- DragTimes raced the
Tesla Model S Plaid against thePorsche Taycan Turbo S . - The $130,000
Tesla soundly beat the $218,000Porsche even without Drag Strip Mode enabled. - In its first attempt, the Model S Plaid won by about 0.8 seconds.
The Tesla Model S Plaid went head-to-head with the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, and there was no competition.
Brooks Weisblat, the host of DragTimes, has been testing the Tesla Model S Plaid in a series of videos on his YouTube channel. On Thursday, Weisblat posted a video comparing the speed of the Model S Plaid on the quarter-mile track at Palm Beach International Raceway with that of a Taycan Turbo S, a Porsche that MotorTrend named one of the fastest production cars in the world earlier this year.
In its first attempt, the Tesla beat the Porsche right out of the gate, even though the driver, one of Weisblat's associates, said he had not been able to engage Drag Strip Mode, which lets the Tesla tap into its maximum speed. Its setup takes about eight to 15 minutes to allow the battery and electric motors to reach an optimum temperature.
Weisblat also noted that the Tesla was only at 90% battery, while the Taycan was fully charged.
In the first race, the Model S Plaid was about 0.8 seconds faster.
The cars raced two more times, and the $130,000 Tesla beat the $218,000 Porsche each time by about four to five car lengths, according to Weisblat's associate, who said it was his first time driving the new Tesla on a race track.
"I've driven fast cars before, but this one I could really feel," the driver said. "Not everybody can handle this."
Several sports-car enthusiasts have taken the new Tesla out to race. In June, Jay Leno took it out for a spin to test its acceleration speed. MotorTrend said the Tesla had the fastest 0-to-60 speed it had seen in a production car: 1.98 seconds.
Tesla CEO
-Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021