Porsche Tows Airbus and Breaks Guinness World Record

When Porsche said that the Cayenne was capable of ‘impressive performance in virtually any discipline’ they certainly were not messing around.

Richard Payne, a technician at Porsche Great Britain, is the man of the hour and Porsche is the brand to beat when it comes to breaking world records involving 285-tonne planes. If anyone had any doubt about the Cayenne’s ability to handle the drudgery of the daily commute, carpooling kids and perhaps the dog, they can rest assured that if it pulls a plane, it’ll make it to soccer practice.

This record breaking event came together at the Charles De Gaulle Airport at the Air France hangar with one of its own; the A380 aircraft. The A380 is the largest passenger aircraft in the world. It weighs, as previously mentioned, 285-tonnes. Roughly the equivalent of 628,000 pounds, it is 100 times heavier than the Cayenne. It is also about 80 times heavier than the Cayenne’s marketed braked towing capacity.

The specific Cayenne involved in this feat was an unmodified production diesel Cayenne S and its 4.1-litre V8 capable of 385-hp. Under the keen eye of the Guinness representative, Pravin Patel, the Cayenne S towed the A380 a total of 42 meters down the runway. After this, the tow was repeated with the gasoline powered Cayenne Turbo S.

The previous record, according to the Mail Online, was set in 2013 at the Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates when an unmodified Nissan Patrol pulled a Russian Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane weighing 170.9 tonnes. That is 114.1 tonnes less than the A380 aircraft towed by the Cayenne.

Though Porsche is not the first luxury car maker to break a Guinness World Record—Jaguar Land Rover has been down this road before—this achievement gives Porsche bragging rights for sure. It proves that though the market for the Cayenne is decidedly less sporty, it is quite the little beast and packs more of a punch that you would have thought. Not that we plan to go around towing really heavy items, but you know, food for thought.