The hottest car battle on the internet right now has to be the second edition of the Hoonicorn vs the World series, where international drifting superstar Ken Block pits his 1,400-horsepower Ford Mustang against a range of wild and wonderful machines. The first season showed Block taking on all sorts of monsters, including an eight-second Audi RS3, and even Rob Dahm's four-rotor Mazda RX-7, but this time, it's his teenage daughter Lia behind the wheel.
Earlier this week, we covered her insane battle against a 4,000-hp fully prepped NHRA drag Corvette. That race went in favor of young Lia and the Hoonicorn, but this week, the rival is a nasty-looking Nissan GT-R with tons of power and a lot more grip. Let's enter the Thunderdome.
The Hoonicorn still runs the same setup as the first season with the only changes being a six-speed Sadev paddle-shift transmission, a fire impression system, and a set of new wheels. You're still looking at a lightweight chassis, a massive twin-turbo V8 setup pushing over 1,400 hp, and an AWD system that puts down the power like few others can.
The fact that Lia is behind the wheel also counts as weight reduction. The competitor is a serious one: Mac Brosnan runs the world's quickest 68mm-turbo Nissan GT-R and has run a 6.97-second quarter-mile pass at 206 mph. The car runs a stock block with built internals, a massive turbo, and some methanol, resulting in a power output of around 2,000 hp. All that junk is thrown at all four wheels via the stock dual-clutch transmission. The car is lovingly called "Kimbo" after legendary street fighter and humanitarian Kimbo Slice.
In the first trace, the cars go head to head up to a thousand feet. As the hands drop, the GT-R takes a slight jump, but the Hoonicorn quickly follows. Once up and running, it's clear that the Hoonicorn has bitten off more than it can chew; the GT-R hauls serious ass.
Kimbo crosses the line more than a few car lengths ahead. In the next race, the cars go a thousand feet again, but the Hoonicorn gets a car length and the hit. This time the Hoonicorn takes it by less than half a car, smoking its tires almost all the way. Intense stuff.
In the final race, the Hoonicorn gets a simple car length. As the hands drop, the GT-R gets the better launch, and halfway down the strip, Hoonicorn decides to puke up its own driveshaft. Thus Kimbo the GT-R becomes the first car to beat the Hoonicorn. How the mighty has fallen.