Lucid Air Sapphire Drags Tesla Model S Plaid and Loses Clean Three out of Three

Teslas have mauled absolutely everybody they went up against in the centuries-old game of quarter-mile racing. There are some instances where anomalies with abyssal amounts of fire-fed horsepower managed to get to the far end of the drag strip ahead of a stock Tesla Plaid. On the other hand, stock vs. stock is not worth wasting internet space on: the Elon Victory machine will take it every time.

And then the happy bunch from Lucid came along, and they started throwing threats about killing the OG lighting-eating car. There was, unfortunately, a small detail that chipped their otherwise impenetrable logic: sales. While Tesla was rolling in billions by rolling out millions of EVs worldwide, Lucid’s hyper-weapons were stuck to their paper fate.

Finally, last year saw the long-awaited opening of deliveries to customers. Now, the Lucids can finally put their quarter-million price tags where their mouths are. This is what happened at Bradenton Motorsports Park on January 4 of this year, when a Sapphire lineup up against a Tesla S Plaid for a best-two-out-of-three showdown.

Now, that’s something the internet has long been waiting for (real-life, imperfect conditions, I mean, like 55°F/13°C and damp) for the two EV strikers to take against each other. Courtesy of the Tesla Plaid Channel on YouTube, the race is video documented – and at your disposal below this article – and serves as a practical lesson in speed, skill, and anything in between.

The Tesla Plaid is the current yardstick by which all mixed power-paradigm drag races are measured: the 1,020-hp family sedan with an appetite for anything expensive and pompous. The Lucid is the top-tier 1,234-hp luxury car that can shove three Teslas in its back pocket and remain above their combined price tags.

However, things aren’t going as well for the Sapphire on the track. Yes, it is heavier – by roughly 700 lbs (almost 320 kg) – and its driver hasn’t fully gone through the car’s go-fast settings, but still. The Tesla slapped it silly three out of three; there’s no excuse. Same track, same weather, same electricity (ok, that last bit has absolutely zero effect on an EV’s performance since there’s no such thing as ‘race electricity,’ but Lucid should probably start researching for it. Maybe it will stand a chance).

The Tesla Plaidly (pun intended) puts its power down way better than the Lucid and the ETs are every bit as evocative as the visual comparison. The winner’s best run of the night was a 9.266-second, 149.17-mph sprint (240 kph), while the Air’s top figures stand at 9.628 seconds / 148.44 mph (238.84 kph), and a top speed of 150.75 mph (242.55 kph) achieved in a different round.

The reasons behind the less-than-glorious results on Lucid’s behalf range from extra weight to bigger wheels to bad tires, too much power on the rubbers, and different powertrain/software setups. But the fact is the less-than-$86k Model S Plaid is faster in reality by four-tenths than the $249k Air Sapphire. Talk about a run for the money: the Tesla is down some 200 hp and 400 lb-ft on the Lucid.

The granddaddy of all EVs runs three electric motors for a combined output of 1,020 hp and 1,050 lb-ft (1,034 PS, 1,424 Nm). Its alleged nemesis shoots 1,234 hp and 1,430 lb-ft (1,251 PS, 1,939 Nm) from its triad of electric motors, but what’s the point of having more power with less control over it?