In this episode of Driver Battles, we pitted a 2018 Mclaren 720S against a 2001 Honda S2000 out in Dallas. Neither of these are strip-only trailer queens. Both owners drive their respective rides on the street as well. And on top of that, they’re local rivals.
More on that later, though. Seeing how they match up should be really fun. But first, let’s meet our contestants:
2018 McLaren 720S
First we have Kenny Tran’s daily driver. That’s right. When Kenny wants a latte, the man drives a McLaren 720S to Starbuck’s (or I’m exaggerating; take your pick). What that really means is that he has the same familiarity with his car that comes from driving it every day and under a variety of conditions. Having said that, his daily driver isn’t exactly stock from the showroom floor. He’s added an IDS titanium exhaust and downpipe into the mix.
Kenny used to race for NHRA Sport Compact, so he’s no newbie when it comes to the drag strip. Mr. Tran also owns a high-performance custom shop specializing in McLarens, Porsches, etc…you get the picture. His McLaren packs DOT approved, street legal Nitto NT05R 305/35R19 drag tires at the rear which won’t spin the way the factory rubber used to.
2001 Honda S2000
Stuart Leiby’s Honda S2000 is highly modified, to which he’s done “basically anything you can possibly do to it,” in his words. It still runs the F20 2.3L factory engine but with a lot of internal modification to coax every last bit of power out of it.
Among them, a 68mm Xona Rotor Turbo and Quaife sequential gearbox. Stuart drives this Honda all over the Dallas area, getting into all kinds of foolishness with it. He remembers running the old NT555 tires back in his college drag racing days.
Overall, Stuart brings 16 years of drag racing experience to bear on this competition. And a ton of time racing on Playstation before that doesn’t hurt, either. Stuart also owns a local custom shop specializing in high-performance upgrading for street cars. The old Nitto tires worked pretty well on everything he drove in college and he was amped to see how well the Honda performed with Nitto’s newest DOT approved, street legal NT555RII drag radials on it.
The Phantom Menace
Not only are they racing for bragging rights, there’s also an Aeromotive Phantom system up for grabs.
But if you want to see who claimed the prize (and the unexpected twist) you’ll have to catch the rubber-blazing action in the video—click here to watch the video.
Keyword: Honda S2000 vs McLaren 720S | Driver Battles Drag Edition