The motoring world is now acquainted with new Top Gear hosts Paddy McGuinness and Andrew Flintoff. On YouTube, however, Top Gear is throwing a bit of nostalgia from the Matt LeBlanc era courtesy of a drag race from Series 26. This is a notable one, because it pits a pair of similar-yet-different V8-powered GT cars in a head-to-head showdown.
Brothers from another mother:
How exactly are an Aston Martin Vantage and a Mercedes-AMG GT S similar? Lest ye forget, Aston Martin has a deal with AMG for engines, and though certain “changes” are made to the mills to give them an Aston flavour, it’s really the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 found in the Mercedes-AMG GT. Well, it’s almost the same. As LeBlanc points out in the video, the Aston-Martin’s version makes a bit less horsepower than the V8 nestled beneath the Merc’s bonnet. In this case, it’s 503 bhp in the Vantage versus 515 for the AMG GT S. As LeBlanc also points out, the Aston’s mill is tuned for slightly more torque, possibly because it’s a rather heavy car, or perhaps just to differentiate itself from Mercedes.
Gallery: Top Gear Vantage vs AMG GT drag race
In any case, a drag race between these two machines is very interesting indeed. With the same engine nestled in the same front-end location driving the same rear wheels in the same GT configuration, one would expect a neck-and-neck race. It should be noted that one thing not the same is cost – with a base price of £120,900, the Vantage is over £5,000 more expensive than the AMG GT. Does that mean it will be faster?
Actually, that’s rather intriguing. We will let the video tell the story, but considering all the similarities between these two Euro GT cars, the outcome is rather surprising.