No, Tesla Cybertruck Is *Not* Faster Than Porsche (While Towing) 

**Important Update!** I asked MotorTrend for their 1/8th mile time for the 2023 Porsche 911 Carrera T (7MT). They confirmed it at 8.0 seconds and 93.1 mph. That's *FASTER* than the Tesla towing a 911 did it (~8.25s), and ~0.38 seconds *FASTER* than the Porsche 911 alone did it in Tesla's video. This implies the 911 beats the Cybertruck (while towing) in the 1/8th, as well. So... what's up with the 911's slow time in the video? Worth repeating - 911 T is the slowest current gen hard top 911, so it's the best one to use as reference against the video. **Important Update 2!** Cybertruck's lead engineer, Wes Morrill, has tweeted additional information: "Love the detailed breakdown @jasonfenske13 - well done! One underlying assumption, which is what any reasonable engineer would assume: the video showed was the best run. It was not. But it was the most dramatic finish. So "why didn't we do a full 1/4mi?" The fastest 1/8mi CT hit while towing on the day was 7.808s at 88mph and the trailer tires were only rated to 80mph so we opted to call it a day before someone got hurt. Our simulations showed the full 1/4 mi race would be close but with the same net result, so no need to risk it. We also had some room to further lightweight the trailer but didn't need to. I'm glad this is so unbelievable that people care to do this analysis." x.com/wmorrill3/status/1746266437088645551?s=20 **Edit 1:** Some folks have issue with the assumption of linear acceleration for the remaining 1/8th mile. Let's talk about it! First off, that's a very fair thing to have issue with. My intention was not to provide an exact measurement of the 1/4 mile time, but rather to show that it is not as close to 12.3 sec as it may seem in the first half of the assessment. Hence, I used a "~" when showing the "final" quarter mile time, though I should have been more clear about this. There absolutely won't be linear acceleration, so there is some play with this number. However, let's use the Cybertruck alone as an example since we have all the numbers. 99 mph at the 1/8th, and 119 mph at the 1/4. We know it did this in 4.06 seconds. Using linear acceleration to guesstimate the time required, you would get 4.13 seconds (0.125 mi / 109 mph avg speed * 3600s/hr = 4.128 seconds). 4.06 and 4.13 are pretty close (both rounding to 4.1 seconds). Using this methodology *won't* give you an exact answer, it's just closer to reality than saying "it can't do it in 12.3 seconds, the end." Also, this is assuming the towing Cybertruck maintains strong acceleration above 88 mph, a challenging feat when the aerodynamic drag of both cars is going to be very significant. This little tid-bit at the end was meant as a "let's get closer to the real number" so we can confidently say it would or would not win in the 1/4 mile, because 12.2 vs 12.3 looks like it could be a toss up, whereas in reality the gap is more meaningful. Hope this info helps! **Edit 2:** Some folks wanted to know where 24 FPS (frames per second) came from. 24 FPS is a very common speed for cinema & pro shoots in North America. You can easily download the Tesla video and check for yourself. However, for those who want to see proof, I've uploaded a video so you can see the frames counted: x.com/jasonfenske13/status/1746202913712836968?s=20

The drawing of the cybertruck as a triangle, and 911 clearly as a beetle is top class automotive humour :D

The accuracy of the 911s drawn in the board is astounding!

It's just like an engineer to do all this math to solve a point when the much easier path is: "Is Tesla's Cybertruck faster than a Porshe 911 in a quarter mile? NO, because if it was the marketing department would have shown THAT."

If they'd said, "The Cybertruck can tow a 911 over a quarter mile within a second of the time that the 911 alone does the quarter mile" then people would still be impressed, because that is arguably still an impressive feat.

I can confirm it was a ¨Porsche 911 Carrera T¨ because they have Agate Gray colored side mirrors and wheels (only the T has that option as standard, and wouldn't be a common/available choice as optionals for other models).

Jeremy Clarkson would be proud how you drew the 911 as VW Beetle 😁

It's really wonderful to come across people who freely share valuable information online. You never know what kind of knowledge you might stumble upon that could have a lasting impact on your life.

You see, a detail you missed is when the cybertruck reached 88 miles per hour, it jumped in time, completing the drag race ahead of the porshe, quite simple, really.

Congrats on benching 500lbs we all knew you could do it Jason!

