2021 BMW M3 Competition Drag Races Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

The track conditions can have a huge effect on a drag race, and a new video from Motoring in Australia highlights this fact. The clip challenges a BMW M3 Competition against an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio on a cold, misty day. 

This M3 Competition packs a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six that makes 503 horsepower (375 kilowatts) and 479 pound-feet (650 Newton-meters). In comparison, the Giulia Quadrifoglio has a twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 that also has 503 horsepower (375 kilowatts) and 443 lb-ft (600 Nm). The Alfa has a weight advantage of 3,494 pounds (1,585 kilograms), versus 3,759 pounds (1,705 kilograms) for the BMW.

Rain is drizzling down, and it makes the track very slick. The conditions are so bad that the Alfa Romeo driver has to abandon the first run because the tires are spinning so much. He stops to warm up the tires.

Things are a little better in the BMW but not much. The driver acts like he's barely hanging on.

The second attempt is a bit more successful. The end results are the same, though. The Giulia Quadrifoglio still struggles with traction, and the M3 wins while being a handful to control.

The final run has both vehicles in their standard driving modes like they would be at a stoplight. The Alfa Romeo is a better challenger here, but yet again, the Italian sedan can't keep up with its German rival. 

The numbers at the end also tell the story of the poor conditions. The BMW's fastest acceleration to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) is 4.8 seconds, which is about a second slower than it should be. The Giulia Quadrifoglio is even worse with a time of 5.5 seconds, versus a factory estimate of 3.8 seconds.