A Tesla Model S Plaid was recently challenged to a surprise duel from a Kawasaki ZX 14 at the Orlando Speedway World, “Take it to the Track” event currently underway every Thursday until October 14th. It is sponsored by local law enforcement in a bid to discourage street racing.
Overview
The Tesla Plaid Channel on YouTube is all about, you guessed it, the Plaid. They own not one but three Model S’ (two of which are Plaid’s), which are bone stock and ride performance rubber. They regularly hit the drag strip to take on some of the best gas-powered drag machines out there.
It’s not the first time that a high-performance bike has challenged the Plaid. I, in fact recently covered the Plaid going up against not one but two performance bikes. But while those were street bikes, the Plaid is now going up against a purpose-built drag bike. Can this dragster take down the Plaid? Well, let's find out.
Kawasaki ZX14 R
In the red corner, you’ve got a highly tuned Kawasaki ZX 14 drag bike, that has an extended swing arm along with ported polished heads.
Tesla Model S Plaid
In the Blue Corner, you have Andrew’s Tesla Plaid, which he acquired recently. I’ve seen this thing run in the low 6’s on Nitto NT01 tires. The Plaid seen here is a stock car with no modifications. As you know, the Tesla Plaid famously produces 1020 horsepower from its tri-motor setup. Just before the race, the Tesla was at 85% Battery Charge, using "Drag Strip Mode" and was sitting on top of stock Pirelli P Zero 19” tires.
With the numbers out of the way, let's race!!
The Rolling Race
Both the Tesla and the Kawasaki lined up for the run. They went for a rolling start. The lights turn green and the pair set off. As they approached the start line, Andrew in the Model S Plaid gave it the beans just a shy before the Kawasaki got to open the throttle. As a result, the Tesla stayed in the lead for the most part, but you could actually see the ZX14 slowly reeling him in, but the 1/4 mile distance just wasn’t enough for the Kawasaki to pass the Plaid.
Regardless, the pair ran incredibly close and the time slip is proof of this. The Tesla Plaid did the quarter-mile in 8.148 seconds at 152.71 mph, while the ZX14 wasn’t far behind at 8.167 seconds at 153.35 mph. According to Andrew, the Plaid crossed the starting line 0.121 seconds ahead of the Ninja and the finish line 0.1405 seconds ahead of the bike.
Hope we can do it again! - Andrew, Tesla Plaid Channel>
As ever, it was fun to see the Plaid go up against yet another bike, this time a drag bike. It was in fact the very first time that the Tesla Plaid Channel went up against a motorcycle and what a duel it was. I’d definitely like to see a re-match to find out, which of these two machines come out on top.
Watch the Race Below.
Here's an AWESOME Sideline View of the race from [Solarshiftz.
->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX-cwufA1TA&t=2220s]
Conclusion