Drag races are always fun to watch, especially if the contenders are two extremely different cars. Such is the case here with a BMW M3 G80 that met an old Volkswagen Passat Variant at the drag strip. Both cars are playing in the 700-horsepower league, but four decades set them apart as the wagon was built back in the 1980s.
Modified by German tuning shop LCE Performance, the M3 is of the Competition variety and pushes out a meaty 740 hp from its twin-turbo inline-six engine. Before going up against the long-roof VW, it dueled a 500-hp, straight-piped Audi TT RS modded by Aulitzky Tuning. It managed to beat in a straight line by completing the half-mile run in 16.3 seconds whereas the performance coupe needed 17.7.
Then the classic Passat 32B came along with its Syncro setup, which was VW’s way of identifying its all-wheel-drive cars before the days of 4Motion. With 700 hp on tap, it’s safe to say the 2.2-liter inline-five engine is far from being stock, especially if you take into consideration it made a measly (by today’s standards) 120 hp back in the day. Looking impressively mint despite its venerable age, the super wagon came out on top, doing the half-mile sprint in 16.7 seconds whereas the M3 took 17.5 seconds.
The G80 faced a third and final adversary during the RACE 1000 1/2 Mile Event in Germany by being pitted against a Porsche 911 Turbo S from the current 992 generation. Coincidentally, the speedy coupe from Zuffenhausen was massaged to a whopping 900 hp by the same LCE Performance who worked on the M3. Naturally, the BMW was simply no match for the Porsche, which completed the half-mile in only 15.1 seconds or 1.2 seconds sooner than the Bavarian sedan.
In a subsequent solo run, the M3 Competition was clocked in at 16.2 for the half-mile journey, which was its best performance that day.
