Last time we checked, the United States of America didn't have an autobahn or an autostrada or any road with a speed limit higher than 75 mph. Sure, the rest of the world may care if a car can hit 150 mph. But not us. Here in the good old U.S. of A., we measure a car's mettle with timing lights and trap speeds. We want to know how fast a car will accelerate. Because top speed means nothing when a Viper pulls alongside a Vette at a stoplight.

Since we last tested the quickest cars ("Acceleration Nation," July 1999, page 82), the stakes have gone up. Let's talk horsepower. Five years ago there were only one or two cars available in the United States that produced 500 hp. Today there are more than 20 that exceed that number ("Horsepower Wars," May 2003, page 104). In terms of quarter-mile times, in '99 we tested the 12 cars and one truck that could run under 14 seconds in the quarter-mile. Now, Mercedes-Benz alone has at least 10 cars that can do that. We had to raise the bar. This time we invited cars that we thought would run in the 12-second bracket or quicker.

Before you deluge our mailbox with angry letters, let us tell you that this test is for production cars only. No twin-turbo Vipers, no supercharged Corvettes and no Mustangs "tuned" to produce 450 hp.

Some cars on our list weren't available at the time of our test. We invited the $450,000 617-hp Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, but there were none in the country at the time of our test. Same went for the new 612-hp Porsche Carrera GT and the 552-hp Bentley Continental GT. Others that aren't here simply didn't have the guts to show up. Ferrari, when invited, flatly turned us down. We asked the folks from Maranello to bring a Ferrari 360 Stradale, a Ferrari 575 Maranello or a 650-hp Enzo--or all of them. But Ferrari's press officer told us, "Ferrari will no longer participate in any comparison tests." O-kay. Wimps.

When the sun rose on the day of the test, there was $1.4 million worth of rubber-roasting machismo lined up and ready to do battle against the Christmas tree at the NHRA's home track--the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.

Now, how'd they run?

#8 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG
When the slowest car here pulls a 12.89 at over 115 mph, you know this is serious machinery. In fact, if this car had been in our 1999 test of quickest cars, it would have beaten everything but the Lotus Esprit and the Dodge Viper. Impressive. This 4-door sedan makes 469 hp and an incredible 516 ft.-lb. of torque, thanks to a 5.4-liter V8 that is hand-built by Mercedes-Benz's in-house tuner, AMG, and boosted by a Lysholm supercharger. The E55 seamlessly puts that torque to the tarmac through a 5-speed automatic. But mash the pedal and the E55's massive 265/35ZR18 rear rubber liquefies. The key to speed here is to ease onto the gas and not go full throttle until you get into Third gear. The drivetrain is matched so the ferocious thrust never breaks. The icing on this cake is a wonderfully powerful V8 soundtrack playing through the E55's four polished exhaust tips. The amazing thing about driving a 12-second sedan is that you can stomp just about anything out on the street--and bring along four friends when you do it. This is the ultimate executive sport sedan.

#7 Lamborghini Gallardo
From any angle, Lamborghini's long-awaited second model, the Gallardo, is a stunner. This is the kind of car that gives you goose bumps every time you open the garage door--and every time you turn the key. It's very cool, very yellow and very quick. Behind your head sits a 5.0-liter DOHC V10 churning out 493 hp and 376 ft.-lb. of torque. Our test car came with Lambo's E-Gear 6-speed paddle-shifted manumatic. It comes with a preprogrammed "launch" mode that makes it so easy to drive, your grandmother could win a bracket race with it. Simply turn off the stability control system, press the Sport button and floor the throttle. The revs climb to about 2700 rpm and then the transmission drops the clutch all by itself. The nose rises, the tires spin momentarily until the all-wheel-drive system finds its footing, and then you and the Lambo are a big yellow blur. When the shrieking V10 hits 8000 rpm, pull the paddle and wham! Second gear. Any other technique and you get slower times. If you're surprised that an exotic Lamborghini is instantly at home on a dragstrip, you'll be dumbfounded to hear that it's an absolute pussycat around town--if you want it to be. Leave the E-Gear in automatic mode and the Gallardo will make quick, precise shifts that are smooth enough not to spill your Sprite on the leather upholstery.

#6 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
At $52,720, the Z06 is more than $20,000 less expensive than anything else here. It's the least costly way to gain entrance to this exclusive club. And while you're at it, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that your Vette trips the clocks with the same exact ET as the exotic Lamborghini, which costs more than three times as much. That's reason enough for us to give Chevrolet a standing ovation and place it higher on the list than the Lambo, even though it's a third of a mile an hour slower through the traps. The latest in a long line of very special Corvettes, Z06 is an option package that's available only on the lightest of all Corvette body styles, the 3118-pound hardtop. And that means the Z06's 5.7-liter 405-hp V8 and 400 ft.-lb. of torque are used as efficiently as possible. Getting the power from the small block to the rear wheels is a beefy 6-speed manual. Simply bring up the revs and slip the clutch enough to get a little wheelspin. Once the rear tires bite, your skull is sucked to the headrest and it's already time to shift. Just shy of the redline, grab the shifter, bang Second gear and hold on. There are few cars that sound as good as a Z06 when your foot is buried in the firewall. The throaty growl of that American V8 is addictive. But for all its muscle, the Z06 is a car you can drive every day. It has a roomy cockpit and a surprising amount of luggage space. Hey, there's a reason the Corvette is the best-selling sports car in the United States.

