Unlike beauty,
performance is in the hands of the holder. Overall vehicle performance means
different things to different people. For some, performance is simply being the
fastest; for others, it’s the ability to corner as if on rails; and to yet
others, it’s how strong any particular vehicle can pull from a dead stop when
the throttle is stabbed. In this case, the two vehicles lined up side by side
on an isolated stretch of a canal serviceway deep in Florida’s wetlands, all of
these definitions apply.
Personal Watercraft
Illustrated has a certain obligation to the enthusiasts of the world to give
everyday insight into the sport and to cover unique, once-in-a-lifetime
stories. This “experiment” happens to be one of the latter. We took two of the
highest-performance vehicles in their respective categories and ran them head
to head to see which came out on top: the new Sea-Doo RXP-X, boasting the
highest production horsepower ever in a watercraft, vs. a Ferrari F430, a
must-have for the high-performance sports-car aficionado.It took more than a
day of scouring our Google Earth GPS-mapping computer program and driving
around southern Florida to find the ideal location, knowing that a drag race of
this caliber couldn’t be held just anywhere – certain criteria had to be met.
What added to the difficulty of finding such a rare course was that an equally
isolated span of straight, level asphalt needed to run directly parallel to an
equally untrafficked body of water only two to three feet lower than the road,
at most. Obviously, we had our work cut out for us.
There are certainly a
lot of roads running next to water in southern Florida, but not too many upon
which you can freely and safely open up a Ferrari, and without drawing an
undesired crowd. And there aren’t many waterways that are close to a road’s
level that are actually able to be safely navigated. It was only after hours of
mind-numbing searching that, while heading west on I-75 approaching Alligator
Alley, we spotted our test course. Miles of canals used to control the water
levels and flow had been dug out for the purpose of supplying the foundation of
the roadways through what was swampland not too long ago.
Here in the
Everglades, there are numerous access roads that run directly next to a canal.
Although we aren’t at liberty to divulge exactly where we ended up running
these machines, it is safe to say that we were definitely out in the sticks.
Having found an area
that fit our needs perfectly, we decided to prep the course a little before the
big day. After a few passes with a lawnmower and commercial weed-eater, the
roadside shrubbery was clear, offering an unobstructed view between the road
and the water.
The comparisons
between the RXP-X and Ferrari are as different as they are curiously similar
(if that makes any sense), but the one area in which both could run head to
head was in a direct challenge of acceleration – known to speed freaks and
street racers as a drag race. From the starting line to the 150-foot mark, the
two vehicles were – on paper – a dead-even match. Sure, both rail corners, both
are race-inspired, both are two-seaters, both are the premium models among
their competitors, but this comparison was an honest-to-goodness
apples-to-apples test of what both wicked-from-the-factory vehicles could do.
To ensure that both
machines were operated at their maximum performance, we invited two of the best
racers from the Sunshine State to participate. Since Michael Schumacher wasn’t
available that day to pilot the Ferrari, we asked multiple-time World Champion
watercraft racer Dustin Farthing to man the prancing pony. While no
professional Formula One driver, Farthing does have a fair amount of experience
behind the wheel of high-end sports cars (and prides himself on being banned by
several rental-car agencies), so we figured if anyone was going to put the
Ferrari through its paces, he would be the one. Piloting the Sea-Doo would be
veteran Pro racer Eric Lagopoulos, who has extensive experience on the RXP-X,
being the literal poster boy for the craft in the 2008 Sea-Doo ad campaign.
With both vehicles in
place, and the test course set, each racer took some warm-up runs behind the
controls of their respective vehicles. Lagopoulos, warming up the RXP-X,
cracked off a couple of high-speed passes down the narrow canal, adjusting the
digitally controlled quick trim to his liking. Farthing was testing how quickly
he could get the Ferrari F430 to pull off the line, sharply snapping through
the synchros, evaluating how the Maserati/Ferrari-built V8 spun in sixth gear
at well over 7500 rpm. Both were blurs as they rocketed past us.
With the distance
measured to the inch and marked with cones on the road and buoys on the water,
the two lined up, with Lagopoulos manipulating the reverse to start from a dead
stop with his thumb on the quick-trim button, ready to launch. Farthing,
revving the V8 to its designated red line, rested his fingers on the
electro-hydraulic, F1-inspired transmission’s steering-column-mounted paddle
shifters of the Ferrari. Harkening back to the earliest days of country-road
grudge racing, we employed the classic use of a flag girl to signal the green.
At the drop of her handkerchief, they were off!
Less than four
seconds later, it was over.
Despite Farthing’s
furious shifting skills, the first across the 150-foot-line was the RXP-X.
Thinking it a possible bout of luck, we conducted numerous additional runs, all
with the same result. The watercraft was simply quicker out of the hole.
Estimating that the distance was roughly equivalent to that traversed in a
standard zero-to-60-mph test, the RXP-X routinely squeaked past the Ferrari by
anywhere between one and three boatlengths. It was a shutout.
Now let’s be real
about this: The key to successful competitive drag racing is predicated on
several factors – most notably power-to-weight ratios, traction, and gearing.
While the Sea-Doo doesn’t come equipped with a limited-slip differential or a
dual-clutch or semi-automatic transmission, its “gearing” can be found in the
boat’s aggressively angled intake grate and prop. Depending on the pitch of the
prop’s blades and those of the intake grate, the speed of any particular
watercraft can be determined or tuned, just like modifying the gear ratios in
automotive differentials.
This arithmetic is
most evident after the 150-foot markers, where the Ferrari continued to
accelerate, with one run in particular approaching an unofficial speed of 150
mph, proving that the F430 is more comfortable at three-digit speeds than
hard-acceleration pulls. But the fact that a watercraft not only held a candle
to a Ferrari F430 but beat it in a head-to-head drag race to 150 feet was
phenomenal.
Documenting our
results, we thought our day to be more or less over. But we still had the
Ferrari for a few more hours, so the idea was hatched to see if the other X
Series Sea-Doo would produce similar results. Unloading the RXT-X from the
trailer, Lagopoulos dismounted the RXP-X and hopped onto the three-seater.
Farthing – happy to rack up some additional time in the Ferrari – pulled up to
the line one more time. With a drop of the handkerchief, the two sped down the
makeshift track once again.
Finally, the outcome
ended differently, providing Farthing with his first win. Upon review, it was
clear that Lagopoulos didn’t have his trim adjusted properly, as when he hit
the throttle, the RXT-X porpoised out of the water, giving Farthing a lead that
Lagopoulos couldn’t overcome.
Again, Farthing
backed the Ferrari to the starting line while Lagopoulos readied himself in his
lane for run number two. Both racers took off again, and again, and again. From
zero to 150 feet, the Sea-Doo consistently outran the Ferrari. What does that
spell for Sea-Doo? As of right now, BRP’s stellar X Series has the right to
claim itself the only craft able to topple the automotive world’s most renowned
sports car manufacturer.
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