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Tuned Tesla Model S Plaid Desecrates Three Italian Legends for a Good Cause

Three fossils throw the quarter-mile gauntlet at the absolute dictator of dragstrip sprints, and the outcome is vastly predictable. A Tesla S Plaid has administered dreadful mauling to just about anybody it crossed tire marks with. However, some automotive demigods never descended to mere daily driver amusements until today. Their presence aroused more interest rather than the race itself.
Tesla S Plaid Drag Races A Ferrari Enzo, a Maserati MC12, and a Ferrari F12 21 photos
Photo: Petersen Automotive Museum
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What could these three emblematic automobiles have in common other than a natural hatred of the exhaust-tone-deaf, family-sized four-door sedan with no appreciation for pistons? V12 obsolescence is the short answer.

Petersen Automotive Museum took a Ferrari Enzo, a Maserati MC12, and a Ferrari F12 to Santa Margarita, California. It pitted them against this one-off Tesla S Plaid, prepped by Unplugged Performance. The ICE icons lost the fight. We could conclude the article here, as far as automotive interest is concerned, but there is a twist.

Everyone knew right off the bat that the Plaid would not shed a tear for the old Italian cars and thrash them along the 440-yard strip of tarmac. However, the guys at Petersen made this race a charity fund-raising event. This very Tesla is the big prize for the admission ticket donations raffle (the details are in the video description).

Back to our racers: the Enzo - I’ll drop the numbers, and you fill in the blanks. 12, 6.0, 660, 484, 217, 3.7, 20. Cylinders, liters, bhp, lb-ft, mph, seconds, years. So, we have a hypercar with a six-liter V12 engine that makes 660 hp (670 PS) and 484 lb-ft of torque (656 Nm) to reach 217 mph (350 kph) and hit 60 mph (97 kph) in 3.7 seconds. It came out in 2002.

It ran twice against the Plaid and won the second round thanks to a massive head start over the all-electric land torpedo. The Maserati MC12 – vastly derived from the Enzo – lost two out of three showdowns against the Tesla. The House of the Trident supercar has the Enzo engine but with different specs.

621 hp (630 PS), 481 lb-ft (652 Nm), 205 mph (330 kph), and 3.3 seconds for the 0-60 mph (0-97 kph). Take Petersen Museum’s word on the last rating, as they claim this acceleration time. Finally, the Ferrari F12’s 6.3-liter V12 generates 731 hp (740 PS), 508 lb-ft of crank-twisting force (690 Nm), 211 mph (340 kph), and 3.5 seconds 0-60 mph (0-97 kph). It loses the three-act duel with the Tesla without landing any punches.

You will notice in the video that this S Plaid is slightly different from the regular model. A 19-piece pre-preg carbon fiber wide body, 21-inch wheels, an air suspension lowering kit, and carbon ceramic brakes. The Serrano red UP x von Holzhausen leather is the most striking difference on the interior. The 1,020 hp (1,034 PS), 1,050 lb-ft (1,424 Nm) specs are intact, so the 1.9 seconds for the 0-60 mph run (0-97 kph) and the 200 mph (322 kph) high speed are included.

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About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
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