Sure, we have all seen dozens, if not hundreds, of videos showing the Tesla Model S P85D shutting down all comers at the drag strip, but have you ever watched them all in one place, one after the other?
This video from Drag Times is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the P85D is truly one of the great cars of all times. Why? Because it goes about its business in a calm, dignified and (mostly) quiet way, while its competition features snarling exhausts and the sounds of expensive multi-valve engines revving up on the starting line.
In this P85D video, it makes no difference who the challenger is or how much it cost — the result is always the same. Thanks to the instantaneous flow of torque from the moment the lights on the Christmas Tree turn green, the P85D simply rockets away down the track while the combustion engine powered car in the next lane waits a beat or two for the power to arrive. By the time it finally gets going, the Tesla is already car lengths ahead.
Sure, some of the sounds of those hyper-cars can stir the soul of a committed car guy. After all, one of the things that brings out crowds of people to local drag strips all across the country is the ear splitting madness of a Top Fuel dragster which joggles your intestines and sets your bones to clattering. That’s what people pay for.
But the Tesla makes all that mysterious mechanical mayhem seem a bit foolish, as it quietly dances away from the line every time. Watch the video to get an inkling into the genius of Elon Musk, who not only wanted to build electric cars, he wanted to build electric cars that went faster than almost anything else on the planet.
Mission accomplished.
