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1300HP Porsche 911 Turbo S Drag Races 1200HP Audi R8, Turbo Suzuki GSX-R Joins in

Is a 1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S the fastest car in the United Kingdom? You can bet your underwear it's not, but that doesn't make the prospect of seeing it in action any less exciting.
1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race 14 photos
Photo: Officially Gassed - OG / YouTube thumbnail
1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race1,300 hp Porsche 911 Turbo S Vs 1,200 hp Audi R8 V10 Vs 585 hp Suzuki GSX-R drag race
Even less so when the car it's up against is a 1,200 hp Audi R8. The German sports car - the one from Ingolstadt, we should add since both fit the first part of the description - is a very impressive beast. Perhaps the most astounding thing about it is that it managed to double its power (602 hp stock) without any interventions on the engine block itself.

The engine bay, however, is a completely different story. We could sit here until dark talking about everything that's been modified or added, so we'll just focus on the more important stuff such as the upgraded turbochargers. The R8 is the work of the guys at Auto Torque who offer a complete package they very tellingly call AT1200. It consists of a pair of Precision 64- 66 Gen 2 dual ball bearing Mirror Image turbochargers as well as a hefty upgrade to the fuel intake system, including the ability to run on race fuel.

Unlike its opponent, the Porsche 911 Turbo S' engine is a custom-built affair, featuring a larger displacement (4.2 liters) as well as two ES Garrett G35-900 turbo twins. The result is a machine that produces a whopping 1,600 hp, but for the purpose of keeping this race interesting, the driver decided to go for map four out of six, which gives it roughly 1,300 hp. Obviously, he still wants to win it.

Other than the power output, the two cars are pretty similarly matched. They both have the all-important all-wheel-drive system to help make the most of all that power, especially on a surface like the one they're on (at least it's dry, so no complaints), and they both send power through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. They also run on the same race fuel, and they even have matching tires: Toyo Proxes R888s, though the Porsche only uses them for the rear wheels.

With the cars so evenly matched, it all comes down to the driver's skill, his reactions, and maybe each vehicle's gearing. Assuming those don't play much of a role either, it's really down to just those extra 100 horsepower the 911 puts out.

The quarter- and half-mile races confirm there is a performance gap between these two, and it may very well have the shape of 100 hp. The Porsche is just fractionally better in everything it does, but it's enough to give it a comfortable win over both lengths (9.12 and 14.04 seconds for the 911, 9.35 and 14.41 seconds respectively for the Audi R8).

With the cars weighing the same, that means the Porsche has a clear advantage in the power-to-weight department as well (812 hp/ton compared to 752 hp/ton). Well, with the introduction of the modified Suzuki GSX-R, that's about to change drastically.

The 1991 Suzuki has a 1100cc turbocharged built engine good for 586 horsepower. Yes, that kind of power is quite significant on a one-and-a-half-ton car, so imagine what it must feel like on a 474 lbs (215 kg) bike. Well, let's just put it this way: it gives it a power-to-weight ratio of 2,725 hp/ton. Because the surface was so bad, the rider decided to restrict its power to about 400 hp, reducing that crazy ratio to 1,860 hp.ton.

Either way, that's a lot. Naturally, running the bike against the two all-wheel-drive cars from a standing start would have meant wasting everyone's time, so they instead decided to go for a 50 mph (80 kph) rolling start. It turned out it still wasn't enough for the bike to find any traction, so they took the speed up to 70 mph (113 kph). Ironically enough, that proved to be enough to have a race, but also too high for the bike since it reached its max gearing limitation (and, therefore, top speed) before the end of the race. Still, it's a hell of a battle up to that point. Give the video a watch.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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