As you’re well aware, Jay Leno demonstrated the Model S Plaid on the blacktop with a quarter-mile ET of 9.247 seconds at 152.09 miles per hour (244.76 kilometers per hour). Believe it or not, that blistering sprint has almost been matched by Drag Times' Brooks Weisblat on his second day of owning a red Plaid with a 9.248s run at 150.65 mph (242.44 kph).
For every single outing on the Orlando Speed World Dragway, Weisblat prepped his car by enabling the Plaid acceleration setting, Drag Strip mode, Sport steering, auto for the adaptive suspension damping, and the low setting for the ride height. On his first run, the car was ready for peak performance in less than a minute after gently pressing the Drag Strip mode button.
On the eight-mile, the Plaid did 6.01 seconds at 120.22 miles per hour (193.47 kilometers per hour), which is more than enough to shame a full-on Dodge Challenger SRT Demon with front skinnies, drag radials, and 100-octane fuel in the gas tank. Two more interesting pieces of information are the acceleration to 60 miles per hour and 100 kilometers per hour, which were performed in 2.01 and 2.11 seconds on the factory-supplied tires.
Including the first foot of rollout, Tesla quotes 1.99 seconds for the 60-mph acceleration. Another impressive figure attributed to the Plaid is top speed, which is rated at 200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour) as opposed to 155 mph (250 kph) for the Long Range and 162 mph (260 kph) for the biggest competitor of the Plaid. Of course, I’m referring to the range-topping Porsche Taycan Turbo S that starts at $185,000 in the U.S. market.
Excluding taxes and potential savings, the Model S in neck-snapping Plaid flavor is a little more affordable at $129,990. In addition to strip-slaying credentials, this fellow also promises up to 390 miles (628 kilometers) of range on a full charge of the lithium-ion battery with a 100-kWh capacity.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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