Well it has been proven that you don’t need a $2.5 million Bugatti or Ferrari or Koenigsegg to be the undisputed king of the quarter mile. Yes you read it right. The American electric car giant – Tesla has yet again made record with its all new Model S Plaid and apparently it happens to be whole lot cheaper than the cars mentioned above at $129000.
Jay Leno, TV host and car collector, now holds the quarter-mile world record for a stock production four door family car. In a three-minute interview with CNBC's The News with Shepard Smith, the comedian revealed the news.
Leno made the first publicly visible quarter-mile effort in the production form of Tesla's upcoming Model S Plaid super sedan as part of the next season of his show Jay Leno's Garage. The actual run is only a few seconds long, but it shows an NHRA-approved time of 9.247 seconds, just a tenth slower than the company's claimed quarter-mile time of 9.23 seconds.
The Model S Plaid is therefore faster than the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, which ran the quarter-mile in 9.65 seconds and was prohibited from the drag strip by the NHRA for being too fast without additional safety precautions. It's also faster than the previous record holder, the Bugatti Chiron Sport, which took 9.4 seconds to complete the quarter-mile. Tesla had claimed a quarter mile time of 9.23 seconds and the company also claims the 0 to 60 mph in under 2 secs which again will be a world record.
Well there are cars which have already achieved the quarter mile run under 9 secs in recent times like the Croatian hypercar manufacturer – Rimac with its newly launched Nevera has crushed the quarter mile in just 8.6 secs but there’s a catch, Nevera is a two door two seater hypercar which apparently costs $2.4 million whereas the Tesla on the other hand is doing something similar which is around 90% cheaper.
The four-door electric super sedan can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 1.99 seconds which is crazy for a 2.2 tonne car and breaking the two-second barrier that no production automobile has ever managed to breach, according to Musk. According to Musk and the company's website, it produces 1,020 horsepower, has a top speed of 200 miles per hour (with the correct tyres), and can complete a quarter mile in 9.23 seconds. The car has a new battery pack and can travel 390 miles on a single charge, but Musk claims that with the dual motor setup, the car can travel 412 miles. The Model S Plaid has a tri-motor set up. Drivers may get 187 miles of range in 15 minutes because to the faster charging speed.
Musk and the company claims that this time they have included carbon sleeved rotors for the motors, something which is considered to be very difficult to achieve and claims to be the first production electric motor that has it. Ultimately, the end result is a motor that goes up to 20000 RPM.
A yoke steering wheel — which has raised eyebrows and caught the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — a panoramic primary screen, and ventilated front seats are among the improvements to the new Model S's interior. The company has also updated the car’s software. It is designed to learn from the driver’s behaviour and adapt to the driver’s needs.
Image Courtesy: Tesla