A breakdown of BYD's "win" in a 9-car drag race video

"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
10/30/2013 at 11:35 • Filed to: BYD, WTF, Car Fails

Look, I am not too cynical to think that Chinese cars will always be piles of scrap death traps. They will get there within a decade or so. But right now? They are still a joke to me. Take this "Qin" their hybrid, 300+ horsepower turbodiesel saloon. It's probably their current top-of-the-line model or at least, one of their fastest. You're probably thinking "Chrome paint's a bit gaudy, but overall, not bad." and I would be there with you had I not seen the following video.

Okay, looks impressive at first, right? The little chrome rocket keeping up with the big boys! Ooooo, what performance!.....Except it isn't keeping up with them. It's barely midpack if you ignore the rapid cuts and editing. Let's break this down as to why I think so.

The Cars

At first, I thought I saw what they were going for with this race. Scirocco (possibly TDI?), Cooper S, GTI, the Qin, Focus ST, BRZ....I dig it. Show how your hybrid TDI sedan can be faster than hot hatches from the lights. Cool. And the CC with the VR6 makes sense too as a "quick sedan" to compare it to. But then you get to the 350Z with aftermarket parts and an Evo 8. Neither car is being built anymore......but no matter, should be a great show!.......Right?

Launch

In this group, you have a lot of turbo cars, a supercharged mini, and the V6 volkswagen CC. Meanwhile the Qin has a supposed 150hp electric motor. An electric motor that makes 150hp makes a veritable truckload of torque. But look at the 1:25 mark in the video. You get a nice, overhead view of th 100-150 feet after the start line. Oviously, if you got a fast launch, you'd be ahead at this point. In a strange twist, the mini is leading at this point. The Focus ST and CC aren't far behind. This is where I start to call BS.I know an evo 8 has a high 4 second 0-60 at worst. A tuned 350Z with good tire should have a low 5 second time. That hybrid drivetrain, if it works right, should launch that sedan off the line like a rocket. Even the scirocco and GTI should be beating the cooper. But no, the cooper is in the lead with the evo and 350 seeming to struggle.....makes perfect sense.

Mid-race shenanigans

And 1:31 is where I call outright shenanigans on BYD. It makes ZERO SENSE. There is a little red blob at the back of the pack as evidenced by the sideline camera. What car is it? The EVO! Are you KIDDING ME?!?!?! Meanwhile the ST and 350Z are out front, the cooper appears to be fading and the Qin is still mid pack.

Cars now have teleporting capabilities?

1:36. W. T. F. Just.....HOW?!?!? Now the Qin is in FRONT of the ST with the evo suddenly finding its balls and is charging up hard. The 350Z is now falling behind and the CC appears to be beating the Z but is behind the other three. The rapid cuts and inconsistent sound is not helping matters either. At this point, this is clearly a faked video done for dramatic effect but is presented like it actually happened? I just don't understand why they'd bother doing it like this.

A "photoshop" finish

While photoshop was probably not used for the video, it's clear this was highly staged and editied video. At 1:42, the BRZ is in second (of course!) after being almost dead last for most of the race, the 350Z is now dead last (perfect sense!), and the evo is somewhere in the middle again.

According to the end of the video, these are the results of their drag race

1. BYD Qid
2. Ford Focus ST
3. Subaru BRZ
4. Golf GTI
5. Mini Cooper S
6. VW CC VR6
7/8/9 - Evo 8, Scirocco, 350Z

I could understand faking a dramatized drag race. Like have the drivers of the faster cars laughing at the Qin and then having it blow the doors off the others at the start line in a comical way. I could also see having it legitimately beat the hot hatches and BRZ. Genuinely show that it's a quick car and that BYD can build something decent. This mix of edits and false representation of actual performance confuses me.

If anyone can explain what happened here, I'm all ears. I can't find a single shred of logic for how the race went as it did.