Hyundai Motor America 10550 Talbert Ave, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 MEDIA WEBSITE: HyundaiNews.com CORPORATE WEBSITE: HyundaiUSA.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE HYUNDAI CROWNED DRAG KING Derek Joyce Product Public Relations Manager (714) 594­1728 [email protected] ID: 29110 Aug. 22, 2001 ­ The 2001 Hyundai Accent WRC², run by the Hyundai Castrol World Rally Team and competing in the 2001 World Rally Championship, was last week crowned the Drag King at the world famous Santa Pod Raceway in the UK. The event in question was being filmed for the BBC Television motoring program, Top Gear and involved presenter Vicky Butler­Henderson, herself an accomplished racing driver, pitting a Nissan Skyline R34 against Alister McRae and the Accent WRC². The Nissan Skyline R34 is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant supercars of recent years and the point of the exercise was to see which of the two road­legal vehicles had the best acceleration. Using the proven Santa Pod timing equipment, combined with the Accent WRC²’s data acquisition system, the two cars were run head to head several times, each with the same result. The Accent, piloted by McRae, was at least a full second quicker over the standing ¼ mile than the Nissan. The results for the Accent were also exceptionally consistent, with times deviating by no more than 5/100ths of a second between runs. The best result for the Accent was 12.50 seconds, with a speed of 106mph, against the Skyline’s 13.56 sec and 96mph. The data acquisition system on the Accent WRC² also showed that the car covered the bench­ mark 0­100kph sprint in 3.8 seconds, an outstanding achievement for a car that drove to the event from the team’s Milton Keynes base. Once the timing was finished, Vicky was treated to a thrilling passenger ride, as McRae demonstrated the Accent’s ability to corner and brake, as well as accelerate in a straight line. Vicky was impressed with the performance of the car, on both tarmac and loose surfaces: “ It was excellent fun. Alister did a good job of showing me what the car can do, as well as how dirty rallying can be! But the car was very impressive – it’s what all Hyundai Accents should be like”. The full article will be aired on Top Gear on Thursday 30th September, at 20:30 BST, on BBC2. This program will also be aired on the BBC’s worldwide channel, BBC Choice, at a later date. ### Notes To Editor For more information, contact Jim Blackstock or Ellie Storey on the following numbers: Jim Blackstock, PR Manager, gsm: +44 77 03 19 22 29, email: [email protected] Ellie Storey, Press Officer, gsm: +44 79 09 90 88 05, email: [email protected] For photography from the event, please register at: www.hyundaiwrc­media.com.