Tesla Model S Plaid sets a new quarter-mile record for a production car

Tesla Model S Plaid sets a new record in a quarter-mile drag racing attempt which puts it among the list of top world records.

The Tesla Model S Plaid luxury electric sedan completed the 1/4-mile run in just 8.59 seconds at a speed of 162.33 mph (261 km/h).

The vehicle did not just make a new quarter-mile record, it also accelerated from 0-60 seconds in just 1.88 seconds. This is 0.11 seconds faster than the best 0-60 mph record of 1.99 seconds by a Model S Plaid.

A quarter-mile is equal to 402.336 meters or 440 yards therefore the stretch is also known as the 440-yard dash. The 1/4-mile drag racing is a yardstick used to measure a car’s acceleration and speed performance on a dragstrip straight-line track. With the introduction of electric cars, the drag racing scene is quickly favoring the new technology.

As we can see in the above X (Twitter) post, the record-breaking Tesla Model S Plaid in this quarter-mile run was stripped out of the extra weight. Its seats and anything inside the cabin counted as unnecessary during the race were removed. The car was equipped with special drag radial tires on the rear wheels for increased performance.

However, no changes were made to the Tesla Model S Plaid’s stock OEM battery pack, motors, wiring system, and electronic systems to further reduce weight.

Tesla launched the Model S Plaid in 2021 — the company’s flagship performance and luxury electric vehicle. Since its deliveries began in mid-2021, the car started making waves at the dragstrip. How good would it be without flexing its 1,020 hp of power?

Tesla has fine-tuned the battery pack of the Tesla Model S Plaid in a way that even after 40 quarter-mile runs and only 20% battery remaining, the car still gave an under 10-second 1/4-mile run in extreme testing.

In a previous drag racing challenge, the Tesla Model S Plaid lost to the Rimac Nevera electric hypercar. The best time of Model S Plaid out of three attempts was 9.272 s @152.68 mph and Rimac Nevera did its best in 8.655 s @166.66 mph.

Interestingly, the Tesla Model S Plaid competing against the 1,914 hp Rimac Nevera was entirely in stock condition and no weights were removed. In the latest test, the Plaid Model S did even better than the Rimac Nevera with 8.59 s @162.33 mph (0.065 seconds quicker than the Nevera).

Rimac Nevera’s best 1/4-mile time is 8.58s which is just 0.01s better than what the Model S Plaid has done in the latest attempt (watch below). Pininfarina Battista still holds the world record for production cars at 8.55s in a quarter-mile (0.04s faster than the Model S Plaid).

This puts Model S Plaid in the 3rd position in the list of quarter-mile world records for production cars. But with very limited production cars like the Pininfarina Battista and Rimac Nevera aren’t true production cars, while the Tesla Model S Plaid is a true mass production car easily available worldwide.

Video: Tesla Model S Plaid sets new quarter-mile and 0-60 mph records at the Sonoma Raceway, California. 
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Featured image: Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Note: This article was published earlier at Tesla Oracle. Author: Iqtidar Ali.