Technically speaking, the 911 on the trailer was just as fast as the Cybertruck

Elon Musk is lying about his product I am shocked

Elons marketing team has no credibility imo

As someone who works in the automotive industry as a Technician at volkswagen in Germany i can totally confirm that this is the right way to draw a Porsche 😂

According to Jason’s own calculations the cyber truck is traveling at 88 miles per hour at the 1/8 miles mark ( 8:57 ). Any 80s kid can tell what happens next. The cyber truck travels back in time and beats the Porsche by 3 minutes. Coincidence that the Cyber truck has the same color as a DeLorean? I don’t think so.

Never trust a video of a certain brand's car winning, if the video is posted by that same brand itself.

The more I learn about Elon the more I feel better about myself. Sure, I may not be a billionaire, but I also don't have to lie to make money or friends.

Let's just all take a moment to appreciate Jason's impressively accurate 1:20 scale illustration of a Cybertruck towing a 911.

Thank you for drawing the Cyber truck as a Dorito and the Porcshe as a Beetle! This needed to be done!

In the quarter mile, every tenth you pick up in the 60ft you gain 2 tenths out the back door. That’s why when test and tuning for certain times, you can literally set the board to show the 60ft time and figure out if you should kill the run right after or actually stay in it till the end.

It's impressive that people can actually calculate with feet and miles. It just looks like just guessing random numbers out of thin air to me 😂

My favourite thing in this video is the way Jason drew the Cybertruck as a literal triangle and the 911 as a VW Beetle. Love it! 🪲

The question that should be asked is: Did the guy driving the 911 actually floored the gas pedal? The only way to prove would be an independent entity recreating the whole experiment. Tesla's intention was to beat a 911, so they could have intentionally driven the 911 slower. IMO And, by the way, who cares. I'll still go for a 911 if I had a bucket load of cash. I'll leave hauling and towing to real trucks like: F-150, Silverado, Rams and Tundra.

3:30 finally a english speaking person, who can say porsche correct.😳😳

I knew it was BS immediately because the Cybertruck does the 1/4 mile in 11.0s WITH 1ft roll out. The base 911 does the 1/4 mile in 11.7s without rollout and 11.5s with rollout. There was absolutely NO way that the cybertruck could beat the 911 while towing an extra 5000lbs. However, I did NOT notice it was 1/8th mile. That was very tricky of them.

Best part of the video is the art. The fact you characterized CT as a triangle on wheels and the 911 as a VW beetle has me dead 😅

How about just a fair race, Cybertruck vs 911 winners gets a pizza.

What I learned from this video is ... I would rather have the slowest 911 than the fastest Tesla truck.

1/8 mile has a lot more to do with traction and launch control (something EV's usually have a big advantage) than pure power.

The car is definitely the Carrera T with the manual transmission, you can see the front lip indicating the car is SPASM, and the black brake calipers with smaller rotors which come only with Carrera and Carrera T. The gray mirrors and Titanium color wheels only come on Carrera T.

tesla's main book: How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

you gotta love how happy thunderfoot is being the first to call this BS out nearly 5 years ago

The cyber truck drawn as a triangle and the 911 drawn as a beetle are just the perfect touch

Misleading claims from Tesla and/or Elon? Truly shocking!

That means we can sue Tesla for 69 million dollars for this😂

From my point of view, it's almost enough to be within the realm of possibility. And even if it's not, it's still damned impressive, given we don't know the prep and specifics: How much fuel was in each Porsche? What were the tire pressures and makes on both vehicles (and the trailer)? Was this a steel or aluminum trailer? What were the prevailing winds? What was the altitude and temperature of the test area? Keep in mind that even the driver's weight is a meaningful variable in a vehicle the size of a Porsche, but not so much in the case of the far heavier Cybertruck+trailer. (In an ordinary car, cutting the total weight by 100 lbs. is roughly equivalent to adding 10 hp.)

I think the craziest part is that tesla believed people wouldn't analyze this. In order for the CT to match a vehicle while towing it, anyone who's even done a drag race with their friends would know that even if you'll need some crazy power and grip to not only match a much lighter vehicle, but you'd also need someone sleeping on the launch to get the extra weight the CT is towing to negate the dead weight.

My favorite part is absolutely the drawings of each vehicle 🤣🤣

'so it's travelling at 88mph' *stops video and pulls out Back To The Future on Blu-ray

Simple response from Porsche: buy a Cybertruck, put their latest hi-end 911 on the track (and on the Cybertruck's trailer), and release the full 1/4 mile clip.

