The BMW M3 wouldn’t normally be fit to fight the Porsche 911 Turbo S in a drag race but this G80 is a bit special. Aside from being the quicker xDrive variant, it also happens to have a lot more power than stock. Courtesy of £8,000 worth of upgrades applied by Tom Wrigley Performance, the inline-six now churns a massive 750 horsepower or 240 hp more than the standard setup you get in the Competition model.
It gets better as the twin-turbo 3.0-liter “S58” now develops 900 Newton-meters (664 pound-feet) of torque, representing a healthy increase of 250 Nm (184 lb-ft). However, the tuner didn’t apply any weight-saving measures, so this M3 xDrive still tips the scales at a rather porky 1,780 kilograms (3,924 pounds). For the sake of comparison, the original M3 E30 weighed just 1,165 kg (2,568 lbs).
In the other corner, the current-generation Porsche 911 Turbo S is completely stock. The rear-engined sports car from Zuffenhausen uses a flat-six, 3.8-liter engine with 650 hp and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft). All that oomph is channeled to both axles via an eight-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission as opposed to the M3 and its eight-speed, torque-converter auto. It may be down on horsepower and torque, but the coupe partially makes up for that by weighing 1,640 kg (3,615 lbs) or 140 kg (309 lbs) less than the sedan.
The 911 Turbo S is widely regarded as one of the fastest cars with a combustion engine in a drag race as it can go head-to-head even with more expensive supercars. A duel between a modded and a stock car isn’t a fair fight, but it’s interesting to see how those relatively affordable upgrades make the BMW a worthy opponent for the all-conquering Porsche.
The amped-up M3 Competition xDrive managed to win two out of the three drag races. The gap was even bigger in the subsequent rolling races from 50 mph (80 km/h) to the half-mile mark. It also performed rather decent in the brake test from 100 mph (161 km/h), but with the Porsche being the lighter car, the 911 Turbo S did manage to win that test.
Source: Carwow / YouTube
