Can A MotoGP Bike Outrun A Turbo-Charged Lamborghini Huracan?

KTM’s RC16 goes head-to-head with a 1,100-horsepower Lambo.

By: Dustin Wheelen

Aug 10, 2022 at 3:22pm ET

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All motorcyclists have been in that situation. You roll up to a red light. You’re minding your own business when some guy in a souped-up Dodge Charger (it’s always a Charger) revs his engine in your general vicinity. Despite his obnoxious pleas for attention, you ignore him completely. Of course, that only provokes him more. Practically begging for you to look over, he lets off the brake, sending the car lurching into the crosswalk.

All the while, you remain calm, staring ahead. However, as soon as the light goes green, you dump the clutch, pin the throttle, and smoke that overpriced, overweight mid-life crisis on four wheels. While most macho motorists know this particular sting of humility, Carwow’s Mat Watson has made a profession of it.

In July, 2022, Watson pitted a Porsche 918 Spyder against KTM’s RC16 MotoGP prototype. As expected, MotoGP Legend Dani Pedrosa piloted the V4-powered monster to victory with ease. Not everyone learns their lesson the first time around, though, and Watson returned not one month later with a Lamborghini Huracan.

This isn’t any old Lambo either. In addition to the 5.2-liter V-10 engine, the Hulked-out Huracan boasts a set of turbochargers. Thanks to that trick piece of kit, Watson has 1,100 horsepower at his toe tips. Dani Pedrosa, on the other hand, remains on his trusty 2021 KTM RC16, which lays down just 270 ponies. Based on power figures alone, this showdown seems like a shoo-in, but when you factor in weight, the tables turn.

At 3,322 pounds, the Huracan is more than ten times the RC16’s weight (330 pounds). Even with Dani Pedrosa adding 110 pounds to the bike, it tips the scales at just 440 pounds. That advantageous power-to-weight ratio allows the three-time World Champion to easily outpace the Lambo to the line. Only when Pedrosa flubs the start or Watson stacks the odds does the Huracan beat the RC16.

While the high-powered drag race brings in the crowd, they stay for the banter and chemistry between Watson and Pedrosa. After all, this is all in good fun, but Watson, and fellow drivers, now know what not to do when a motorcyclist rolls up alongside them at a red light.