For most people, a Porsche 911 is an overpriced VW Beetle, a car with the engine in the wrong place. Meanwhile, the McLaren is akin to god among humans, a racing car with road tires. Not true!
Porsche might have had a bit of trouble with one particular Nissan, but that only streagthen their resolve and allowed engineers to make the more powerful 911 Turbo S. Built for only a short period of thine before the 991 generation came along, this supercar is powered by a B6 engine that is twin-turbocharged to the tune of 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.3 seconds.
Its competitor of the day is the 2012 McLaren MP4-12C. It also has a 3.8-liter twin-turbo engine, but it's a V8 that makes 600 hp. Still, the 0 to 100 km/h time is the same 3.3 seconds, partly because all that power and torque is going to the back wheels.
Both cars are stock. Both cars have good launch control. The only real difference is made by the drivers. The Porsche wins two out of three battles off the line, but the clocks of the Palm Beach International Raceway tell a different story. The McLaren actually wins all the races because of its higher speed. Had the Porsche been tuned a bit, it would have been a completely different story.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News