Ever since the advent of the high-performance variants of the Tesla Model S, powerful EVs have been drag-racing high-output muscle cars. A decade after the dual-motor Tesla Model S P85D came out, it’s still interesting to watch silent electric luxury sedans go toe-to-toe with loud and raucous muscle cars on the drag strip. Case in point, here’s a video of a Chevy COPO Camaro drag racing a Tesla Model S Plaid and a Lucid Air Sapphire.
The first showdown is between the COPO Camaro and the Lucid Air Sapphire. The Camaro is too enthusiastic off the line and pulls a significant wheelie. The driver explained that he panicked trying to get the wheelie under control and shifted from first to third (it’s a 3-speed race transmission). However, he still achieved a quarter-mile time of 8.32 seconds at a blistering 167 mph. The Lucid Air Sapphire was a little slower, covering the quarter mile in 9.02 seconds at 152 mph.
When the COPO Camaro takes off against the Tesla Model S Plaid, the front end shoots up, but it doesn’t quite do a wheelie. The Camaro wins with a quarter-mile time of 8.38 seconds at 156 mph, and the Tesla makes the sprint in 9.23 seconds at 150.2 mph.
The sixth-gen Chevy COPO Camaro we see here is powered by an LS-based 5.7L V8 with a 2.9L Whipple supercharger, which cranks up its output to 580 horsepower and an estimated torque rating of over 500 pound-feet. It’s a track-only drag car designed for NHRA competition in the Super Stock and Stock Eliminator classes.
Contrast that with the Tesla Model S Plaid and Lucid Air Sapphire, which are both AWD-equipped electric luxury sedans as at home on the street as they are on the drag strip. The Model S Plaid’s tri-motor powertrain makes 1,020 horsepower and has a 0-60 mph time of 1.99 seconds. The Lucid Air Sapphire also employs a tri-motor electric powertrain, producing 1,234 horsepower and an estimated 0-60 mph time of 1.89 seconds. In these drag races, both EVs wore four drag radial tires.
The COPO Camaro is quite a different beast than the premium EVs it faced off against at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, but they have something in common that any speed demon can appreciate: raw, straight-line speed.
Comments
Big * for the Plaid, that 1.9 sprint is on an NVT prepped track. Actual 0-60 on tarmac is about same as what you would get with a Vette stingray.
Um, I am a GM guy and Vette fan, but on a none prepped surface the Vette is maybe within half a second of the Plaid 0-60, let’s be real, that isn’t about as fast…