Watch the Tesla Model S Plaid Hit 0-60 MPH in 1.99-Seconds on the Street

Perhaps the greatest early dig at the Plaid came a few days after the model's release when MotorTrend got exclusive access to test the car. Their article described the process, as well as their findings, in great detail, and it wasn't all roses for Tesla's flagship sedan.

The biggest complaint referred to the car's 0-60 mph acceleration that was famously advertised as 1.99 seconds, but in reality, it required special track prepping (the article claims the surface was extremely gluey as it was drenched in VHT). Only under these conditions did the MotorTrend journalist manage their best run of 1.98 seconds - obviously, with the first foot of rollout subtracted.

With more and more people taking delivery of their Model S Plaids, we're bound to see a growing number of attempts to dispel this myth. Well, as it turns out, all we needed was for the right man to get his hands on the brand-new Plaid to put the debate to rest once and for all.

That man is DragTimes' Brooks Weisblat, a guy who probably needs no introduction, but if he does, the best one would be to have a look at the cars in his garage, as well as the ones he's owned over the past years. If a car is quick, it either is, has been, or is going to be in his garage, no question about it.

No wonder, then, that he ordered a Model S Plaid. What's a little more surprising is the fact that he had it delivered so quickly, especially since it features the 21-inch Arachnid wheels, which are notorious for prolonging the vehicle's delivery date. Well, what he did to get his so relatively early is of no importance and considering the free PR he's about to offer Tesla, he may have enjoyed some well-deserved special privilege.

The clip focuses on him taking delivery and bringing the car to have the protection film applied, but it's around the seventh-minute mark that things get interesting. Brooks included a few runs on the street in the Model S Plaid (can we take a moment to appreciate his efforts since it was clearly very late at night), and the results look very promising.

Using the usual GPS performance measurement devices, he managed to record a 9.23 second quarter-mile time with a trap speed of 152.69 mph (245.73 kph), as well as a 2.16 second 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) acceleration time. Uhm, great, but what about the 0.17 second separating us from the advertised 1.99 seconds?

According to the software, with the first foot of rollout subtracted, what you get is precisely a 1.99-second run. All on the street, all with no prep. The video also includes a 2.14 seconds run, but Brooks probably chose to show us the result for the 2.16 one for a reason, even if we can't figure out what that is. One more thing worth pointing out is that he seems to only be going one way, so the result might be skewed by various factors - a slight road inclination or tail winds. Either way, it's the first time someone managed to capture this kind of performance on regular asphalt.

If we know one thing about the owner of this channel it's that he is going to race the hell out of his new car. So, stick around for a lot more races involving the Model S Plaid, with the most obvious immediate one being against a McLaren 765LT - he owns one, after all. Considering the Plaid could run on a street next to the drag strip and still beat it means there won't be much of a race, but it should be interesting to watch, nevertheless.