What happens when a Tesla meets an ICE-powered car? The EV lifestyle's meme-oriented Internet populace would be inclined to say that it will swiftly hammer down said traditional combustion engine representative. But the devil is in the details, as always.
First and foremost, one should mention if said Tesla is a Plaid or not – because there's a whole world of difference between an affordable Tesla Model 3 and the 1,020-hp Plaid Model S or Model X. Secondly, not any ICE-powered car will go down without a fight. And there is no need to take our word for granted as we have a lovely couple of examples to illustrate just that.
The videographer behind the Wheels Plus channel on YouTube is a big fan of Bandimere Speedway and Mission Raceway Park, mainly because of their ICE vs EV drag encounters. And on this occasion, he bundled a couple of white Tesla Model 3 EV sedans with two interesting opponents – a Porsche (presumably a 911 GT3 RS) and an Audi TT RS.
The first skirmish – between an aero-enhanced Tesla Model 3 and a blue Porsche 911, occurred at MRP – the auto racing facility located in Mission, British Columbia, Canada, which houses a two-kilometer nine-turn road course, a three-kilometer motocross track, and also an NHRA-sanctioned quarter-mile dragstrip. On it, the Tesla and Porsche looked ready to duke it out for all eternity, and this sure was a close brawl.
In the end, the electronic scoreboard showed the Porsche had an ET of 11.37s at 122 mph (196 kph) while the feisty-looking Tesla Model 3 only managed an 11.71s at 104 mph (167 kph), but the track's light gave it the victory, nonetheless. If you're feeling robbed, just like the Porsche driver, no worries. We can switch to Bandimere Speedway – also known in the NHRA as Thunder Mountain due to its high elevation, which is located outside Morrison and Lakewood, Colorado.
Over there, another Tesla Model 3 received the visit of an aggressive Audi TT RS (unfortunately, its days are numbered) and probably decided to avenge all ICE-powered vehicles that suffered at the sight of better ETs of Tesla vehicles. As such, the TT RS consistently pulled away from the get-go – slowly but steadily gaining leverage on the EV opponent in the left lane. In the end, that 10.97s versus 11.77s victory was pretty sweet, indeed.
Anyway, suppose you want to see more ICE-powered action. In that case, we recommend switching to the second video embedded below – where cvdzijden, the guy with supercar videos, caught a crazy distribution: an army-green BMW M5 Competition tuned to 740 ponies raced a 950-hp Nissan GT-R. So, which action is more remarkable – ICE versus EV or all vehicles with internal combustion engines?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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