The Porsche 911 Turbo S and the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 both use dual-clutch transmissions, but if we look past that aspect, these go-fast tools are as different as they get. Of course, this only means that throwing the two at each other in a straight-line race will put on a show, especially if the muscle car had received some aftermarket assistance.
Based on their starting prices, you can almost grab three GT500s for the kind of money it takes to get behind the wheel of a Turbo S. As such, Texas-based aftermarket developer Hennessey Performance wanted to step in by gifting the pony with its 1,000 horsepower package and benchmarking this against the stock Neunelfer. Following the mods, the cost of the pony is roughly half that of the rear-engined machine.
And since Hennessey happens to have a drag strip in its back yard, it didn't take much for the coupes to go at it. Now, a standing start battle would've seen the 'Stang struggling for traction against the extremely efficient AWD of the Porsche, with this amplified by the fact that we're looking at an unprepped surface.
Thus, the velocity tools went at it using a rolling start. Kicking off at 50-60 mph (80-96 kph), this battle replicates a street race, so you don't have to engage in such dangerous activities.
As you'll notice at the 1:54 point of the clip below, there were two battles, with the Porsche's full fury, which comes via its Sport Response button, only unleashed for the second run.
While the Venom 1000 kit fitted to the Ford takes the factory-supercharged 5.2-liter V8 to 1,000 hp and 850 lb-ft (1,152 Nm) of twist on E85, which is the setup used here, you should know that running the thing on pump gas delivers a 900 hp muscle number. As for the twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat-six mounted at the back of the Turbo S, it churns out 640 hp and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of torque.
Of course, we need to keep in mind that the Mustang is over 500 lbs (227 kg) heavier while also being considerably less slippery than the Porsche.
If you'd like to place a bet on how large the gap between the two beasts is, now would be a good time for it.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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