POWER PARADIGM

Twice the cubic capacity and twice the power guarantees twice the fun?

- Manaal Mahatme

As a child, I could never wrap my head around mathematical word problems. If Johnny had ten chocolates, why should he beat himself up finding a way of distributing those amongst six people and not simply enjoy them all alone. Today, though, it is different. I am on a quest of finding the solution to a problem for which I will go to any lengths. Here's the word problem:

A BMW S 1000 RR M-Pro makes 210 bhp while a Mercedes-AMG A 45 S makes 421 bhp. With twice the cubic capacity, horsepower and the number of wheels, is the AMG twice the fun, too? It should be, right? More power and grip to exploit that power? But it isn't.

The S 1000 RR produces a staggering 1085.27 bhp per tonne while the AMG puts out 260 bhp per tonne. So, that's it? The BMW beats the world's most powerful 2-litre engine just like that, on paper? Can't be. And that's exactly my issue with these mathematical problems they don't tell the full story. They can't. Plus quantifying fun on the paper with numbers and words? That's not possible. Oh wait, that's what I do for a living.

But you get my point, right? Reading the AMG's spec-sheet prepared me to be floored by its 50.9 kgm of peak twist, but nothing told me that I'll be shoved into the seat, laughing maniacally while the turbo spools and sends me from nought to 100 kph in a mere 3.9 seconds.

I anticipated that the raunchy number from the exhaust would persuade me to go faster, but every damn time over the course of almost a week? That can't be on paper.

The spec-sheet also didn't mention how deceptive the S 1000 RR is. After all, 210 bhp and 11.5 kgm mercilessly wearing out the rear wheel has no place on Indian roads. But I was pleasantly shocked by RR's mannerisms. The numbers on the spec-sheet suggested that I carry an extra pair of inners, but nope. This BMW was kind and patient with me, as if it wanted me to understand the ways of the modern litre-class supersport.