There’s a giant gap between a Ferrari F40 and a modern-day Mercedes-Benz wagon from any perspective you can think of. But there’s at least one thing that connects these two seemingly unmatched machines – they both need a little more than four seconds to reach 60 miles per hour from a standstill. And as weird as it may sound, this makes them good contenders for a direct drag race.
This – plus a two-day, 800-mile trip – was the basic thinking behind Doug DeMuro’s decision to race his Mercedes E450 All-Terrain against the iconic supercar. This happened during an event held by The Petersen Museum, where tens of different cars raced each other for fun (and extra video content). DeMuro was there as a guest and a host but ultimately decided to race his dad's wagon.
Gallery: 2021 Mercedes-Benz E450 All-Terrain Wagon: Review
On paper, the F40 should be slightly faster by around 0.2-0.3 seconds but in reality, no one actually pushes their F40 to its limits, revving it to the redline, burning its clutch at the start, and warming its tires with a few burnouts. DeMuro, in turn, doesn’t have to do much in order to unleash all the potential of his Mercedes – it’s an automatic with smart modern electronic systems – and all he has to do is simply push the pedal to the metal, possibly outpacing the careful F40 driver.
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So, to summarize – one of the greatest supercars of all time against what many would consider a boring station wagon with a child seat at the back. We never thought we will write this sentence but here we are, watching this weird drag battle. And, honestly, it’s better than we thought.
The two cars meet in a series of three races and the Mercedes takes a comfortable win in the first one. In the second run, the F40 responds with a last-minute win and it is the third race that is going to decide the overall winner. Which car wins it? The answer is in the video at the top of this page.
