Drag races between motorcycles and cars aren’t new here at Motor1. We’ve seen them several times before, although, they’re mostly between superbikes and supercars. Not that we’re complaining – a head-to-head battle between speed demons will always be exciting.
However, this drag race between a bike and a sedan is a bit different than usual. Instead of a superbike, Autocar India’s two-wheeled contender is a middleweight naked bike that’s relatively affordable considering the performance it offers. Meet, the Triumph Trident 660, introduced by the British motorcycle manufacturer in 2020.
Meanwhile, the German four-wheeled rival aligns with what the bike offers. The BMW M340i, the most powerful non-M 3 Series, is still a sporty sedan and relatively affordable as well, though it falls short compared to the full-blown M3 sports sedan.
In short, if you want sporty performance but don’t want to splurge on getting the top-spec model, these names are probably what you should be looking at be it motorcycles or cars.
Let’s run down the numbers first. The Triumph Trident 660 is powered by a 660cc inline-three motor that churns out 80 horsepower and 47 pound-feet (64 Newton-meters) of torque. Meanwhile, the BMW M340i propels itself through a turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six mill that puts down 382 hp and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque to the ground.
The BMW is obviously more powerful, but with the bike weighing only 417 pounds (189 kilograms), it has a substantially better power-to-weight ratio compared to the Bimmer. That’s the price of having three more seats and a roof over your head.
However, considering that the rider’s skill is a huge factor when launching a bike from a standstill, we don’t have a way to identify the winner based on the mentioned figures alone. This could be anyone’s race just by looking at it in black and white.
So, which do you think wins this quarter-mile drag race? The pretty straightforward video atop this page should answer that.
