Here’s a Look at Our Netflix’s Fastest Car March Madness Brackets

We know the cars, now can we pick the winners?

byRob Stumpf|
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Netflix's flagship automotive series is on the way to the streaming platform next Friday, and we're pretty excited for it. Fastest Car will put up three custom-built rides up against a supercar; sweat versus the almighty dollar. We talked to the folks at Netflix to get a look at just what kind of cars would be racing, and now we're placing bets on just who comes out on top. Check out our pseudo-March Madness brackets below and see if you agree.

Episode 1

via Netfllix

Now, this is an interesting race. Two of the vehicles here jump out right away: the Lunch Money Garage Dodge (which gained popularity after visiting the Hoonigans) and Bisimoto's famous 1,000 horsepower Odyssey. The C10's driver shares the last name with a well-known engine building shop in California, so we're guessing it's putting down a bit of power; unfortunately, we don't have the data of exactly how much and have to exclude it from out guessing.

The cars will go up against a 2016 Ford GT making just over 1,000 horsepower and sitting fairly light at a reported 3,400 pounds. The Odyssey weighs half a ton more, so we're going to bet that it's not coming in first. The Dodge, however, seems interesting. Our supplied data shows that the 2,500-pound LS-swapped hot rod makes around 400 horsepower at the wheels. Our data suggests that it will be run with nitrous, which coupled with the 4.11 rear end (versus the Ford GT's 3.36) will shoot the car down the track. The question is, will 900 pounds of weight savings and a higher final drive be enough to win the race? We think so.

Episode 2

via Netflix

Our first three contenders bring a variety of classics from different time periods to the table, all from the heartland of Detroit. The trio will run their homemade creations against a stock Lamborghini Huracan in hope of being crowned the supercar killer. We didn't have any data on the Monte Carlo, so we can't really judge it and are rolling the dice by excluding it from the runnings.

We know that the Pinto makes around 400 horsepower at the crank and weighs the least out of any car, but its power is no match to the 1,000 horsepower Plymouth Coupe. The Plymouth weighs less than the Huracan and has almost double the power. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, if there wasn't such a power gap (392 horsepower according to the data Netflix sent us), we'd put it up to question; the Huracan's modern technology and all-wheel-drive will allow it to launch better and grip the pavement throughout its journey. But 40% more power is hard to ignore.

Episode 3

via Netflix

Now, this lineup feels like a good underdog story. You've got a cult-classic Impala SS, a Supra (which was actually sold as a "Celica Supra" in North America), and an old Oldsmobile Cutlass lineup against a Ferrari 488 GTB.

The Ferrari is going to be a tough cookie to beat. It weighs less than 3,400 pounds and has over 660 horsepower. That alone makes the only car with more power the Impala, but the Chevy is a ton heavier (literally). The Supra almost had our bet due to being 400 pounds lighter, but since we only have data of its power being approximately 500 horsepower, we aren't willing to take that chance. Let's give this match to the supercar.

Episode 4

via Netflix

Here's the story of three generations of GM vehicles and a McLaren MP4. The latter’s 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 pumps out 616 horsepower making the 3,200 pound supercar feel like a go-kart on steroids. Regardless, this win seems pretty easy, and not in the McLaren's favor.

Unfortunately, it's not the legendary Buick Grand National that we think is taking the win in this round. Not that it doesn't put out a respectable amount of power, but because there seems to be a clear winner elsewhere. You see, the GMC Sonoma pictured above isn't just your standard light-duty pickup. It fits the definition of a sleeper by hiding its 1,000 horsepower in the barely-modified exterior of the pickup. Weighing just 80 pounds more than the McLaren, we're putting this one up to no-contest.

Episode 5

via Netflix

Bryan Salamone has been called the world's most "stereotypical Lamborghini owner," (seriously, Google it) so I'm really excited to see this episode because of his over-the-top car, and because of what contender we think will take the title of the winner on this episode. As a heads up, we have no idea what the Camaro makes power-wise, so it'll join the list of "can't compete" in our runnings.

As much as I love the C10 (I used to own a Custom Deluxe), it's going on the backburner this round; the truck's weight is the same as the Lamborghini and is making around 175 horsepower less. Even with the 4.10 rear end, it's not going to compensate enough for the lack of power. The 2,280 pound Colt, however, is attention-grabbing. The owner describes it as making around 740 horsepower on the dyno while burning out. Assuming that it doesn't have traction issues on the day of the race, its low weight and gutsy amount of power translates to a projected win.

Episode 6

via Netflix

The 6th episode in the series brings us the show's highest horsepower car, Stefan Slisz's 1989 Ford Thunderbird. Going head-to-head with an 800 horsepower Chevy S10 and a 705 horsepower Dodge Viper ACR Extreme, it seems like we'll be able to pick a winner right off the bat. The Cadillac hadn't gotten to the dyno before Netflix sent us the car's details, so we're hoping it doesn't make a fool out of us when we exclude it from the possible wins.

The Viper is the heaviest car of the trio and it makes the least amount of power, but likely we'll see the 800 horsepower LS-swapped S10 put up a good fight against it. I'll admit, I did some research on the Thunderbird when I saw its power, just to make sure there wasn't a mistake. I'll have you know that all I could find were videos of the car hauling ass on a drag strip (and one with a steering shaft failure). The 1,332 horsepower T-Bird weighs 3,100 pounds and seems like the clear victor on this episode.

Episode 7

via Netflix

The last episode before the big showdown was actually pretty easy to decipher a winner. Netflix may have inadvertently revealed the winner in the official trailer for Fastest Car when it showed the Datsun 1200 and Mazda RX-2 colliding mid-race. As much as it pains me to see either classic end up with damage, it helps to narrow down the choices.

via YouTube

The dually already has a sizable gap on the Aventador, plus Netflix tells us that the 7,000 pound truck is packing around over 1000 horsepower and 1800 ft-lb of torque. Though the Lamborghini is half the weight, it also has quite a bit less power (and less than a third of the torque because diesel). We're betting money that the Dodge takes this race.

Episode 8: The Champion of Champions

via Netflix

This is it, boys and girls: the winner-take-all of Fastest Car. Probably. Maybe.

I'm fairly confident with the choices that made it to the final round, but once Netflix debuts Fastest Car on April 6th, these could easily be disproven. Selecting who we think might be the winner was difficult; we don't know everything about the cars, only a select bit of data sent to us by the producers, and have to use some rough "ricer math" to decide just which cars might end up in this episode.

Biases aside (I have a history with DSMs so I really want the Colt to win), it's likely to be the Thunderbird that earns the crown. 1,300 horsepower and 3,100 pounds make it the highest power-to-pound car in our final pick, plus the 4.10 rear end is going to propel it down the track.

All in all, we're pretty excited for this new series. The show seemingly promises to be more of a documentary of builds rather than a Street Outlaws type of show, which is exciting by itself. Seeing these homemade builds go up against cold hard cash is exciting, and if one wins the challenge like we predict, it'll be even more sweet.

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