2008 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car vs. Jett8′s Boeing 747-200F at Changi Airport: with video!

Posted by Harvinder

September 7, 2009

There is something about fast cars and airplanes. Both are built for speed, but each belong to opposite ends of the transportation spectrum, although, the basic ideas of speed and reaching a specific destination as quickly as possible remain the same. With cars, in terms of horsepower (HP), figures are mostly within hundreds. With airplanes, such as the Boeing 747-200F, we are talking about thousands and thousands of horsepower which is mind boggling.

Hence, I am pretty sure that most of us, especially petrol heads out there, have at least once wondered “how would a car compare to an airplane?”. Of course, when you talk about pitting a car against an airplane, the odds are that you would think about a drag race on a runway. Such races have taken place before, but in Asia, no one has raced a car against a commercial jetliner, until last Saturday, in Singapore. The Changi Airport Group, together with Porsche and Jett8 organized the Changi Airport Race event, that is part of the Changi GP Festival which supports the 2009 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, happening on September 13th.

Along with more than 500 spectators (on the grandstands outdoors, and hundreds more watching via live video feed indoors), the race was held at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 (Runway 1). The track (runway for aircraft and taxiway for the car) was figured at 1.7 kilometers. The car in question was a 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, that takes part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Racing Series. Based on the 911 GT3 road car, the Cup version is powered by a 3.6 liter 6-cylinder boxer engine, good for 420HP and 420Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 6 speed sequential dog-type transmission. The 1,150 kg race car hits 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds. Behind the wheel was Yuey Tan Yu Hian, a 27-year old Singaporean who races in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Racing Series.

Captain Peter Leo, a 64-year old veteran was in the cockpit of the Boeing 747-200F, owned by Jett8. The Singaporean has 46 years of experience in aviation was the youngest Boeing 747 captain in the world to be in command of a such an aircraft whilst in Singapore Airlines. He has, not one, but four engines that can help propel the jetliner to speeds of up to Mach 0.84, which equals to 893 km/h. Each General Electric CF6-50E2 engine can produce 243.5 kN of maximum thrust. Compared to the Porsche, its weight is rated at 155,180 kg. The event was a hot and dry affair and everything went smoothly as planned, except for a slight glitch when Captain Peter was too slow off the start line at the first attempt.

The 911 GT3 Cup re-positioned itself at the start line, and about 3 minutes later at about 2.30 pm under scorching heat, both the Boeing 747-200F and the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup were flagged off, and both had clean starts. Our hearts were pounding fast but that did not compare to the adrenaline rush felt by both the competitors, as the aircraft and the race car were neck and neck, but eventually it was the Porsche that was the first to cross the finish line, by a couple meters and emerged victorious.

Yuey Tan then celebrated his victory with a champagne spray, after receiving the winner’s trophy from the Minister at Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and Transport, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua. Other VIPs that were present at the event included, Chairman of Changi Airport Group, Liew Mun Leong, Changi Airport Group Chief Executive Officer, Lee Seow Hiang and Chief Executive Officer of Jett8 Airlines, Louis Tan. Continue reading to view a high-res image gallery of the event and to watch a 36 second-long video of the race.