autoevolution
 

Procharged Ford Mustang Drag Races Tesla Model S, Packs a Nitrous Surprise

An endurance drag racer. That is how we'd define the 2019 Tesla Model S Raven sitting before us, which has covered 922 quarter-mile passes to date. And its latest adventure took place over the weekend, with the electric sedan out for some forced induction V8 blood at Florida's Bradenton Motorsports Park.
Procharged Ford Mustang Drag Races Tesla Model S 5 photos
Photo: Tesla Plaid Channel/YouTube
Procharged Ford Mustang Drag Races Tesla Model SProcharged Ford Mustang Drag Races Tesla Model SProcharged Ford Mustang Drag Races Tesla Model SProcharged Ford Mustang Drag Races Tesla Model S
On the said occasion alone, the Model S battled no fewer than three competitors sporting the kind of setup mentioned above.

One of the fights saw the Tesla fighting a pre-2018 Ford Mustang GT sporting a ProCharger, with this involving two runs. And while the driver of the Tesla didn't notice the nitrous aiding that centrifugal supercharger on the first run, he could certainly feel the presence of the power adder. It's also worth mentioning that while the Tesla's single-ratio transmission ensures no time was lost with shifting gears, the Mustang features the six-speed manual.

The gentleman wielding the EV, who runs the Tesla Plaid Channel on YouTube, likes to judge his races by whoever gets to the finish line first, which involves both the RT (reaction time) and ET (elapsed time). Mind you, many racers only take the second into account (the number shown on the drag strip display), arguing this shows which car is quicker rather than also taking the performance of the driver into account.

And while you'll find the brawl at the 11:10 point of the clip below, you might also want to check out the other two fights, which involve an 825 hp C7 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and a Roush Mustang.

The Quarter-Mile Procedure

Interestingly, the enthusiast behind the wheel completed just one of the runs in the Ludicrous Plus mode that unleashes the full 690 hp of the two electric motors; the rest of the battles were fought in Ludicrous mode. As faith would have it, this was the first fight against the Procharged pony, which, by the way, used Drag Radials, while the AWD of the Tesla meant this could keep its Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires.

That's because the L+ requires heating up the battery and then bringing it back to "normal" temperature, which obviously puts a strain on the hardware—Tesla even warns about this.

In fact, the enthusiast lists quite a few reasons for his choice. For starters, Ludicrous Plus normally uses two or three times more battery charge per run, and since the Tesla becomes slower as the battery discharges, that has a negative impact on the runs that follow. Of course, the strategy would be different for a single-pass battle, which is how some YouTubers race their Teslas.

Besides, the said mode can take between 5 and 30 minutes to bring the battery up to temperature.

Another question the driver needs to answer regularly revolves around not using the Cheetah Stance launch mode introduced by the said Raven update.

It's all simple, really: this trick will only hold for a few seconds, which means the other driver must be willing to cooperate and pre-stage in a way that allows the Model S to launch within that window.

Then there's the way in which operating the vehicle feels: "The pedal usage and 'launch' process is so different [for Cheetah], it’s not very consistent for reaction times. Usually 2-5 tenths worse on the tree. With standard Ludicrous, I can generally have a reaction time under 0.10 seconds. With Cheetah, more like 0.3-0.5 seconds. There goes any minor advantage!"

At least in the (vast) quarter-mile experience of this hooner, the bottom line is that the two bonus moves have earned him one or two-tenths of a second at best (his record sits at 10.49s in the 1/4-mile and 6.64s in the 1/8-mile). However, many attempts of the sort have determined the Model S to come second due to the matters listed above.

We're looking forward to seeing the aficionado receive his 1,020-hp Model S Plaid, whose delivery is scheduled for this June, so we can see the driver's new routine.

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Andrei Tutu
Andrei Tutu profile photo

In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories