You could argue that the whole point behind drag racing is the competition and the suspense of not knowing how a race is going to pan out just by looking at the car next to you.
Sure, there's the whole sleeper phenomenon, but no matter how well disguised they might be, there usually are a few telling signs. It's either a huge intercooler poking its head from under its cover, something giving away the need for more air under the hood, or even the simple presence of slick tires which suggests there will be a lot of horsepower heading their way once the throttle pedal is pushed.
With EVs, though, that whole mystery vanishes. If you spot a Tesla Model S in the next lane at a drag strip, you know it's a Performance version (if the owner has any sense) and you know it'll do a ten-second pass. And making it look so easy you could argue the skill of the person behind the wheel is somewhat negligible.
Hell, if this video proves anything, it's that you don't even have to bother dropping the groceries at home. People often joke about the fact that you can go pick up your kids from school, stop by a drag strip on your way home to make a few Camaro and Challenger drivers cry, and be home in time for supper in a Model S no problem. Yet they rarely actually do it.
This guy didn't do exactly that, but he did show up with a trunk full of stuff. Granted, it's mostly paper towels, bottles of water, an air purifier, and what looks like an air fryer, as well some beer cans he's going to have to be very careful now when opening - so not that much added weight. Still, it's the idea that counts.
The opposition for the evening wasn't that special either. It starts off with an Audi SQ8, then the Model S goes up against a factory-built 1995 Mustang racecar. Next up is a gorgeous sixth-gen Chevrolet Camaro SS followed by one of its stablemates, an SS Sedan with a 6.2-liter V8.
Somebody in a modified Infiniti Q60 got lost and wound up at the drag strip, so the Model S duly took him up before finding the automotive equivalent of Darth Vader's helmet in the shape of an all-black modded Cadillac V-series. For the last two races, the EV went up against another modified Camaro SS before rounding the evening up with a run next to a prepped-up Mustang on slicks.
Click on the clip below to see if it was eight out of eight for the Tesla.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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