As the name implies, the heavy duty trucks are obviously not made for races - they are designed and built to handle, uhm... heavy duties and do that confidently. That doesn’t mean they are not fast under certain circumstances, and that also doesn’t mean it’s not fun watching them race. And when there are big diesel engines under the hoods, we know it’s going to be exciting.
But first, let’s see what’s hiding under the hood of each of the three contenders today. The Ram has a straight-six 6.75-liter Cummins diesel and in this application, it delivers 375 horsepower (280 kilowatts) and 850 pound-feet (1,152 Newton-meters) of torque, sent to all four wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox. Against it, the Chevrolet offers a 6.6-liter V8 with two turbochargers good for 445 hp (332 kW) and 910 lb-ft (1,234 Nm) of torque channeled to the wheels through a 10-speed automatic. It’s a little heavier than the Ram so, at least on paper, it should be a pretty close race.
Truck Wars:
In the first drag race from TFL’s video at the top of this page, the Chevy meets the Ram for a quick standing-start race. It’s really close and the winner has just a minimal advantage at the finish line. A little more torque and perhaps a better transmission seem to be the decisive factors here.
This is where Ford’s heavy duty offering joins the party in Tremor trim level with a gas engine. It’s lighter than its competitors and has a 7.3-liter engine with 430 hp (321 kW) and 475 lb-ft (644 Nm) of torque, routed to the wheels through a 10-speed automatic and a beefy rear differential. Plus, it’s easily the cheapest of the three trucks in the race.
So, which one is the fastest? Check out the video and see the heavy duty trucks’ 0-60 times.
Source: The Fast Lane Truck