Cars fans have a fascination with comparing high priced sports cars against much more modestly priced motorcycles. No motorcycle fan is surprised when the bike blows the car away in acceleration and around most tracks but what about when the contest is a straight-line drag race that lasts much longer than a quarter mile?

No-one with an understanding of physics should be that surprised by the result. Motorcycles are so quick because of their power to weight ratio which plays out as stupendous acceleration. In a track contest, the outcome is the balance between the far superior grip (with or without downforce) of the car versus how often the motorcycle gets a chance to accelerate.

Speed on the other hand is mostly a power contest. The power required to overcome drag from the air is proportional to the cube of speed so considerably larger amounts of power are needed to go faster and faster. Add in the superior aerodynamics of cars versus bike and Voilą.