It’s not the most powerful McLaren out there, and in fact the 650S is more or less a match for the Gallardo’s successor, the Huracán. However, for even a modded Gallardo, the McLaren, with 641 horsepower on tap from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, should be able to hold its own against a car 10 years its senior.
The lambo, packed with a Titan Motorsports twin-turbo kit feeding air to its 5.0-liter V10 should give it numbers in the ballpark of 800 hp, but we’ve seen many times how being the victor on paper doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win in practice.
In the video, the two sports cars line up for a drag race, and despite the sheer superior horsepower of the Lamborghini, the 650S does a fine job of holding its own, thanks mostly due to the seven-speed dual clutch gearbox effortlessly banging out upshifts.
The Gallardo’s aging six-speed transmission holds it back, even with a rolling start, allowing the McLaren to step ahead for a while. Finally, the Lambo gets the boost it needs to pull ahead. It won, but not by much.
Regardless of the outcome, we’re impressed with the performance of both cars, particularly for the Gallardo for showing that Lamborghini’s often dismissed “entry-level” model had a pretty solid foundation. Add a couple turbos, and it can apparently still hang with today’s best.
We may still go for the McLaren, given the chance, but this has further solidified our respect for Lamborghini’s most successful sports car.
