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Acceleration. There is simply no greater sensation. Drop her down a gear, slam thethrottle and fight to keep your head upright as hundreds of carbon-powered horses squeezethe blood from your brain. To accelerate with the ferocity needed to leave you shaking andaddicted, pleading for just one more dose of that oh-so-sweet sensation, requires twothings: an excess of power and a lack of mass. The planet’s fleetestcars have either been stripped to their skivvies or are so muscle-bound that they canbarely idle without shaking the earth. A car's power-to-weight ratio is the true test ofits performance intentions. Every athlete knows that it’s not just about sheddingweight or packing on more muscle -- you need to attain the proper balance that allows youto perform at your peak. Enter our Top 10: Fittest Cars. Some of these rides may be small,but they all pack a seriouspunch. Take a car’s horsepower and divide it by its curb weight, and you have animmediate insight into its degree of athleticism.
10. Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Power-to-Weight Ratio: 638 hp / 3,324 lbs =.2050-60 mph: 3.3 secondsTop Speed: 205mphWe start out with the BlueDevil. Pure American power pushes this inappropriatelyquick Vette into the big leagues. Theheaviest beast in the Corvette stable, the ZR1 owes its place on this list to its6.2-liter LS9 aluminum V8 that’s got a 4-Lobe Eaton Twin Vortices supercharger andintercooler strapped on top and pushes out 604 lb-ft of torque. The supercharger may add ahundred odd pounds on top of the Z06’s curb-weight, but the ridiculous amounts ofpower it provides in compensation more than makes up for it.
9. Porsche GT2RS
Power-to-Weight Ratio: 620 hp / 3,020 lbs =.2050-60 mph: 3.4secondsTop Speed: 205 mphTake your standard 911 Turbo, rip outthe back seats and every other piece of material non-integral to going like stink, crankthe turbo pressure up to 11, add a bit of maniacal German magic and you get the PorscheGT2 RS. Oh, did I forget to mention they also dumped the Turbo’s AWD as well? Yes.Yes, they did. Dubbed “The Widowmaker,” the GT2RS is the most nutso, bonkers,insanely quick Porsche in production. Cranking out 620 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, thisnuclear-powered ballerina weighs just north of 3,000 pounds and is purpose-built to cutcorners with surgical precision and then cauterize its exit with the searing, force-fedinduction of its 3.6-liter flat six.
8. Ferrari F12 Berlinetta
Power-to-Weight Ratio: 730 hp / 3,362 lbs =.2170-60 mph: 3.1 secondsTop Speed: 211mphYou can’t have a list ofthe fittest cars without a Ferrari making the cut. Luckily, Maranello decided to pack itslatest GT with a 6.3-liter V12 that revsto 8,500 rpm and packs a record-setting 730 hp. Officially the most powerfulroad-legal Ferrari ever built, the F12 owes its place on this list as much to its aluminumspace frame chassis as it does to its ridiculous power output.
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