Quarter mile calculator
Enter a car’s weight and horsepower to estimate its quarter-mile time (ET) and trap speed, or enter a time slip to work back to horsepower. You get two answers: a run simulated with the car’s drive, gearbox and tires, and the classic formulas drag racers have used for decades.
Estimate a quarter mile
Quarter mile
10.94 s @ 124.8 mph
BMW M4 Competition xDrive (2022), simulated on a dry street.
- 0-60 mph2.80 s
- 60 ft1.58 s
- 1/8 mile6.99 s @ 99.6 mph
- Car and Driver tested (street)11.0 s @ 125 mph
Classic formulas, from weight and power only
- Hale (1986)11.69 s @ 116.6 mph
- Fox (2001)12.59 s @ 114.6 mph
- Huntington (1950s)12.63 s @ 111.6 mph
Estimates for a good launch and clean shifts on a mild day. Real runs vary with the driver, the weather and the track.
Quarter mile: 10.94 s @ 124.8 mph
The spec-sheet curb weight plus about 165 lb for you. Power is the rated figure at the engine (not at the wheels), or the motors’ combined rating for an EV.
How the calculator works
The classic formulas tie a car’s quarter mile to one number, its weight per horsepower. Patrick Hale’s version from 1986 is the best known:
ET = 5.825 × (weight ÷ hp)^⅓
Trap speed = 234 × (hp ÷ weight)^⅓
Roger Huntington worked out the first version in the 1950s (6.290 and 224), and physics professor Geoffrey Fox refined it in 2001 (6.269 and 230). Weight is the car with its driver, in pounds; horsepower is the rated figure at the engine. Jeff Lucius compares all three with 243 Road & Track tests.
The formulas can’t tell an all-wheel-drive EV from a rear-drive car with the same power and weight. The simulation can.
The simulation runs the car down the strip a thousandth of a second at a time: its torque through the gears, how hard its tires can push with the weight that shifts onto them, the launch, each shift, rolling resistance and air drag. Pick a car from the list and it uses that car’s full spec, fitted to its road test. Enter your own and it builds a typical car of that kind around your weight and power. Times start once the car has rolled its first foot, as on a drag strip and in magazine tests, and the trap speed is the average over the last 66 feet.
How close is it?
We gave the calculator only what it asks for (weight, power, drive, engine, gearbox and tires) for 11 cars with published instrumented tests. Its simulated quarter miles were off by 2.0% on average and its trap speeds by 2.6%. Hale’s formula was off by 5.2% and 6.1%. Pick one of these cars in the calculator and it uses that car’s full spec, fitted to its test to within 3%.
| Car | Weight, power | Tested | Simulated | Hale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW M4 Competition | 4,070 lb, 503 hp | 11.0 @ 125 | 11.23 @ 120.8 | 11.69 @ 116.6 |
| BMW M3 Competition | 4,090 lb, 503 hp | 11.0 @ 124 | 11.25 @ 120.6 | 11.71 @ 116.4 |
| BMW M2 (auto) | 3,980 lb, 473 hp | 11.6 @ 124 | 11.85 @ 119.6 | 11.85 @ 115.0 |
| BMW M2 (manual) | 3,920 lb, 473 hp | 12.1 @ 120 | 12.18 @ 117.4 | 11.79 @ 115.6 |
| Model Y Performance | 4,600 lb, 510 hp | 11.5 @ 122 | 11.36 @ 119.1 | 12.13 @ 112.4 |
| Model Y Long Range | 4,590 lb, 397 hp | 12.3 @ 115 | 12.48 @ 109.6 | 13.17 @ 103.5 |
| Cybertruck AWD | 6,800 lb, 600 hp | 12.4 @ 111 | 12.34 @ 111.1 | 13.08 @ 104.2 |
| Cyberbeast | 7,070 lb, 834 hp | 11.0 @ 119 | 11.14 @ 122.1 | 11.88 @ 114.8 |
| Model S Plaid | 4,990 lb, 1,020 hp | 9.4 @ 151 | 9.47 @ 144.5 | 9.89 @ 137.8 |
| Rimac Nevera | 5,240 lb, 1,914 hp | 8.25 | 8.63 @ 154.3 | 8.15 @ 167.3 |
| Honda Civic Sport | 3,070 lb, 158 hp | 16.9 @ 86 | 16.11 @ 86.5 | 15.66 @ 87.0 |
More calculators
Tested times and mods, car by car
Questions
What weight should I use?
The car as it runs down the strip: its curb weight from the spec sheet plus the driver, about 165 lb (75 kg). By Hale’s formula, every 100 lb adds about a tenth of a second to an 11-second car.
Engine horsepower or wheel horsepower?
Engine (crank) horsepower, the figure makers publish. A chassis dyno reads lower because the gearbox and axles take a share, so scale a wheel figure up first. BimmerLife, for one, allows 15 percent for drivetrain loss, which puts a stock BMW M4’s 465 horsepower at the wheels at about 545 at the crank.
What is a good quarter-mile time?
Car and Driver timed an everyday compact, the Honda Civic Sport, at 16.9 seconds. A BMW M4 Competition ran 11.0, a Tesla Model S Plaid 9.4, and the Rimac Nevera 8.25 in Rimac’s record session, timed by Dewesoft.
Why do the formulas and the simulation disagree?
The formulas know only weight and power. They can’t tell an all-wheel-drive car with launch control from a rear-drive car that spins its tires, so for modern fast cars and EVs they’re furthest off on trap speed, and further still on 0-60. The simulation runs the car with its drive, gearbox and tires.
Can it work out an eighth-mile time?
Yes. The simulation times the 1/8 mile (660 feet) on the same run; it’s listed under the quarter-mile result.