If you ever wondered which topless sports car is the fastest, Carwow has brought the Audi R8 V10 Spyder, BMW i8 Roadster, McLaren 570S Spider and Mercedes-AMG GT C Roadster together for one of their classic drag races.
Drop-top sports cars tend to be more exciting than their fixed-roof counterparts, simply because they allow you to get exposed to the elements. Having no roof means that their impressive powertrains can flood the cabin more easily with the right kind of noise, therefore making them more enjoyable even if you’re not driving on a race track.
Each of the four contenders takes a different approach for the same goal; the R8 Spyder features a naturally aspirated V10 with 540hp and 398lb-ft strapped to the company’s Quattro all-wheel drive system.
The 570S Spider is powered by a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 with 562hp and 442lb-ft of torque that are sent to the rear wheels only. The i8 Roadster takes a whole different approach to the concept of a sports car, featuring a plug-in hybrid powertrain with a small 1.5-liter three cylinder petrol unit sitting at its heart. The BMW’s combined output is just 368hp, but it has all-wheel drive and lots of zero-rpm torque from its electric motors.
Finally we have the GT C Roadster. The group’s only front-engine car is powered by AMG’s twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8, which makes 547hp and 502lb-ft of torque. With all this power sent to the rear only, this could prove to be the trickiest of the three off the line.
Now that we’ve laid out the specs, it’s time to find out how those four fared in the drag race.