Driver. Plus, when you look back at the video, the Ford is a little bit greedy on the roll races. . You can hear the Ford’s engine roar well before the “start” line for the roll races.
Hennessey will be using the Supra for a future tune, so perhaps they will soon find out the many virtues of Toyota’s newest sports car. We suspect it won’t take much to turn up the boost and blow the doors off any other unsuspecting car.
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