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Modded 1,100-HP Porsche 911 Drags Tesla X Plaid; Results Are Frustrating

Tesla versus someone else at the dragstrip – it’s a story that starts to wear out, but it’s just like ice cream. Everyone gets enough of it until the next flavor drops in. It’s the same with the electric car, which did a splendid job dividing Planet Piston forever. We either accept that evolution is a natural phenomenon or try to beat it with ICE nostalgia and immovability.
2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned) 18 photos
Photo: YouTube/Drag Times
2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S (tuned)
Still, there is a method in this crankshaft madness – and the answer is more horsepower (or, to be engineeringly accurate: more torque). If one wishes to beat a Tesla Model X Plaid in a quarter-mile sprint, it needs a solid boost in dyno-backed ICE confidence.

Coincidentally, the YouTube channel with a soft spot for 1,320-foot-long sprints – Drag Times – has a new duel in store. Some time ago, he traveled to Bradenton Motorsport Park, just south of Tampa Bay, Florida, for a private drag racing session.

We already told you about some of the events during that invitation-only “floor it” happening. Now it’s time for the latest. Tesla Model X Plaid versus Porsche 911 Turbo, one thousand hp against another thousand, blazing fire challenges lightning bolts (again).

2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S \(tuned\)
Photo: YouTube/Drag Times
Before continuing, it would be to everyone’s advantage to disclose that the German sportscar is not a secretive project undertaken by the Stuttgart masters of the flat-six. The House of the Rearing Horse made a regular 3.7-liter twin-turbo all-wheel-drive Porsche 911.

M-Engineering took charge of said 2021 model-year automobile and dropped their explosive-performance kit in it. Dyno proclamations put this steroid-fed 911 Turbo in the range of 1,100 crank horsepower (1,115 ps). Or, as the car owner likes to declare: around 910 wheel-horsepower (923 ps).

The Model X, on the other hand, is not impressed by numbers and paper fantasies. Stock out of the factory, the 2022 Plaid version of the electric SUV grants roughly 1020 hp (1,034 ps). While it may appear unbalanced, the report on the two cars is modest on the Tesla side because there isn’t much to say about it that hasn’t already been told by the car’s build sheet.

2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S \(tuned\)
Photo: YouTube/Drag Times
Three electric motors and 94% state of charge for our story’s race. End of the line. While we could discuss the Porsche modifications for hours, the X Plaid prefers the subtle approach (pun intended). It’s all downhill from here as the two cars align for the first sprint.

As expected from these high-performance machines, they blast off the line and stay neck and neck until the end. 10.008 seconds on the electric versus 9.925 on the race-fuel burner. Yes, the Porsche runs on 104-octane gasoline. And it still loses – although, at first sight, its elapsed time is lower, therefore superior.

The reaction times turn the tables in the Tesla’s favor. The 911 driver was a full tenth slower off the start than his opponent. It’s not the fable of the tortoise and the hare, but the peculiar algorithms behind drag racing are sometimes counterintuitive.

2022 Tesla Model X Plaid vs 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S \(tuned\)
Photo: YouTube/Drag Times
The Plaid crossed the line first – and took the win – despite the Porsche being quicker between the starting point and the finish line. It left later, which translates into a second place across the trap. This race opened a comments debate between the partisans of the two paradigms, Electric and ICE.

Some argue that Porsche isn’t putting 910 whp to the ground, judging by the quarter-mile times. Others wonder why the X Plaid is so slow (a 20-mph /32 kph headwinds might be one cause). The second run between the two contenders is even more unrevealing than the first. The Porsche short-shifts and nearly buries its nose in the tarmac. It loses the race to such an extent that it would be best not to put it on record.

A decider is needed to mediate the unconvincing performances of the two horsepower warriors. Without transmission goofs and blitzing reaction time, the 2021 911 Turbo S gaps the X Plaid without bidding farewell. I suppose 35 psi of turbo pressure is one way of putting a Tesla in the rearview mirror.

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About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
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