Technology is the driving force behind the biggest changes and performance improvements in drag racing, and electric vehicles (EV) are on the horizon as the next big change. Nichole Elff piloted a new Tesla Model S Plaid to a world record this weekend and nearly broke into the 8-second zone while doing it.
Drag racing has always been a sport defined by the sensory experience it provides — you hear the cars, you feel the rumble of the engines, and you smell the tire smoke, but EVs don’t do most of those things. The silence of an EV at the track is hard to get past, but the Model S Plaid negates that with its performance. These cars are advertised with a curb weight of 4,766 pounds and have laid down 9.20-second e.t.’s at 155 MPH in the 1/4-mile off the showroom floor.
That e.t. is impressive to say the least, at that weight, when you consider the Model S Plaid only makes 1,020 peak horsepower. The all-wheel-drive Model S Plaid gets its zip from a three-motor system that has one motor in the front and two in the rear. A Model S Plaid will set you back the handsome sum of $129,990 for a base model and can be ordered at a Tesla dealership. Tesla claims that the Model S Plaid is the fastest accelerating production car on earth, and so far the numbers back that claim up.
Chad Evolve took his new Model S Plaid to the MITM Elite event at World Wide Technology Raceway with the intention of setting a world record. Nichole Elff was selected to drive the car to save some weight and that decision paid off. Evolve’s Tesla blistered the WWDR racing surface with a 9.08-second run at over 154 MPH. The video of the record-setting pass is interesting to watch because the lack of noise really masks how fast the Tesla is going. You can make all the jokes you want about an EV, but this was a stout run and it won’t be long until we see these cars in the eights.