---
title: "Watch This McLaren 720S Get Smoked by an Electric Porsche 944"
description: "The numbers on this volt-powered Porsche speak for themselves."
date: "2019-02-24"
modified: "2019-02-24"
authors:
  - name: "Chris Tsui"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/chris-tsui"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/26618/watch-this-mclaren-720s-get-smoked-by-an-electric-porsche-944"
categories:
  - "McLaren News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Porsche News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "Electric Vehicle"
  - "porsche"
---

# Watch This McLaren 720S Get Smoked by an Electric Porsche 944

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2019/02/720s-944.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

We've seen McLaren's mighty 720S take on a wide swath of opponents including [Ludicrous Mode-enabled Teslas](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/13647/watch-this-tesla-model-x-p100d-go-up-against-a-lamborghini-aventador-lp570-4-sv>), its own [600LT little brother](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/25159/watch-hennesseys-mclaren-600lt-take-on-its-720s-big-brother-in-a-quarter-mile-drag>), and the [Nürburgring](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/25897/watch-a-bone-stock-mclaren-720s-lap-the-nrburgring-in-just-708-34>). Its latest challenger? An electric Porsche 944.

Brought to us by [*DragTimes*](<https://youtu.be/LByAeyr841g>), the extensively modified P-car in question boasts a pair of 11-inch DC electric motors good for around 980 horsepower and 1,500 pound-feet of torque going to the rear wheels. It weighs just 2,450 pounds. In contrast, the stock McLaren supercar makes "just" 710 hp and 568 pound-feet from its twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V8 and weighs a relatively chunky 3,180 pounds.

With those stats, you'd probably assume the hum-drum looking Porsche would trounce the British exotic on the dragstrip. And you'd be right.

Skip to around 2:30 for the quarter-mile showdown.

https://youtube.com/embed/LByAeyr841g

Crossing the finish line in 9.411 seconds at 142.72 miles per hour, the volt-powered 944 clobbers the 720S which did the same distance in 10.156 seconds at 140.33 mph. Even if the driver of the McLaren had gotten in a better run, it'd still likely be beaten by the Porsche. A previously achieved best quarter-mile time for the stock Macca [was 9.98 seconds](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15187/the-mclaren-720s-is-running-9-second-quarter-miles-from-the-factory>).

And before the supercar apologists snarkily point out that the faster, modified car will likely make its way home on a flatbed while the McLaren owner gets to cruise away in supreme luxury and style, this particular Porsche is actually street legal, apparently. Okay, so the 944 probably doesn't have a digital gauge display that folds away, a variable drift program in its center console, or dihedral doors. But when you're just cruising along casually down an Interstate, how much does that stuff actually matter?

H/T: [*Motor1*](<https://www.motor1.com/news/306642/mclaren-720s-electric-porsche-drag-race/>)

## Author
Chris Tsui is *The Drive*'s former Reviews Editor and current freelance automotive journalist. He's based in Toronto.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/cltsuii/>)