Is the Tesla Plaid ACTUALLY that Fast?

**The Quest to Beat Tesla's Plaid in a Drag Race**

When it comes to drag racing, beating the fastest car on the market is no easy feat. The Tesla Plaid, with its impressive 9.67-second quarter-mile time, seems like an insurmountable opponent. However, I'm here to explore ways to take down the Plaid in a technicality.

To start, let's assume that we're racing the Plaid in a sanctioned drag strip without drag strip mode and cheetah stance. In this scenario, it's unlikely that we can beat the Plaid's time of 9.67 seconds. The driver would need to use these features to optimize their performance, which is quite challenging.

However, what if we're looking for a technicality? If you want to beat the Plaid in an actual drag race, there are a few ways to do so. One way is to point out that the driver doesn't choose when it starts. Real drag racing uses courtesy staging, where one driver pulls up to the pre-stage beam and waits for the other driver to pull up to their pre-stage beam on their side.

Once both drivers are staged, the starter will activate the Christmas tree, and around two seconds later, the green light goes, and the race starts. This means that if you're in the other car, you're down the track with a six-to-eight-second lead before the Plaid even launches. If you don't put it in cheetah stance, then you'll need a car that beats 9.68-second quarter-mile time.

This is where things get interesting. If you want to race a Plaid without using drag strip mode or cheetah stance, you'd essentially be racing against the clock. You'd need a car that can beat 9.99 seconds at over 150 miles per hour. That's a tall order, considering the safety equipment required for such high speeds.

You'd need a full roll cage, shields around drive line components in case they explode, and even a parachute in case the brakes fail. The driver would also need to be wearing a protector fire suit, arm restraints, and hold an NHRA competition license. These are not exactly feasible options for the average Tesla owner.

However, if you're looking for another way to beat the Plaid in a fair fight, there's one more option: the Rimac Nevera. This brand-new EV supercar can accelerate like any time you want, according to its founder. The YouTube channel Car Wow has tested the Nevera and clocked an impressive 8.62 seconds in the quarter mile on an unprepared surface.

This is where things get exciting. With a sub-10 second production car becoming increasingly possible, it's likely that within 15 years, you'll be able to purchase one of these cars at a discount. The Rimac Nevera is a game-changer, and its capabilities make it an intriguing alternative to the Tesla Plaid.

