Old 911 vs new 911: Can an amateur driver beat ex-Stig Ben Collins? 

Thanks to GoPro for making this video possible! Check out the HERO12 Black: www.GoPro.com/HERO12

Y'all gotta get Rubens Barrichello or Vettel to go head-to-head against Ben for a rematch since they were the first to beat him as the Stig

Can't express how much joy it brings me to see Ben Collins, Mr. OG STIG himself, as a regular recurring co-host on these episodes!

These episodes are the true spiritual successor to the old Top Gear. Love it.

Huge respect to Stig for his humility.

Ben Collins is genuinely one of the nicest, humblest, people on the internet.

Giving The Stig a run for his money 😉

The difference between the 997 and the 992 was mind blowing, nearly 10.5 seconds on a roughly minute and a half lap. I think we definitely need more of these comparos of 10-20 year old cars vs their modern counter parts. Heck, you could even run an NC vs ND Miata, would probably be interesting, or M5's, Boxters, WRX's, Audi S3/4. This was good stuff.

What a fantastic video, would definitely love to see more of this variety. Think Ben vs Barrichello revenge lap would be the ultimate content.

I can’t comprehend the difference in time😲 What a piece of machinery 👍

Years ago my first Turbo experience was in a 997 Turbo. Was so impressed by power and ceramic brakes. It wasn’t a sportscar. It felt like a hypercar. It blew my mind. Especially the braking. Recently drove the 992 Turbo on German autobahn. So easy to drive. And so fast. Mindblowing. And the best thing: all German cars make room for you on the left lane! So decent. So nice. As if they have learned that at birth: when Turbo is coming. We make some room. German society should be proud of what they are capable to build!

One of the best videos you’ve done in a while. Love the challenges of drivers vs machines. More Stig and guests please.

I'm kinda blown away by the difference, how fast Nick was, and Ben's lap in the new car. As others have mentioned, some discussion of tires would be interesting as well. They've improved as much as the cars.

This was awesome, Nick is a quick driver. The content on Drivetribe lately has been epic.

997 will forever be the best looking 911 for me. So sleek yet so tight. Gotta love those smaller nimble cars. The newer car performance is unmatchable but still the older one has that car "soul" thing flowing from it.

Using Ben's two lap times it's almost a one second per year difference between the two models. Pretty amazing.

As an owner of a 997.1T (tip) and 991.2TS, there is no doubt a massive diff in performance in generations. However, I suspect a significant part of the lap time diff (2 sec?) is attributable to stick v PDK in this comparo.

Boyz .. we need more Ben vs ???? In any car - totally worth watching!!! Do NOT Disappoint

Ben is the STIG. He is a uk Hero to us all and I never doubt him for a sec. Well done Ben.. 👍👍👍

Nick is definitely on the upper end of amateur, but definitely made it more interesting. Any "regular joe" or "I've done a few track days" level driver would've been nowhere irrespective of equipment.

Fair play to Nick. Happy to see Ben perform so well. All is good. More of this format please ❤

More Stig content please, it'll never ever get old!!!

To me, 997 is the best contemporary 911. The 991 and especially the 992 are just too big.

One of the best videos I have seen on cars on you tube. Very interesting and it was great not to know the numbers until the end. The stig--what a gentlemen and of course what talent. He really showed what the car could do. And the amateur driver certainly can hold his head up. There is always an almost quantum leap to the pros but he really did well and was a very engaging person. Terrific content in every way!

As much as you have to enjoy the comparison between two great cars a decade apart, its the personalities of the three of you in this video that was so enjoyable. Do more please. Maybe going even further back with a old classic and a modern day basic hatchback.

Mate this video was superb I really enjoyed it.

This is some of the best content you guys have put out. Very cool to have the founder of GoPro on, he can wheel a car 😎 you can’t beat watching good drivers lap a really good car around a fast circuit 💯🔥😎❤️❤️❤️❤️ more content like this please 🙏

awesome as always.thanks for sharing and taking us along

More of this please. Feels like the good old days ❤

Is 2010 now considered to be "back in the day"? I'm 44 and I now feel really old! 😟

Ben is an absolute gentleman, an amazing talent yet so humble, fair play to him.

Great video - gets right to the driving and super entertaining. I have a 911 myself but these newer Turbo's are on another planet.

Great video. Amazing 11 seconds… that is more than 10% faster overall. Super interesting to see. Thanks guys!

Great video and just goes to show how quickly cars are improving. It would be great to see what a truly amateur driver could do when there is such a disparity with the performance of the car.

Drive Tribe is becoming more like The Grand Tour / Too Gear! I’m Loving It!!! Cheers🎉

Great content from Drivetribe,as always!😊

What a great video you made watching real awesome people put their all into the race. Fantastic frankly, greats thanks and hats off your the racers for sure!

Really enjoyed this video but I’d like to wave the flag for the 997. To be precise it was a 992.2 Turbo S PDK vs 997.2 Turbo manual. The 997.2 Turbo S has over 30bhp more than the Turbo, and also has more torque. I couldn’t quite tell, but I suspect the 992 did a launch-controlled start whereas the manual Turbo doesn’t have this. I’m not saying that it would be neck-and-neck, but perhaps the gap between the two wouldn’t have been so dramatic if the 997 was similarly spec’d to the 992. Or perhaps I’m just defending my own 997.2 Turbo S PDK 🤣

Well done Ben and obviously the stunning 911.

A very clever format! Well done, all around!

This series is amazing. Having an old model compete with a newer model of the same car line. More of these please! Please do so with other big car brands like Ferrari. Just to see how technology have evolved in just 10 years. Thats amazing! Love it!

