About two weeks ago, Jay Leno revealed that he had set a 9.2-second quarter-mile time in Tesla’s latest hot EV, the Model S Plaid. Now, as a promotion for his CNBC show, Jay Leno’s Garage, footage from the run has been released through the show’s Twitter page.
The footage shows a helmeted Leno running down the drag strip at Auto Club Famosa, near Bakersfield, California along with footage from the scene in the movie Space Balls that inspired the car’s name.
Leno is joined by Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer who relays from the timing tower the 9.247 second quarter-mile time. With deliveries of the new Model S Plaid having started on June 10, that makes this the fastest production car that people can currently own, though the Rimac Nevera will soon take that crown.
Read More: Jay Leno Says He Ran A 9.2-Second Quarter-Mile Time In A Tesla Model S Plaid
They've gone to plaid 😱
Tesla showed off its newest model S Plaid at an event in California where Jay Leno was able to drive the new whip, and even tries to break a quarter-mile land speed record for production cars. #Tesla pic.twitter.com/Rrt4ESBvWb
— Jay Leno's Garage (@LenosGarage) June 14, 2021
Regardless, the context that Leno offers helps highlight how impressive the Model S Plaid is. Speaking on the Spike’s Car Radio podcast, he pointed out that the car ran its record-setting time in just one pass, and did so despite having four doors and the air conditioner on.
Speaking to CNBC’s Shepard Smith, Leno relays another interesting fact about the run. He said that when he was lining up for the run, he saw a bird perched on the countdown lights. When he got back to the starting line after his run, the bird was still there. Peace, quiet, and nature are not the normal hallmarks of loud and violent drag strips.
Even its lofty price of $130,000 was impressive to Leno. Although he admits that that’s a “tremendous amount of money,” he argues that cars that would lose to it on the drag strip like Bugattis and Ferraris sell for millions of dollars.
For Leno, though, the ultimate appeal of the car is the same as the appeal of any car. It’s the new technology and the ingenuity that go into making a novel product.
“I’m a huge fan of American technology and especially products that are developed here in America using locally sourced stuff,” says Leno. “And that’s why I love this car.”