If you're a fan of Tesla and other EVs, be sure to check out this D-list that lists the fastest EVs currently available. And if you want to learn more about Tesla's autopilot system, click here.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Elon Musk says the Tesla model S Plaidcan do zero to 60 in under two seconds,and do the quarter mile fasterthan any production car.But he also has said thatreality is a computer simulationand we should nuke the planet Mars.So I don't know whether to believethis freaking guy or not.It's probably the fastest accelerating caryou can buy today.But, that's under a veryspecific set of conditions.I got curious.Well, what are these very specificsets of conditions needed,and why are they so important?So today we're gonna breakthem down and figure outhow you can stack the chipsin your favorite to beat itin an actual drag race.Turns out, you might be able to do thatin your mama's minivan.As long as your mom's minivanhas a top fuel engine in it,it's got a wheelie bar, drag slicks,and as long as she's not in it.(upbeat fun music)Thank you to The Zebra forsponsoring today's video.Everyone's in a rush nowadays.And if you're looking tosave time, here's a pro tip.Every time you're at a red light,stare it down until it goes green.Turn green.Turn green.(Jeremiah grunts loudly)See how much faster that was?But if you're lookingto save time and money,The Zebra is the nation's leadingcar insurance comparison site.They make the overly complicated taskof securing coverage,faster and hassle-freeby comparing over a hundredplus insurance companiesside by side in minutes.The best part, The Zebra saves driversan average of $440 ayear on car insurance.It's pretty nice, right?(exhales deeply)So, whether you buyonline or over the phone,you can save time andmoney with The Zebra.Just go to thezebra.com/bumperand compare quotesto find your perfect policy today.Turn green. Turn green.Plaid is Tesla's newest,fastest top of the line model S.And like everything else Elon does,it's a cheeky referenceto a 35 year old moviefeaturing Rick Moranis.Look it up. It's crazy.- They've gone to Plaid.The Plaid built upon earlier Teslasthat featured ludicrous mode.The first ludicrous model S in 2015was capable of going as fastas a $2 million Porsche Carrera GT.And while those cars werebuilt for outright speed,the model S is acomfortable spacious sedanthat costs a 17th of the price.But Tesla wasn't contentbeing merely ludicrous, oh no.And they have continuedto push EV technology.But when the Plaid was announced,Musk man made some almostunbelievable claims.Saying it would do zero to60 in just 1.99 seconds.Something no production car has ever done.To put that in perspective,if you were to push a car out of a plane,it would only reachabout 44 miles per hourafter two seconds of free fall.It would take another 0.7 secondsto reach 60 miles an hour.At full blast, the Plaid is producing1.3 GS of acceleration.More than gravity itself.No matter what comparisonyou choose though,the Plaid is straight out simply fast.But on Tesla's website,you'll see a little asterisknext to that 1.99 zero to 60 time.That's because the Plaidcan't achieve its maximum accelerationat just any time and any place.It needs a couple of specificthings to make that happen.(Jeremiah snaps fingers)Kind of like when I domy zero to 40 sprints,I gotta be like creamedup with the icy hoton the back of the thighs.Got my cleats on, youknow, shirt off obviously.Gotta let everybody knowwhat I'm working with.Tight underpants.Just, I run in underpants.If you've ever tested the zeroto 60 time in your own car,your results were probably slowerthan what the manufacturer,magazines, and other websites said.You might've thought that this was 'causeyou didn't have the right conditions.Everything from tirepressure to air temperature,elevation, humidity, and evenhow much gas is in the tankcan affect acceleration.Maybe you blamed it on aheadwind or the sun in your eyes.But if you're like MotorTrendand have a reputationfor doing reliable andrepeatable zero to 60 times,you'll use precise instrumentedtesting and controlfor as many of those factors as possible.But still, it's likelyyour time was slowerbecause the zero to 60 you'vebeen told your car will dois a rollout time.So what does that mean?A rollout is based ontiming at drag strips.A typical strip has a set ofyellow, green, and red lightsoften called a Christmas tree.Now, well, I could explain it to you.I would like our residentjunior drag racer,Mr. Nolan Jay Sykes, toexplain what's going onat the drag strip.Nolan, help us out.- Thanks, Jerry.Yeah, I used to compete in drag racing.Spent a lot of time on the drag strip.Love talking about this stuff.So the green light is the obvious one.It tells the driver when the race starts,but important information is conveyedby two other lights on theChristmas tree as well.Two of them are linked to light beamsthat run across the track.When the first beam is blockedby the car's front tire,that triggers the top lightor the pre-stage light.This tells the driverthat they're seven inchesaway from the starting line,which is also where the second beam lives.When the car's tire blocks that one,this triggers the stage lightwhich tells the driver to stopand wait for the green light.Once the green is lit,the driver can take off,but the clock which recordsthe car's elapsed time, or ET,doesn't start until the front tireis no longer blocking the stage beam.It takes time for thetire to clear that beam,which means the car is already movingwhen the timer finally starts.So that means if you use this methodfor measuring zero to 60 time,you aren't measuringthe actual time it takesfor a car to accelerate from a dead stopto 60 miles per hour.