Watch A Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric Drive Underneath The World's Largest Aircraft While It Takes Off

Have you ever tried to drive directly behind a jet plane? You probably shouldn't, unless you like your car served up over-easy by the sheer force of air behind those jet engines.  But Porsche wanted to show off the 1,139-hp Cayenne Turbo Electric's speed with something a little more visceral than seconds on the clock, so the company got pro driver Patrick Long to drive the car under a jet as it took off at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

The plane is the Stratolaunch Roc, the largest aircraft by wingspan, and its massive size actually makes this whole stunt possible. The Roc has two fuselages, and each one only has engines on the outboard side — there's a section between the fuselages of the aircraft where a car can sit without being bombarded by wind from the plane's engines. The trick is that a car would have to stay there, within the bounds of the plane, during the entire takeoff. You see where the stunt starts to form here.

Unlike when "Top Gear" raced the Veyron against a Eurofighter Typhoon, the goal here wasn't for the car to be faster than the plane. Instead, the Cayenne just had to match the Roc's speed and acceleration — sounds simple enough, until you realize the Roc's six engines put out a combined 340,500 pounds of thrust. The Roc's take-off speed of about 160 mph is something many cars far more boring than the Cayenne can manage, but it's the rate at which the plane gets to that speed that makes the bigger difference.

The issue for Long wouldn't have been keeping up with the plane, but staying slow enough not to outrun it at first. If they were actually racing, the Cayenne would have easily crushed the Roc. In Car and Driver's testing the Cayenne Turbo Electric needed just 2.1 seconds to hit 60 mph, with 100 mph arriving in 4.5 seconds and 150 mph taking a scant 10.1 seconds. The quarter-mile was dispatched in 9.5 seconds at 146 mph. Porsche says the SUV's top speed is 162 mph, so it would reach the Roc's take-off speed quite quickly, well before the plane gets itself there. Here's what Long said about the attempt:

Operating with a fully charged battery, we started slow – I was using minimal power and holding the car exactly where it needed to be and I knew I had the performance to maintain my position no matter what. The real acceleration occurred once all six engines spooled up. As the speeds shot north of 100 mph, I put it in Boost mode and utilized everything the Cayenne had – keeping right on the landing gear. It was an awesome feeling – the sound from those six engines was overwhelming and I could feel the turbulence bouncing off the car, but it remained rock solid, even after Roc took off and the engines were pointed down at me and the Cayenne. At that moment I glanced at the speed which showed somewhere north of 170mph before I eased off the throttle.

Thus, a fun stunt for an electric car and a truly massive plane. Is this useful for potential buyers of the Cayenne, to know that they can keep pace with the world's largest aircraft should they happen to end up beneath it during takeoff? No, not in the slightest. But is it cool to watch a big, fast car keep up with a big, fast plane? You're goddamn right it is.