The Porsche 911 Turbo S is already an all-time favorite of YouTubers to race against pretty much anything these days. Even Elon Musk used a 911 to go against Tesla's Cyberbeast while the Cybertruck was towing another 911. Well, folks, today we have another peculiar race on our hands. We're watching a 911 Turbo S go head-to-head with the world-renowned Kawasaki Ninja H2R.
Before we're off to these Wacky Races (remember those?), let's first lay out the rules because they differ a bit from the ones in a typical 1/4-mile drag race.
The event was coined by Edmunds Cars as a U-drag race, where the purpose is to sprint for the standard 1/4-mile, then brake as fast as possible, make a U-turn, and then return to the initial starting position.
Our first warrior of the day is the 2022 Porsche 911 Turbo S. It has a 3.8-liter flat-6 powerplant that can deliver 640 hp (649 ps) with 590 lb-ft or 800 Nm of torque.
It's AWD, as you would expect, with an 8-speed transmission system, and weighs 3,696 lbs. or 1,676 kg. The most eye-opening thing about it is, of course, the price tag, proudly dangling at around the $230,000 mark.
Opposite the mighty Turbo S is the Kawasaki Ninja H2R, a 998-CC l4 supercharged beast. It has a 6-speed manual gearbox and can produce 305 horsepower or 309 ps with 122 lb-ft (165.4 Nm) of torque. It weighs 476 lbs. or 216 kg and costs almost $2k shy of $60,000.
While on paper, the outcome might not be surprising during the first 1/4-mile stretch of the road, what happens during and after the U-turn is another thing altogether. As a quick side note, this wouldn't be the first time this exact Ninja is battling a powerhouse on four wheels. Recently it destroyed an Acura NSX Type S during the same type of race.
Photo: Edmunds Cars
After the prep phase, it was time to "shake and bake," as the Kawasaki rider quoted the world-renowned Ricky Bobby. If you haven't seen "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," you don't know what you're missing. Will Ferrel in an outrageous NASCAR comedy is the perfect Sunday movie.
During the first race, the Porsche took the start while the bike was struggling to get back on two wheels. But as soon as the Ninja touched the tarmac with both wheels, it was game over for the 911. However, interestingly enough, they both stopped at roughly the same time at the U-turn section, and the Porsche gained quite the advantage.
Believe it or not, it humiliated the bike and left it in its victorious dust. It turns out that the Kawasaki got to the U-turn point with too much power on the ground, taking longer to break.
In the second race, the bike didn't have the best start, so the Porsche got to the turning point first. From there, the car won the race again without breaking a sweat. The rider tried not to go so hard toward the U-turn, but it didn't bode well to mix a lousy start with less throttle.
Now that we're reaching our final destination, let's see their best times. The Porsche won the 0-60 mph section with 2.5 seconds on the clock, while the Kawasaki Ninja H2R did it in 3.0 seconds.
For the quarter mile, the 911 did it in 10.2 seconds, and Ninja did it in 9.8 seconds. During the 1/4-mile here, the Kawasaki performed better than during the race with the Acura NSX Type S, where it got 10 seconds.
Finally, the 911 Turbo S completed the track in 30.8 seconds, while the Ninja H2R did it in 32.5 seconds. Now, we can clearly see why everyone loves racing this Porsche model.
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
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