The Cybertruck vs. Porsche 911 race turned out to be staged (1 photo + 1 video)

Elon Musk has once again found himself at the center of a controversy surrounding his outrageous claims about the capabilities of Tesla's electric vehicles. This time, it concerns a video of the Cybertruck allegedly overtaking a Porsche 911 while towing another Porsche. It turns out that the race never actually happened.



Tesla initially released the video at the premiere of the production version of the Cybertruck. Musk claimed the electric pickup truck could tow a Porsche 911 a quarter mile (402 meters) faster than the 911 could travel on its own. It sounded impressive, but soon car enthusiasts and experts began to analyze the footage frame by frame and found numerous inconsistencies.

Firstly, the comparison was unfair, as the video used the top-of-the-line Cybertruck Cyberbeast, while the competitor was a Porsche 911 Carrera T. This is one of the slowest versions of the model, although Porsche has at least half a dozen modifications capable of outrunning both the Cybertruck and the Carrera T.

Furthermore, the race never lasted a quarter mile—it ended halfway through, effectively an eighth of a mile. Cybertruck Chief Engineer Wes Morrill confirmed that a full-scale race was never conducted. Instead, the company only conducted virtual simulations.

Wes Morrill - "The fastest time the Cybertruck achieved that day in the 1/8-mile tow was 7.808 seconds at 88 mph. The trailer's tires were only rated for 80 mph, so we decided to call it a day before anyone got hurt. Our simulations showed that a full 1/4-mile run would have been close but would have resulted in the same end result, so there was no need to take any risks. We also had the option of lightening the trailer further, but it wasn't necessary."