Porsche 997 Buries Nissan GT-Rs: Track Time Tuesday Presented by Nitto NT01 Tire

Not even a hefty tune and the latest in high-tech traction wizardry is enough to outrun this older Porsche 997 in a rolling drag race!

Though they weren’t exactly designed to dominate the world of straight-line racing, modern Porsches actually make fine drag racers. We’ve seen several mildly tuned, turbo’d 911s tear it up in the quarter-mile recently, setting new records along the way. But the most impressive thing about these performances is that many of them depict Porsches outrunning cars famous for their straight-line performance. Like Tesla’s Model S, for example. And in this recent video, a tuned Porsche 997 eats against a pair of Nissan’s much ballyhooed GT-Rs.

For some time, the GT-R was the world’s quickest-accelerating production vehicle. Heck, even the latest version’s sub-3.0 second run is pretty darn impressive. So one might think that throwing 1,000 horsepower worth of mods at one might make it a world beater. Especially when you’re talking about roll racing, which involves a moving start. But you’d be wrong.

In fact, this video shows both a 1,000 hp Switzer-tuned and 1,100 hp Iveytune prepped GT-R losing their respective races to an AIM Performance Porsche 997. Which, according to the video, also serves up a healthy 1,000 hp. Clearly, when you take all that modern traction technology away from the Nissans, even an old Porsche proves superior in a straight line.

The Nissan GT-R is still seen as a bit of a performance bargain, regardless. But we’d argue that a gently used Porsche 997 is an even better option. If you’re looking to take a car, perform some subtle mods, and dominate the drags, you can’t do much better. And you can even do it with a proper 6-speed manual transmission. No fancy, multi-clutch gearbox needed. Just a good set of tires, the proper tune, and a little bit of practice!

This Rennlist Content is Presented by the Nitto NT01 Tire

The NT01 is a D.O.T.-compliant competition radial designed with the weekend road racer in mind. The compound was developed to provide the best balance of traction, consistency, heat cycle performance and longevity. The NT01 delivers fast and consistent lap times for both the professional road-racer and the track-day enthusiast.Learn more here.

Brett Foote

Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.
He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.