An American race car driver Christine Dodworth set a new record for the Tesla Model S Plaid, earlier this month at the Maryland International Raceway. The test drive took place during the Hot Rod Magazine Dragweek, according to a report by electrek.
The Tesla Plaid S that achieved an 8.994-second time came in at 155.10 miles per hour. The electric vehicle had a few modifications. The passenger seat was removed for weight modification. The team of George and Christine Dodworth added performance oriented wheels and tires but the vehicle did not have powertrain or body modifications.
No other car has achieved such a speed by removing the front seat and changing tires, without significant powertrain modifications. The only vehicle that is faster than Tesla’s Plaid S is Rimac’s new Nevera. A Tesla Plaid S basic model starts at $130,000 while a Nevera is a limited production vehicle whose basic model costs is $2 million.
This latest record by the Tesla S has made it the second fastest electric car in the world, to date. The 2021 Rimac Nevera used four electric motors. It achieved an 8.6 and 8.7 quarter mile run earlier this year.
Earlier, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla had said that the Tesla Model S Plaid could complete a quarter mile in 9.23 seconds. With a few basic modifications, George and Christine Dodworth posted a video showing that it could use a fraction less of time to run a quarter mile.
However, one one major factor in both the production vehicles is that they are all-electric vehicles. This indicates that higher speeds might be reached when electric vehicles continue to improve as researchers continue to make improvements on them.
In September, a Tesla Model S Plaid completed a full lap in the Nurburgring Nordschleife track. It completed the 13-mile long lap in seven minutes and 35.579 seconds. Earlier in 2019, a Porsche Taycan Turbo completed the lap in seven minutes and 42 seconds.
