With the beautiful Erin Bates as the host, Cycle World Magazine [1] brings out a 2015 Ducati Diavel and a 2014 Corvette Stingray out to Auto Club Speedway for a little heads-up car-versus-bike action.
[2]You’d think the test would be over before it started because of the Diavel’s power-to-weight ratio being that much better than the Corvette. But bikes can be tricky to launch, while we know from experience that the new C7 is a surprisingly good drag car [3]. 8-time racing champion Tommy Kendall was driving the Corvette Stingray and Ricky Gadson’s Nephew, Rich Gadson, was piloting the Ducati. Gadson was a good choice for the race, as he’s following exactly in his uncle’s footsteps in the drag bike scene.
After the burnouts are done, the two line up their weapons of choice. The Ducati Diavel’s 11-degree L-twin Testastretta engine puts out 162 horsepower and 96.3 pound-feet of torque, and the Stingray’s LT1 produces 460 horses and 465 pound-feet – who will win? The bike of course! Maybe if Kendall was in a new Z06, he might have a chance!
[4]Gadson managed to scoot the Diavel through the quarter in 10.2 seconds and Kendall got the C7 down the track in 12.5 seconds, but oddly enough, no mile-per-hour times were listed in the video. We do know, however, that a factory C7’s mile-per-hour speeds in the quarter are in the mid-hundred-teens so Kendall’s probably wasn’t far off.
There’s just something that we couldn’t help but notice throughout the video, though, and it’s the fact that the Ducati Diavel styling looks dangerously close to a Harley-Davidson V-Rod. We’re also thinking that Ducati probably wouldn’t like to hear that.
[5]