Ferrari 488 Pista Drag Races Porsche 911 Turbo S, Has a Mountain to Climb

A few months ago, everywhere you'd look, you'd see some car being gapped by a McLaren 720S or 765 LT, but for a few weeks now, we keep coming across a different phenomenon. This time, it's the Porsche 911 Turbo S showing no mercy to its competitors. And I must say that being a huge Ferrari fan, I was afraid of what may happen to the 488 Pista brought forth for this challenge.

I tried to cheer myself up, thinking that this 911 Turbo S is a convertible and that it probably weighs a lot more than the Ferrari does. A quick look at the specs of these cars should provide an insight as to how this race might go down. The 488 Pista packs a 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 with 710 horsepower and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) of torque. It weighs just 3,053 lbs (1,385 kg), but its main disadvantage here is that power is only sent to the rear wheels.

On the other hand, the Porsche clocks in at 3,769 lbs (1,710 kg). It's got more torque at 590 lb-ft (800 Nm), but it's less potent with just 640 horsepower. But, and this is a big "but," it has the AWD advantage, which may prove crucial given the surface the challenge is held on. This track hasn't provided much grip in previous races either, so the 488 Pista will have a tough time starting from a dig.

As the two cars line up for the start of the race, we get to see an exhaust-note battle as always, which the Ferrari wins hands down. Preparing for the launch, the 488 Pista is being revved to 3,000 rpm, while the 911 Turbo S is up at 5,000 rpm. And, as expected, the Porsche simply rockets off the line, making its opponent look very slow indeed. Even though the Italian stallion manages to sort of catch up, it's still not enough to win the race.

The 488 Pista reached 62 mph (100 kph) from a standstill in 3.6 seconds, and it needed an extra 5.2 seconds to get up to 124 mph (200 kph). It completed the quarter-mile (402 meters) in 10.92 seconds. The half-mile (804 meters) finish line was reached 16,64 seconds after the start of the race, and the trap speed was 168 mph (270.5 kph). By comparison, the Porsche was 0.9 seconds faster to 62 mph but 0.88 seconds slower to 124 mph.

But it did cross the quarter-mile and half-mile lines the fastest, with 10.36 and 16.34 seconds, respectively, although its trap speed was just 161.86 mph (260.53 kph). Mind you, the two drivers go for a second run, and tires on both cars should be at least closer to optimum temperature this time. For the starting procedure, nothing changes, the Porsche is still first off the line, but this time the Ferrari looks like it's more effective at catching up.

The difference at the end of the runway is noticeably smaller, and if this had been a mile-long (1.6 km) run, the 488 Pista would have come out on top. But there's still some hope left for the Italian-built supercar in the rolling-start race, where both cars have second gear engaged, doing about 39 mph (63 kph). The 488 Pista reveals its fangs from the first moment, crushing its opponent like the first two runs never even happened.