While both the Porsche 911 Turbo S (irrespective of generation) and the exquisite Ferrari F8 Tributo are track-ready machines that feel best when driven hard on a complex track, there are those who delight themselves with simpler things. Such as a plain drag race. And accelerating both cars on a straight line for a specific amount of distance should be a no-brainer. Well, things are sometimes easy to screw up.
Take this new video (embedded below) from the 888MF YouTube channel that should have been a great way to start your day. Unfortunately, better prepare for a few deceased brain cells trying to figure out what exactly went wrong and where.
If you are a diehard Porsche fan you’ll feel robbed, if you love Ferrari you will think it could have done better, and if you are a general car enthusiast you will certainly take a moment to reflect at the trials and tribulations of the modern, craving-for-attention social media world.
When judging from afar, this meeting should have been a match made in heaven. On one side we have the Ferrari F8 Tributo, a spectacular Prancing Horse that shines anywhere with its aerodynamic profile and classic supercar configuration. That would be a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive setup, with the award-winning twin-turbocharged 3.9-liter V8 massaged for this iteration to no less than 720 PS. Enough for a not to 60 mph sprint in 2.8 seconds, according to the channel’s spreadsheet.
In the other corner lies the German sports car that has refined the rear-engine recipe to the point that no one asks why on Earth is anyone thinking about pitting a Porsche against a Ferrari. Feels natural today, right? Well, the 992 generation of the 911 series, in the Turbo S configuration, certainly fits the bill. It arrives at the battleground with its 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six and a total of 650 PS. With all-wheel-drive, the sprint is an even-better 2.7 seconds.
Well, in reality, the overall results are not necessarily surprising – but they are annoying, to say the least. First of all, there’s a big disclaimer from the get-go saying 888MF’s Mark got behind the wheel of the Porsche just prior to the video shoot. So, he thinks this is cause for cutting them some slack for the results. It’s not, because professionals know that preparation is key to achieving stellar results.
Next up, there’s no way to give them the pass for pitting a cabriolet against a coupe. We all know that even engineers cannot do wonders, so an open-top is usually heavier than its fixed-roof sibling. This is, naturally, the case here as well – and the 911 Turbo S Cabriolet started with a big handicap.
The Porsche was also under-powered, so we are at least not entirely surprised that both drag races went to the F8 Tributo. But, on the other hand, we can even understand the frustration of the channel fans that rooted with the Stuttgart-born machine. We also give reason to the Ferrari aficionados – the race was quite unprofessional. All in all, the times are actually disappointing across the board.
And that’s really a shame, because with a little preparation things might have looked quite different. So, dear socialites running for the next big break, please do your homework – otherwise you’ll suffer the consequences of a furious community. This calls for a professional rematch – that would give us the chance to see if under the right conditions the AWD monster with a rear engine can actually beat the higher-powered Italian thoroughbred...
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News