Comments by "Mikko Rantalainen" (@MikkoRantalainen) on "Tesla Model X Plaid v Porsche 911 Turbo S: DRAG RACE" video.

  1. The difference in braking performance was surpringly huge!
    1
  2. @Mouwcat The total amount of braking power you can have is defined by the tyre friction coefficient multiplied by the force downwards. The car with double the weight should have double the force downwards thus double the braking power if both have equally good tyres and the tyre rubber doesn't shear. That said, it might well be that in practice no rubber is strong enough to avoid shearing with double the force while still having equally good friction to the rubber that Porsche uses. (Here's a thought experiment: if you have two identical cars doing brake tests in parallel, would the brake performance suffer if you tie a rope between those cars? How about if you reduce the length of the rope until the cars nearly touch each other? Clearly it should be possible to double the weight without sacrificing the braking distance.)
    1