Can a car beat a biplane in a drag race? That's an interesting question, and one that two enthusiasts in their respective field set out to test. Hence, a Morgan Aero 8 sports car took on a muscle biplane, and the contest resulted in one incredible video.
John Wells, the Head of Design at Morgan Motor Company, drove the Aero 8, while veteran stunt pilot Richard Goodwin took control of the muscle biplane. As it turns out, the machines were pretty evenly matched.
"Statically, and on paper, the power-to-weight ratios of our Aero vs Rich's muscle biplane were evenly stacked," Wells told CarBuzz. "Nonetheless, it was surprising to see just how well matched they were from a standing start."
Touching on the actual race itself, Wells added, "The plane was gently floating at 45 degrees, just feet above me. I was even able to make eye contact with Rich above me in the cockpit, and it wasn't until he banked up sharply and my attention was fully refocused on the rapidly disappearing runway that the realization of just quite how insane this was dawned on me!"
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To briefly touch on specs, the Aero 8 was powered by a BMW V8 with 367 horsepower and 370 pounds of torque. The biplane, on the other hand, had a six-cylinder, 8.5-liter Lycoming 540 engine that produced over 300 horsepower.
There are lots of interesting moments here. The plane gets surprising close to the car as they're blazing down the track, and at one point, Goodwin activated his smoke cannons.
Was there a winner? Yes. All of us who got to witness this incredible stunt. What a wild ride!
This post was originally published on May 24, 2017.