Tesla’s viral video of its Cybertruck beating a Porsche 911 in a drag race while towing another 911 has been proven to be misleading.
In the video released last year, the Cybertruck appeared to win the sprint, but questions soon arose as to why Tesla had left out key details about the drag race, such as the length of the drag strip and what kind of Porsche 911 it was racing against.
A deep dive by Engineering Explained host Jason Fenske on YouTube found the drag race had taken place across an eighth-mile – not the quarter-mile, as claimed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk – and the 911 which took part in the race was a base-spec manual, the slowest on offer.
Mr Fenske’s calculations found the Porsche would have won the race if it was across the standardised quarter-mile length, but this theory couldn’t be proved without access to the vehicles.
Enter Motor Trend, which put that theory to the test after receiving a Tesla Cybertruck in flagship Cyberbeast guise, two Porsche 911 Carrera Ts and the same trailer as used in the original video.
The result? The Porsche 911 beat the Tesla Cybertruck every time, with the sports car’s 400-metre runs varying from 12.5 to 12.38 seconds, while the electric pickup’s fastest time was 12.75 seconds.
The tests also showed the 911 beat the Cybertruck in two out of three eighth-mile drag races.
Despite this, the Cybertruck’s acceleration capabilities while pulling another car behind it are nothing to be sniffed at – even if it’s not as amazing as Tesla wants us to think.
MORE: How Tesla misled us with viral Cybertruck and Porsche 911 drag race