- The little star next to the Plaid's1.99 zero to 60 time indicatesthat this is with rollout subtracted.A car can reach five or sixmiles per hour in the rollout,and that reduces thereported zero to 60 timeby as much as 0.3 seconds.Really, it's a five to60 mile per hour time.But Tesla isn't theonly one who does this.Companies like Ford and Chevy often reporttimes this way as well.The practice is so widespread,many companies, magazines, websites,report rollout zero to 60times without telling youthat's what they're really doing.And roll out times aresomewhat controversial.Some testing sources arguethat if everyone isreporting times with rollout,then maintaining thatstandards lets you more easilycompare different cars.Others argue that usingrollout doesn't demonstrateactual zero to 60 performance,and drag race timing simply isn't relevantto most consumers interests.Some have even gone as far as callingrollout numbers cheating.I've been there.It's not fun.When MotorTrend tested the Plaid,they recorded a 1.98 secondzero to 60 with rollout.And that vindicates Tesla,because they openly saidthat their 1.99 is withoutrollout subtracted.But the total zero to 60time MotorTrend recordedwas 2.28 seconds.And when you're making claimsthat rest on hundreds ofseconds, devil's in the details.And at the Plaid launch event,Elon Musk said no production carhas ever done zero to60 in under two seconds.It looks like that is still true.Mr. Musk, he aint lying accordingto MotorTrend's testing.The thing is, MotorTrenddoes typically reportzero to 60 results witha rollout subtracted.But they also said the Plaid doesn't countas a sub two second car.What the heck?That's because to getthat crazy acceleration,the Plaid has to be onan actual drag stripbecause drag strips are extra sticky.Their surface is coatedwith a synthetic resinknown as VHT or PJ1 track bite.(Jeremiah clicks teeth)Track bite is pretty amazing stuff.It's fire resistant, water repellent,it's even biodegradable.And it helps the tires of a drag carhookup and grip the surfaceinstead of spinning.But it's not the resinitself that's so sticky.Track bite attracts andretains rubber particlesfrom the tires that pass over it.It helps the surface get rubbered in.Increasing the grip justlike the racing lineon a NASCAR track after a bunch of laps.The reason why a rubbered in track surfaceis grippier than plain asphalt is becausematerials stick to themselves betterthan they stick to other materials.Even though the tractionbetween a soft rubber tireand rough asphalt is pretty good,the grip between rubberand rubber is even better.The extra grip of a prepared track surfacewas necessary forMotorTrend to get the Plaidzero to 60 time under two seconds.The best they could doon a regular asphaltwas over two seconds, evenwith roll out subtracted.But it was so, so close.Just 2.07 seconds.We're talking eight onehundredths of a secondfrom breaking the two second barrier.Take the seats out, let skinny Bob drive,and now we're cooking.So now that we've demystifiedthe dark arts of zero to 60 times,what can we expect for thequarter-mile times for the Plaid?Well, Tesla says thePlaid will run the quarterin just 9.23 seconds.Another record for a production car.Faster than the Demon even.That's thanks to her staggering1,020 electric horses.F1 cars have about a thousand horsepower,and the fastest quarter mile timewe could find for one ofthose was 9.2 seconds.Of course, F1 cars aren't designedspecifically for drag racing,but neither is the Plaid.After all, it seats four,has air conditioning,and it weighs 4,800 pounds.That's as much as threeF1 cars, or a typical SUV,or two long-finned pilot whales,or one short-finned pilot whale.Or.(drum rolling)Yo mama! (laughs)In spite of that, MotorTrendrecorded a time of 9.25 secondsat 152.6 miles per for the Plaidwhen it was run on track bite.That's close enough toTesla's claim, 9.23 secondsto vindicate that too.Mr. Musk, he's telling the truth.Tesla says that theyexpect most Plaid ownerswill run their car at drag strips,and that's why they're goingwith the drag strip numbers.And if you're not one of those ownersand plan to stick to regular old asphalt,you should know that MotorTrend estimatedthat the asphalt quarter-miletime is 9.34 seconds,which again, is still fasterthan anything else you can buy.A Bugatti Chiron thatcosts nearly $3 milliontakes 9.4 seconds to do that.This is insane.A 16 year old kid with a rich dadwill be driving one of these cars,and it's gonna make you furious. (laughs)That 9.34 second time is estimatedbecause a road car going that fastraises some unique safety concerns,which we're gonnaexplain in just a moment.But before we do that,there's still one more thingthe Plaid needs to achievethose top tier times.Not only do you need to ignorethe first few miles per hourand use a special surface,but you have one conditionthat a lot of people have a problem with.To get to 9.2 seconds in the quarter mile,you have to enable drag strip mode.This process, which takesbetween eight and 15 minutes,pre-conditions the batterypack and electric motors.The battery is heated or cooledto the ideal temperature,and the motors are cooledso that it can deliver maximum power.When that process is complete,the car will tell you thatpeak performance is readyand you can complete the final step.Cheetah stance.