A major contribution the Cybertruck has made to automobiledom is that is has enabled people like me who can't draw for crap the ability to accurately draw a real vehicle.

If you watch the zoomed out video closely, they cut it off about halfway between the 1/8th mile and the 1/4 mile mark - the porsche is catching up and it looks like they cut it just before it passes the cybertruck - which suggests your calculations are about right. You even see the porsche *braking* in the last moments of the clip. To me this suggests they ran several attempts, and stopped each of them when the porsche passed the cybertruck, and this is the "best" comparison they managed. That might explain why the cybertruck beats the porsche to the 1/8th mile mark in their clip despite being slower on paper, the driver of the porsche had some bad shifts and was a little slow in that run.

Don't worry, Elon wont understand the mathematics presented in this video.

“Tricked you” = lied to you

The real irony is that this math is a best case scenario, a very unrealistic best, because realistically as you approach the top speed of the cybertruck, while towing, it gets exponentially harder to increase your speed due to friction, wind resistance, and the torque curve of the vehicle, which means its actual towing quartermile time is probably more like 16 seconds. Remember too that theres a LOT more wind resistance with a big old trailer and a porche on it too, so that exponential increase in drag is gonna be pretty brutal.

Jason, you rock. I love how you drew the 911 as a VW beetle, alongside the Cybertruck as just a triangle on wheels. Genius. I look forward to your future video on the biomechanics of benching 500 lbs.

That is the problem with marketing and politics just manipulate the data to support your goal and ignore the truth

The driver of a manual transmission car could easily have slowed the 1/4 mile down. So in reality, the Cybertruck may have beaten the Porsche in some of the less than stellar runs. The fact that it is raven that close is astounding.

You forgot to take into account that the CT can travel through time - just like other naked stainless steel bodied cars when they cross 88mph leaving behind a streak of fire

"Our simulations showed the full 1/4 mi race would be close but with the same net result, so no need to risk it." I won so many fights in my mind that I'm undefeated.

There is a Dilbert cartoon titled "the marketing guy" I printed out years ago; it goes like this: MG: "I don't see why engineers get paid more than marketing professionals". Dilbert: "Maybe its because engineers designed and built every important part of civilization and all you did was misrepresent it." MG: "my point is that you need both." Dilbert: "You really don't".

This video should get a LOT more attention than it has! Especially following the widespread realization that in cold weather, EV’s COMPLETELY break down as a viable option for personal transportation.

Let's all take a moment to appreciate that Jason is an absolute unit. He's gotta weigh at least 260 😂

At 88 mph the cybertruck, made of stainless steel, activated its flux capacitor, accelerated and went back to the past exactly 1.2 seconds, ending the quarter mile before the 911. The video stops because it would show the original cybertruck, not the one that travelled trough time. If you have any questions or comments, just call Dr. Emmet L. Brown

Hi, 9:24 - 9:54 is wrong, it asumes linear acceleration, in the presented reality the actual average speed would be higher. I still consider the conclusion valid, as the rounding in Cybertruck's favor more than compensates for that, it's just either the math has to be right or the error has to be constantly in favor of Cybertruck.

Compared to Teslas financial numbers this race is extremely clear and more honest

What you’re missing is that when it crosses the 1/8 mile and hits 88mph, that’s when the flux capacitor kicks in and it actually finishes the 1/4 before it started! 😜

Flaw #4 - The tires. The press cars are normally equipped with optional tires that deliver the best performance (so it looks great in reviews). Tesla likely bought the cheapest 911 with stock tires that are not going to perform nearly as well.

The idea that the truck can do this is laughable on its face. That his fanboys cheered when they heard it shows that they just gobble up everything without thinking.

Not to mention, that there are not just stronger Porsche 911n models, but also weaker Cybertruck versions.

I don't think Elon misspoke. I believe he knew exactly what he was doing.

as someone who grew up in a country with advertising laws it blew my mind and keeps blowing my mind that american companies can just straight up lie in commercials

Elon lied? Yes and water is wet 😂

Porche has aerodynamics but cyber truck didn't.