Someone took a 992 Turbo S, put safety/timing/radio equipment in it, and then went and place 2nd OVERALL at Pikes Peak Hillclimb with an essentially “stock” car. The Turbo S is an absolutely mind-bending amount of performance that someone can just go write a check for.

Some driving from both guys! Wow,what a car! 👏

Brilliant! Seriously enjoyed it, well done! 👍

Great video -- keep them coming!!

Clearly not an amateur driver.

On a race circuit tyres can make a big difference to lap times. Would be interesting to see the same car compared with different tyres but the same driver.

Great racing from two great guys. I really enjoyed the vid.

Bro, you got a new sub! Love this. I gotta start following Nick & Ben as well! Cheers guys, Thx!

Please have Ben do a lap in the same track with a 992 GT3. It would be awesome to see the difference between the GT3 and Turbo S with Ben behind the wheel.

sick to see how GoPro's founder is such a racer! i recently found an old Hero3+ black and started to record pov videos myself with it, guess it goes to show how versatile the cameras are (even if they do get a bit toasty lol) great race tbh, love to see the collab content

Thank goodness for that. I was starting to get worried, but we should never doubt Mr Ben Colins/The Stig. And my goodness, his time in the 992 was so much faster than I think any of us expected. Ben is still the man, and forever more will be.

The time difference is mental. I thought the 997 was a fast car.

I could never beat The Stig, some say he’s wanted by the CIA, and that he sleeps upside down like a Bat, but I sure as hell would love to try. It's great seeing Ben on DriveTribe. I've been following his channel as well. What would I like to see? More rally, especially since supercars are getting in the dirt now with things like the Sterrato. Would it beat an RS200?

Ben Vs Nick is a great combination! Really enjoyed that!

Simply outstanding video !! OUTSTANDING !!!

I loved this video! Really fun. Just sadly lacking in the engine sound dept. Surely a remote mic would augment the footage nicely

The 992 is such a nice machine 👌

Great video and nice to feel that bit of tension.

That was awesome. I’d love to have a ride with Ben in either of those amazing machines.

Would be nice to show tires on these cars. Just switching to modern sport compound gives you like 4 seconds on a two minute lap, but I assume Ben has something appropriate on his machine.

I remember when Richard drove the convertible version of this on Top gear fell in love with the turbo S ever since

Holy crap that is quick, great to see Ben on drivetribe

Would be interesting to see the dynamics with Ben as Ben with the OG.

Ben shouldn't be worried about losing his job. DT would drop Mike in a heartbeat if it came to Stig or Mike

Curious what tires both cars were running

Dream format - keep this coming - it's the star in a car + marque comparison, cracking!! If you can get Thruxton again we can have a leaderboard to compare too!

Fun episode, enjoy both the Stig and Nick! And both Turbo's are dream cars.

we need more of Nick

Ben is the MAN!

Oh please more this kind of series❤

That's an UNREAL difference. I never would have guessed even half of that. Unbelievable progress

So not an amateur driver at all.

That's not an old 911 😂 That's just the previous 911.

Staggering difference in lap times with the same driver! I'd love to see Ben's lap times in a 996 Turbo and 991.1 Turbo S just to see the progression.

Great vid! Always entertaining but especially when The Stig is involved too 👍👍👍

Pointless then. When his not an amateur

Nice vid - the increased stiffness of the 992 was very obvious - ballistic machines - love it

That was a genuinely entertaining video and comparison...well done! I'll admit it would be pretty incredible to see Ben go up against other top pros, and the thought of someone like Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, or of course Max Verstappen giving him a run would be seriously entertaining to watch.

Perfect comparison with two amazing picks!

Everyone needs to watch this once - outstanding lesson in advancement 💪🏽👍🏽

A race around track for ALL SERIES of the Mx5!! Happy to be your amateur for the RF and stck Ben in the Mk1

Watching Ben drive on a track like this brings back memories of every Sunday at 8pm. I think even if i didn't see, it was a DriveTribe video and just saw Ben driving the 992 without knowing who it was driving... I think i'd guess it was him from the driving style and presence he gives on track

That 992 spec is beautiful, from exterior colour to interior just beautiful.

Very cool! And yes…more match ups please! All of the above. 🙏😁

70's / 80's all cast Rally race! Bring it on!

I would like to see more videos like this with the same concept!

That's an outrageous jump in lap times (of Ben's) between the two cars!

Great video! Thank you! I would like to see a basic 911 vs M3

Awesome video, and a testament to technology!

Hope you make more of these comparisons

A really interesting matchup would be some Group B rally cars from the 80ties. Or any modern car vs the Group B Audi Quatro.

Nice to see how they match up

vintage Porsche 911 RUF vs vintage porsche 911 ev swap : 1969 Mustang Mach 1 vs 2023 Mustang Mach 1 : Jaguar XKR manual vs Jaguar XKR auto I've been waiting for someone to do these types of vintage vs modern/auto vs manual comparisons. You've made my day! Thank you and well done!

It would be awesome to see a few old school rally cars matched up against each other around that track...maybe even an old school group b VS a modern car. Love Ben Collins! Down to earth and humble gentleman. Awesome video!

Of all the sponsors you’ve had this was the most natural of matches

Really enjoyed it! great human touch as well, nice guys !!

Great video! Crazy to see the difference in lap times between the 997 and 992. For the next one 430 Scuderia vs. 488 Pista!

Whichever Ben wants, Aston vs. Aston. This was epic! So very cool. How cool is Ben? Nice to see him in his own car on the track.

I think its really cool that I finally get to see the stig on screen. He's amazing as an entertainer!