Tesla Model S Plaid is the quickest production car in the world.
A record-breaking quarter-mile run by a tri-motor Tesla Model S Plaid shared to social media on Monday has drawn a response from an impressed Elon Musk.
The unofficial quarter-mile record run was reportedly accomplished by drag racing enthusiast “Situation Coyote” on Instagram, who outlined the details of the run which was completed in August 2021.
Twitter user @BLKMDL3 then shared an image from the video to Twitter, saying, “Absolutely insane for a 4 door car.”
Musk responded saying, “Nice.”
Situation Coyote says that the Plaid used factory tyres and wheels in the quarter-mile in question, but had “taken a lot of weight off the car.”
However, they did note the rear tyres didn’t hold up after numerous passes on the track.
“Still the fastest and first plaid in 8s,” they said on Instagram. “We ran this back in August. Knocking off a 8.94 with a lot of weight taken off the car. Still factory 21 inch tires and factory wheels. We actually shredded the rear factory tires from so many passes. These stock tires fail from the inside. Car is too heavy for the tires.”
They’ve since sold the car, they said, with 11,000 miles on the clock.
The new unofficial record is at least the second sub-9 second drag run to be reported in a Tesla Model S Plaid. In November, Tesla North reported that Christine Dodworth (@gtr_raceher) recorded 8.99 seconds.
“First Tesla in the WORLD in the 8s! Congrats Christine @gtr_raceher !! We’ve been ready to make the attempt for a few months but between work and weather it was not possible. Elon! Do we have your attention yet?”, Dodworth’s husband George said on Instagram.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.
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