[auto/Moto] The 10 quickest-accelerating cars ever tested by Autocar

[#Hassan.]

Forget manufacturer claims - we've verified all these high speed runs with our own timing gear

These are the quickest ten cars yet to have been the subject of a full Autocar road test, as verified by our own timing gear. And guess what: the legendary McLaren F1 is no longer anywhere among them. Acceleration claims for new performance cars are easy to make, but often tricky or even misleading to compare. When it comes to standing-start acceleration, judging cars on like-for-like terms isn’t always easy, with slightly different benchmarking standards often skewing your comparisons. European manufacturers most commonly claim standing-start acceleration for their cars in 0-62mph because it’s equivalent to 0-100kmh; but some UK-based firms still claim 0-60mph instead. Meanwhile some American-based car-makers who claim 0-60mph performance do it on the basis of a ‘one-foot rollout’ drag-strip-style performance measure which disregards the first foot of the car’s acceleration run, and therefore isn’t a fair basis for comparison with any ‘from rest’ figure. Because this is now such conventional practice in North America, it’s usually not even acknowledged, making it very problematic to compare standing start acceleration claims made by, say, Chevrolet or Tesla with those of Porsche, Ferrari or Mercedes-AMG.

Even if everyone dealt in like-for-like terms where acceleration claims are concerned, though, isn’t there a better and more representative measurement of real-world performance potential than a 0-60mph claim? The answer’s yes; and it’s one that also balances out the advantages often given to brand-new performance cars by super-sticky ‘cup’ tyres, electronic launch control systems, active four-wheel drive systems, and torque-rich electric motors that can, between them, provide performance that’s much more instant than it is long-lasting. Below is a list of the fastest-accelerating performance cars ever to have been subject to a full set of Autocar’s independent performance tests as part of our standard road test procedure. They are ranked not on 0-60mph pace but instead primarily in order of their roll-on, through-the-gears acceleration from 30- to 70mph; with standing quarter-mile acceleration used to break any ties arising between cars of the same pace. So we’re not dealing in manufacturer’s claims here. These are verified acceleration statistics repeated and averaged out over two directions and on a level surface; in cars fully fuelled and with two occupants onboard; not fluked on one occasion and in one direction with a following wind, or conducted on some gluey dragstrip surface that’s worth a few bonus tenths off the line. This is our definitive, empirically backed list of the fastest road cars to which we’ve ever fixed timing gear. And you’ll be amazed what misses the cut.

1. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport 30-70mph: 1.7sec | Standing ¼-mile: 10.1sec at 147.9mph | Test date - 2.3.11

 

It’s been more than a decade now since our 5000th road test, on the mighty Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, was published. Even after that long it retains a little bit of breathing space as the fastest road car we’ve ever figured from 30- to 70mph. Bugatti’s yet to make a Chiron available to us for a road test, we should add; but since our Veyron test happened towards the end of that car’s life as a production car, there’s reason for hope that they might still do so. In the new age of the ‘gigawatt’ electric hypercar, we can expect the Veyron’s position on this list to be assailed sooner or later, whether by its direct replacement or an electrified rival; but it’ll only be achieved by a fiercely fast car. Moreover, until those electric exotics come with gearboxes, they may never accelerate beyond three figures quite like the 1183bhp Bugatti could. “If a Veyron Super Sport set off from a standing start ten seconds after a McLaren F1,” recorded our test, “allowing the McLaren to hit 130mph before even turning a wheel - the Bugatti could still reach 200mph at exactly the same time.” “It sounds a bit like two TVR Griffiths on full reheat, plus an industrial-strength air hose running all at once. But it has mind-bending, heart-stopping acceleration the like of which has never been felt in a road car before.”

2. Ferrari SF90 Stradale Assetto Fiorano 30-70mph: 1.8sec | Standing ¼-mile: 9.9sec at 146.8mph | Test date - 03.11.21

Ferrari's incredible petrol-electric plug-in hybrid SF90 Stradale supercar set the fastest laptime we've ever recorded around our benchmark handling track in September 2021, and surpassed most of the accelerative benchmarks of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport during the same test session. Most, but not quite all. It may be to do with shift timing, or a quirk of the way the Ferrari develops its torque; but the Ferrari didn't quite pip the Bugatti's 30-70mph through-the-gears acceleration time, missing it by a solitary tenth of a second. It covered a standing quarter mile faster than the Veyron, as well as a standing kilometre, and just about every other measurable increment as well. Sometimes, that's just how performance timing goes. Occasional anomalies are how can be sure that we generate these numbers for real. 3. Porsche 918 Spyder 30-70mph: 1.9sec | Standing ¼-mile: 10.2sec at 144.9mph | Test date - 22.10.14

The awesome Porsche 918 Spyder was one of the infamous ‘holy trinity’ of hybrid hypercars that emerged in the early part of the 2010s. We only got to fully test two-out-of-three; but the 918 was narrowly the quicker of the two, the car’s team of electric drive motors and race-derived V8 piston engine catapulting it from 30- to 70mph in less than two seconds. “The 918’s in-gear performance is unrivalled,” we recorded. “What’s so astonishing is not just the pace but also the flexibility afforded by its rampant electric motors’ instant torque. To accelerate from both 20mph to 40mph and 30mph to 50mph in second gear, a 918 Spyder needs 1.0sec. A McLaren P1 wants 1.3sec and 1.1sec over the same marks.”

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