You might have heard the old gag that 911s are just Beetles with a fancy body. Well, in its latest drag race video CarWow pitted a modern 911 GT3 RS against a 1972 VW Beetle. Except that it isn’t a normal Beetle.
This example has had its old-fashioned flat-four replaced with the motor out of a Tesla Model S, which means that it’s now making 450 hp (456 PS/335 kW) and 498 lb-ft (675 Nm) of torque. By comparison, the Porsche’s 4.0-liter flat-four puts out 520 hp (527 PS/388 kW) and 347 lb-ft (470 Nm) of torque.
However, even though the 911 GT3 RS is relatively light for a modern supercar, weighing in at 3,152 lbs (1,430 kg), it’s outdone by the Beetle, whose heavy batteries were mostly counteracted by carbon fiber body panels. That means that it weighs just 2,315 lbs (1,050 kg).
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Although they’re both on sticky Michelin tires, the driver of the Beetle reports that it is pretty traction limited, a point he proves by easily doing a burnout off the line to warm up his tires.
Ahead of the third race, in which Mat Watson takes the wheel of the VW, he warms the tires, too, which amuses him enormously. I’ve seen quite a few of CarWow’s videos and it’s a testament to the silly charm of a Beetle that I’ve never seen him laugh quite as hard before.
The process does prove to be an important one, though, with cold tires limiting the Beetle in the first race and preventing it from putting the power down off the line, handing the Porsche the win. In subsequent races, though, the results are much closer. Even in the rolling races, the electric motor’s torque makes the Beetle quite the performer.
So no, 911s are not Beetles in a fancy dress – but maybe electromodded Beetles can show Porsche’s icon a thing or two, even if the basic car is almost 50 years old.