Tesla Model S Plaid Meets 1,000+ HP BMW M3; Guess Who Learned To Say 'Sorry' in German

The drag race between a Tesla and something else is usually one-sided: Elon’s family sedan takes the big W in 99 cases out of 100. Frankly, that’s growing to be boring – it’s almost Christmas (just ten short months away at the time of the race), and there isn’t a serious competitor for the way-too-fast Tesla anywhere. I honestly believe in Santa Claus being a racing driver: there’s no way anyone is that fast without a robust set of go-like-hell skills. (his secret probably lies in that he doesn’t use horsepower but reindeer-power).

And I suspect only the jingle bells sleigh is fast enough to beat a Tesla S Plaid – just, but I’m not picky. And that’s where Tom Wrigley, the British racing driver with a knack for German cars, disagrees. His speed shop built a BMW M3 Competition (vintage G80) to spit out 1,039 hp (1,053 PS) for all four corners. That’s more than twice the original output of the motor, and coincidentally it is also what’s needed to put a cocky S Plaid in its place.

The stock EV makes 1,020 hp (1,034 PS) and accelerates like there’s no law (of physics or man) against it. Laws, maybe not, but a specific highly-tuned BMW M3 has something to say, and it’s a short and fast speech. The good fellows from the AutoTrader YouTube Channel pitted one against another, and the results were enthusiastic.

For the sake of speed, the YouTubers have extended the customary race distance to half a mile, as opposed to the mainstream 440-yard sprint, and this is what came out of their efforts. The ethanol-burning M3 Competition smoked the EV clean out of the ballpark in two of the three races. In the second race, it was a mechanical mishap that prevented the Beemer from taking the laurels. Overwhelming wheelspin kicked the BMW’s efforts into the losers’ side.

So, the BMW took a clean win in the first half-mile drag race; the Tesla retaliated and scored an equally convincing victory in the second round. The showdown was an absolute thriller, with both contesters going head-to-head and neck and neck from point S to point CF (that’s Start and Checkered Flag).

The rolling race isn’t worth mentioning: the Tesla Plaid runs out of breath at around 165 mph (266 kph), but the ICE-hot M3 Competition keeps cracking the whip on its 1000-strong stud and leaves the EV in the past. Interestingly, the braking test goes all to the Tesla, despite being much heavier than the German sedan.

The best-selling EV in the world (all-time) comes to a halt way faster than the lightweight Beemer. Now, AutoTrader didn’t reveal the cars’ performance in the races, limiting to saying the quarter-mile times (so halfway down the line).

At that point, the Tesla was still ahead by one-tenth (9.7 seconds vs. 9.8 seconds), but once the tri-motor battery car hit terminal velocity, it was all down to the Bavarian Barbarian. The heavily upgraded M3 kept pulling until it passed the finish line, putting the S Plaid further behind.