Have you seen the rather impressive quarter-mile\u00a0race between the new Tesla Cybertruck and a Porsche 911? It was one of the coolest pieces of last week\u2019s Tesla Cybertruck launch, especially when the camera cut to the shot of the Cybertruck towing an identically spec’d 911 in a trailer behind it as it crossed the finish line with the first 911 hot on its tail.<\/p>\n
But as it turns out, the race\u2014if its entirety was shown\u2014was filmed on was over a much shorter eighth-mile distance. And with the Porsche creeping up on the Cybertruck\u2019s tail as it crossed the finish line, the outcome of a race held over a full quarter-mile may not have been the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One eagle-eyed Redditor happened to notice that the race was held at the now-closed Sacramento Raceway. When comparing the stills from Tesla\u2019s footage, it can be seen that the Cybertruck and Porsche were set up to race across the first set of thick lines painted on the track, which are placed at the eighth-mile marker alongside the grandstands. (Those\u00a0are not present at the quarter-mile markings on the track.) Yet during the press conference, even Tesla CEO Elon Musk was adamant that it was a proper quarter-mile drag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an actual Porsche. We literally just got it from the dealer. 2023 Porsche 911,\u201d Musk said during the Cybertruck launch event. \u201cIt can tow a Porsche 911 across a quarter mile faster than the Porsche 911 can go by itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immediately after showing the Cybertruck win the race, Tesla claims that the highest trim Cyberbeast version of its truck can run the quarter mile in under 11.0 seconds, though it\u2019s assumed this is without towing a 3,300-pound sports coupe on a 1,500-pound trailer.<\/p>\n
Perhaps showing this figure directly after the eighth-mile drag, combined with Musk\u2019s claim of the truck beating out the Porsche in a quarter mile, is what led to this misconception.<\/p>\n
It’s hard to know exactly what happened here, since we can’t ask Tesla, which doesn’t speak to the media. An examination of the video reveals it was definitely an eighth-of-a-mile; the grandstands don’t extend to the quarter-mile marker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s also not clear how Tesla actually spec’d its dealer-lot Porsche 911. Musk simply said it was an \u201cactual\u201d 911 and that Tesla had picked it up from a dealership. The lowliest (if you want to call such a car that) 911 Carrera crosses the quarter mile in around 12.2 seconds and offers a zero-to-60 MPH sprint in 3.9 seconds\u2014that\u2019s with a manual transmission. Porsche\u2019s fast-shifting PDK dual-clutch gearbox shaves a half-second from that zero-to-60 time. It would appear that Tesla\u2019s track car used a manual transmission, as the nose of the car can be seen dipping while the car shifts into second gear during Tesla\u2019s race footage.<\/p>\n
In Tesla\u2019s defense, the tri-motor Cybertruck is remarkably quick. Plus, it\u2019s around $15,000 cheaper than the Porsche. But it\u2019s worth calling out that there probably isn\u2019t much overlap in folks who cross-shop these vehicles, especially since the 911 is engineered more for balance than for straight-line speed, anyway.<\/p>\n
That being said, the Cybertruck also supposedly wasn\u2019t engineered just for straight-line speed but it’s plenty fast anyway. In an interview with Tesla\u2019s chief designer, Franz Von Holzhausen, it was revealed that CEO Musk mandated that the Cybertruck \u201chad to drive like a sports car but have all the utility of a pickup truck\u201d\u2014all while its first prototype was delivered in just 93 days. Part of Tesla\u2019s solution for this was in the sail panels of the truck. That panel alone is responsible for 25% of the vehicle\u2019s torsional stiffness.<\/p>\n
Despite all of this, we can probably assume that bombing the truck around a proper racetrack likely doesn\u2019t feel like same as a Porsche 911.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll give Tesla credit where it\u2019s due: the stunt was good. It got people (including me) commending the automaker for a great job at marketing a flagship product four years in the making. But, one could argue that the mentioning of the quarter mile time directly after an eighth-mile race was also a bit misleading in the same go.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no denying that the Cybertruck will be quick to 60, or in a straight line from a dig. Hell, it even appears to have some pretty decent towing advantages thanks to its all-electric torque. But whether it is faster than a Porsche 911 in a quarter-mile race, while towing another 911, remains unclear.<\/p>\n