#5 Mercedes-Benz SL600
This $135,810 Mercedes-Benz is the sleeper of the test. It's so restrained and subtle as it sits, who would imagine it could suck the little prancing horsy off the nose of a Ferrari? This car is incredibly fast, refined and luxurious, yet incredibly sedate. It was our unofficial favorite do-it-all car during the test. All our adulation starts with what's up front--a Slushie-smooth and Freightliner-torquey 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12. This is the same engine used in the company's S600 sedan and is a slightly detuned version of the V12 in the Maybach. The SL600's V12 puts out the same 493 hp as the supercharged V8-powered SL55 AMG but its tire-torturing torque is increased by 74 ft.-lb. That makes 590 ft.-lb., to be exact. So when you floor the accelerator, the Benz buries just about anything on four wheels. All you hear is a muffled whoosh of the turbos. But just flooring the accelerator will produce big plumes of tire smoke. To get the SL600 out of the hole and down the track, you need to baby the throttle through First and Second gears. Even in Third gear the tires can break loose if conditions are just right. Hammering this car down the quarter-mile is amazing fun. And unlike many turbocharged cars, the SL600 never gets too hot. Our low-12-second runs were repeatable time after time. This is Mercedes-Benz engineering at its finest.

#4 Porsche 911 Turbo
You wouldn't think a Porsche would be good for this sort of thing. After all, there are no dragstrips in Zuffenhausen. And even though Porsche engineers probably don't dwell much on the concept of stoplight-to-stoplight racing, they know that an engine in the rear over the drive tires means traction. They also know that 415 hp and awd mean explosive acceleration. This car has incredibly good traction, but there's a fine line between bogging the motor and breaking an axle. So instead of dumping the clutch from a stratospheric rpm, we slipped the clutch from about 3000 rpm and that got us just enough front-wheel spin to keep the motor on boost at launch. The 911 Turbo is geared short, and the motor spools up quicker than a Cuisinart. Second gear comes way before you think it should. The engine is so quick the tachometer can't keep up with it. To drive this car right, you have to learn to anticipate the upshifts. Once you've learned, the reward is low-12-second elapsed time. The Porsche's feat is all the more impressive considering the Turbo has the second-lowest horsepower rating of our group.

#3 Dodge Viper SRT-10
The Viper has officially been dethroned. Last time we conducted this test, the big Dodge was the quickest car, belting out a blistering 12.08 at 118.51 mph. This time it ran quicker and faster and still found itself running third. Who would have thought that a Viper would be sent packing on grudge night at the local dragstrip? Okay, let's get realistic here. With 500 hp and 525 ft.-lb. of torque, the Viper is certainly no slouch. And to beat it at the strip, you'd have to roughly double its $84,795 sticker price. The Viper is a huge bargain. It's also easy to turn the mammoth 345/30ZR19 rear tires into smoke. Get too aggressive with throttle and this monster will sit there and spin its tires into a dense cloud. But with a little clutch slippage and less than 3000 rpm showing on the tach, you can get out of the hole and down the track. There is so much power and so much torque that each gear change happens with Richter scale ferocity. Any car that will do over 120 mph in the quarter-mile qualifies as scary fast in our book.

#2 Ford GT
Time for full disclosure: Ford was unable to deliver a GT to Pomona in time for the test. So we went to Ford's Arizona Proving Ground near Kingman and tested one there. Since Pomona has the advantage in terms of traction, temperature and elevation, we'd guess the times would have been quicker had the car been with us on the day of our group test. That said, short of the rare Saleen S7, the $145,000 Ford GT is the quickest production car to be had in any new-car dealership on planet Earth. In fact, if you look at the 0-to-60 times, you'll note the GT is quicker than the S7. Some of that can be attributed to Ford's decision to make 60 mph attainable in First gear. The rest can be attributed to the supercharged 5.4-liter V8 that pounds out 500 hp and 500 ft.-lb. of torque. Get the tire speed up a bit at launch and after a few feet, the GT's massive rear rubber hooks up and hurls you down the track. The thrust is Delta IV brain-blurring and Terminator-relentless. Each gear change is greeted with bottomless buckets of torque. It's awesome. The Ford GT is the absolute cheapest way to get quite deeply into the newly created and extremely exclusive 11-second street-legal, production-car club.

#1 Saleen S7 Competition
If you have the dollars--and we mean $447,048 of them--then you can dominate anything else on the road. Anything. The Saleen S7 is essentially a race car legalized for the street. It looks like it just won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it sounds like a Nextel Cup Car and it accelerates like nothing else bound by gravity. Behind you sits a 7.0-liter V8 packing 550 hp and 560 ft.-lb. of torque that is based on Ford's NASCAR V8. Unlike a Cup Car, the engine in the S7 is mated to a 6-speed transaxle. And though the S7 is long and wide, it's lighter than a Honda Civic. It's also lighter than any other car in this test by roughly 400 pounds, thanks to its space-frame chassis and carbon-fiber body. But getting the most from this raw machine requires some mighty skilled hands and feet. The cockpit is tight and so is the pedal placement. The clutch is heavy and grabby. Place a foot wrong and your run is ruined. But get it all right and the S7 is brutally fast. In fact, it's undeniably the quickest car built in the U.S. of A. And it may well be the quickest car in the world. The Saleen S7 is our winner.

On paper, Audi's limited-edition RS 6 is a shoo-in. After all, it gets a more-than-respectable 450 hp and a healthy 415 ft.-lb. of torque from its twin-turbo 4.2-liter DOHC V8. Audi pairs this motor with its proven Quattro all-wheel-drive system. But short of hooking up a nitrous oxide bottle to the German sedan, we could not get the RS 6 into the 12-second bracket. We tried every driving style any one of us could come up with. We had everyone on the staff take a couple of cracks at hustling it down the strip. Basically, we did everything we could think of, but we couldn't get this sedan to cover 1320 ft. from a standing start in less than 13 seconds. Make no mistake, the Audi RS 6 is one quick machine. Just don't challenge a guy in a Mercedes E55 AMG to a drag race.

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