Tesla Model S Plaid Drags Turbo and 1969 Camaro With 582ci V8, Someone Gets Zapped

Recently, we saw journalists were amazed by Lucid Air Sapphires drag racing themselves and coming out with 8.94s results. But as it turns out, the $90k Tesla Model S Plaid is not that far behind the $250k EV if you're not afraid of performing some tricks.

For example, the owner of the Tesla Plaid Channel promises new Model S Plaid races every week, and so far, has lived up to the promise... and then some more, especially since he stripped his EV of some unnecessary bulk. His Plaid got a little lighter as the back seats and most rear material has been removed. However, the front seats are both in place, along with the door panels, airbags, mirrors, and even the 20-speaker audio system and subwoofer.

As such, it's not much lighter than a regular Plaid – and yet it gets consistently low-nine-second results all the time. How is that so? Well, for starters, the owner has a treasure trove of experience at the wheel, or yoke, or whatever it's called. For example, his previous video features include stuff like battles with twin-turbo Lambos, tuned GT-Rs, eight-second ZL1 Camaros, turbo LS-swapped RX-7s, and even nitrous Bullitt Mustangs, among many others.

And that was just the roster for the past month! Anyway, the latest feature is all about working the GM enthusiast base into a racing mood. So, at the end of September, the Plaid driver was busy looking for opponents at Bradenton Motorsports Park and could only find ten-second Corvettes and little else. Finally, it seemed like a bit of luck struck when a 6.2-liter turbo V8 Camaro came to the party.

They quickly set up a race, but the Plaid owner wasn't too worried about losing the fight – he even gave the Camaro owner the honor of starting the skirmish first. In the end, it proved that the Chevy was in over its head – a six-speed manual Camaro against a weight-reduced Plaid is not hard to imagine with a shameful result: 9.16s for Tesla and almost 12 full seconds for the GM representative.

No worries, Chevy's fans won't go home in tears after this video because the second opponent of the night was a beautifully restored and tastefully modified 1969 Chevy Camaro outfitted with a 682ci V8 engine and some humongous rear tires. As it turns out, the EV didn't stand a chance as the Camaro even performed a wheelie after the Tesla red-lighted, and it still won the race with an 8.61s time against the Plaid's 9.2s pass! Cool, right?