But have you considered: The Porsche Driver is paid by Tesla and knows how to lift ;)

Jason's ability to explain complex engineering with a sharpie and some humor is next level! 🚀

Elon misrepresented the capabilities of one of Tesla’s products?!? Shocking

"1/4 mile is the most important metric" Thank you Jason :)

I'm so glad Engineering Explained made a video on this. I'm local & have been to Sacramento Raceway many times & instantly noticed it cut off where the bleachers are. I commented about this on the original Tesla vid & got flamed to oblivion by every single Tesla fanboy, calling me a hater, a gas lover or that its because I can't afford a Cybertruck 😂

This is basically self-sabotage. When they lie about some stunts, it makes everyone doubt the other impressive feats the truck can actually do

IF you turn off the governor and install tires that can put the power to the ground, the Cyber Truck will beat most similarly modified production vehicles.

Teslas 'marketing' seem to be quite dishonest. This is not the first time they've conned their scientology fan base.

The art you made of the Cybertruck and the 911 was hilarious, honestly your drawing skills are underappreciated

You can clearly see that it was a manual porsche, the Tesla was faster for the first 1-2s, but the Porsche soon started overtaking it. It slowed its acceleration though for almost a second (you can see that at 5:36). If it was an automatic dual-clutch transmission it would have won even an 8th mile race.

It might be faster at the launch but not in the rest.

New headlines: Tesla is sued by Porsche.

You also have to factor in their instantaneous accelerations dropping at different rates as they advance to the end of quater mile. You can notice the 911 picking up just at the end of the 1/8th mile

I was extremely skeptical of the "drag race" video when it released so thank you for breaking it down to show why I had that sneaking suspicion it wasn't showing the reality between the two vehicles.

I don't care if the cybertruck can pull 20 or more 911's and still beat a 911. I'd still take a 911.

There is one mistake. The truck without tow was 11mph faster at 1/8th mile. But there is no guarantee that speed gap is going to be equal or more. As cars get close to their maximum speed acceleration decreases. So it's possible the towing truck to accelerate more in the second half. But I agree that in no way the truck towing can outrun the second half faster than without tow and 12.3s is a safe impossible best case scenario.

6'6, 250 pds, Benching 500 plus ... Nice 😂

The really weird thing is, they could have just said it can beat the 911 in that trim, and that would STILL be very impressive for a truck and is more than enough to even impress the regular car folks. But they just had to take it too far and this happens. edit: also 12.8 secs 1/4 mile time is still very impressive while towing a 911, like damn lol

They used the Porsche 911 Carrera T, it posts a 12.2 at 116 mph and has 379 hp, they specifically chose the worst porsche for the test cause it has a manual gearbox, and the cybertruck had 845 hp...

Wait till you realise that almost every spec Tesla ever published is a lie

For the last 5-ish years my knee-jerk reaction to Elon Musk saying something is to immediately assume he’s lying and go on about my day.

I love how detailed you can get with a sharpie marker and get all the nuanced detail of the cybertruck in your drawing.

I love how you drew the 911 as a bug....funny for those who know the history of porsche.

I once watched a guy in a Mustang drag race a guy on a bicycle across an intersection (they clearly knew each other). The guy on the bicycle won handily.

Elon being misleading? We are shocked.

What actually happened is when the Cyber truck hit 88mph at the 1/8 mile it did what stainless steel vehicles apparently do at 88mph and went back in time to 1957.

The amount of drivers that can actually achieve a sub 12.5 1/4 in a manual transmission Porsche are very slim. If they did real world testing with average drivers and no race prepped track mashing the pedal in an EV could easily beat a manual transmission in half of the drags.

One thing to remember with a manual transmission car, is you can easily have a full second variance in 1/4 mile time just in how you drive it. The Car and Driver/Motor Trend times they were trying to get the best time out of it, where the Tesla team could have been launching it softer and taking a little longer on the gear changes.

The most magic thing about this stunt is that it proves the efficiency of TRAINS.

The amount of work that he put into this video may me subscribe.

This guy teaches math better than my math teacher.

As long as no 911’s were harmed during the filming..

Everything about this video is just great! The car drawings, the not-so-funny jokes, the math and, of course, the stab at misleading marketing stunts! Thanks Jason!

You failed to mention that you could run faster than the cybertruck, while you're carrying a cybertruck in each arm

Wow wasn't aware of how good Tesla marketing is. A guy making a 12 minute video about Tesla without getting a single cent :D

drag racing starts on the front tires and ends on the front tires.