(fun comedic music)(prerecorded cheetah growl plays)To initiate cheetah stance,you pull up whereveryou plan to launch from,you hold the brake pedalwith your left footand the accelerator with your right foot,and over the next eight to 10 seconds,the car lowers the front end by two inchesand firms up the suspension.Preparing the car to deal withthe massive weight transferthat's about to happen at launch.Once complete, the Plaidlets the driver knowby displaying cheetah stanceenabled and ready to launch.You just let off the brakepedal, hold on tight,and the car will ripthrough the quarter milein it's advertised time.Insane.Now why certain people have a problemthat the car has to getpre-conditioned is beyond me.If you have a drag car at thestrip, you gotta warm it up.You gotta do a wholebunch of preconditioningthat you don't necessarily talk about.The fact that this car doeszero to 60 in under two secondsis freaking mind blowing.So I think people are justgrasping at straws here.Haters gonna hate, Elon's gonna skate.An ollie.Just did an ollie.You didn't even see it, but I did.- New shirt alert. (laughs)That's stupid.♪ Give it the beans ♪♪ The beans ♪♪ Beans ♪You guys can't getenough of our catchphraseand we can't get enough designing clothes.That's why we came out with our thirdgive it the beans shirt.This one's with a can.On the front, you've gotyour give it the beans can,and on the rear you've gota gaggle of cans on the backin all different modern styles.That's a little art history joke for you.Very sleek, very street wear, very hip.Get your give it the beancan shirt on donutmedia.com.Only 29.98.Give it the beans and get one today.- So there it is.The model S Plaid reallywill do zero to 60in 1.99 seconds and run the quarter milein 9.23 seconds just like Tesla says.But it needs a rollout, a prep surface,and drag strip mode, andcheetah stance to do it.I think once you knowthat, you can figure outhow to beat it in an actual drag race.What does actual drag race mean?Let me explain.We saw that taking awaythe prepared surfacedoesn't actually do very much.You only lose a 10th of a second.And even then, it's stillfaster than any production car.Now before you guess, well,take away drag strip mode,you should know that theYouTube channel Drag Timesran the Plaid without drag strip mode,and they got 9.67 sevenin the quarter mile.Again, that's still faster than anythingyou're likely going to show up with.So it seems like beating thePlaid in an actual drag raceis gonna be pretty hard to do.But I'm here to play chess, not checkers.So what if we can beatit on a technicality?If you want to beat the Plaidin a sanctioned drag race,you actually want the driverto use drag strip modeand cheetah stance.And that's because a real dragrace has another conditionTesla hasn't mentioned.The driver doesn't choose when it starts.Actual drag racing uses somethingcalled courtesy staging.If the strip is using courtesy staging,one driver pulls up to the pre-stage beamand then waits for the other driverto pull up to theirpre-stage beam on their side.Once both drivers are pre-stage,one rolls seven inchesforward to the stage beamthen the second driver pullsup to their stage beam.Once both drivers are staged,the starter will activatethe Christmas treeand around two seconds later,boom, green light goesand the race starts.But it's only once thestage beam is triggeredthat the Plaid drivercomes to a complete stopand can activate the cheetah stance.So unless they've paid off the starterto wait 10 seconds beforeactivating the tree,those lights are goinggreen six to eight secondsbefore the Plaid hasfinished its cheetah dance.That means if you're in the other car,you're down the track witha six to eight second leadbefore the Plaid even launches.But say you don't putit in cheetah stance.Well, then you're gonna need a carthat beats 9.68 second quarter mile.So if you wanna race a Plaid,just tell them, hey, I'll letyou do your cheetah dance.I won't leave.And then leave. (laughs)You might think winninga drag race that wayis a little unfair.Yeah, well, if so, you'regonna hate the other wayto beat the Plaid.Snitching.See, like the Dodge Demon,which was also capableof a quarter mile time under 10 seconds,the Plaid shouldn't be allowed in an NHRAregulated drag strip.In spite of Tesla'sclaims that most ownerswill be doing this.Mandatory safety equipmentis based on a carsbest quarter mile time.And if a car can run faster than 9.99at over 150 miles per, then alot of additional safety gearsrequired to raise on a drag strip.You gotta have a full roll cage,you gotta have shieldsaround drive line componentsin case they explode.You gotta even have a parachutein case the brakes fail.Those obviously aren't includedin your $120,000 Plaid.The driver, they also need to be wearinga protector fire suit, arm restraints,then you need to hold anNHRA competition license.I don't think there are gonnabe a lot of Tesla ownerswho have that license.So since the Plaid can runa sub 9.99 quarter mile,you could complain to the safety crew.And if you're lucky,get them disqualified.But, don't do that.It's frigging bogus, dude.So if you want to beatthe Plaid in a race,you're gonna have haveto fight a little dirty.But there may be one more wayto beat it in a fair fight.That's where the Rimac Nevera,a brand new to EV super cars comes in.The YouTube channel Car Wowgot a Rimac to run 8.62seconds in the quarter mileon an unprepared surface.The company's founder says the Neveradoesn't need anything like drag strip modeor cheetah stance to do it.He claims it'll acceleratelike that any time you want.And I'm sure just like the Plaid,there are some asterisks with the Rimac,but at this point we're arguing oversub 10 second production cars.Think about that.In 15 years, you're gonnabe able to get a discounton one of these sub 10 second cars.That's insane.You should be so stoked about that.I can't wait to buy one of these used.It's gonna be fun.If you're a fan of Teslaand a bunch of other EVs,go check out this D-listwhich lists the fastest EVsout there right now.Click right here.Right here?Right here.If you wanna know more about Teslaand how their autopilotsystem works, click here.Thank you guys so much forwatching this episode of B2B.Follow us here on Instagramat donut @donutmedia.Follow me @jeremiahburton.Until next week.Bye for now.