Rules. What would the world be without them, and how come they always seem to get in the way of plain old fun? Even if we are dealing with grownups, not the kids. And with an organized form of racing, not public street shenanigans.
So, unless you’ve been living under a rock, just about everyone knows the next great EV thing to beat is the latest Tesla Model S release, aka the Plaid. We have seen it go for very low nines when drag racing, and we have also seen it post new racetrack lap records. With some help, in the latter case, from Unplugged Performance and Randy Pobst.
But what happens when becoming too notorious works against you? This is what happened to the good folks over at the Tesla Plaid Channel the day after taking delivery of their first (out of three) Tesla Model S Plaids. By the way, the EV made some 20 passes the night before (of the 1/8 variety), but after a quick Supercharger pit stop, it was back for more.
This time around they went to the quarter-mile Mekka of Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, where the competition was as tough as nails. We have embedded below the lengthy version, but in case one is looking just for the highlights, the Drag Racing and Car Stuff channel is always ready to oblige. So, we get to see the Tesla Model S Plaid go for a couple of skirmishes with a Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye, and then for a late-night pass against an equally tempting foe, a modified Charger Redeye.
One important note should be made. The Mopar fans might rejoice that both the Challenger and Charger won their respective battles (at the 2:30 and 3:45 marks for the DRACS video). But the truth is that Tesla’s EV operated with an imposed handicap. After its initial 9.45s pass, the track manager said that anything below 9.9s would be considered too fast and the Plaid would get kicked off the track...
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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