There’s absolutely no question about how fast the Tesla Model S Plaid is. Independent testing has proven over and over that it’s the fastest production sedan on the planet. The folks over at Drag Times have probably dozens of quarter-mile runs in their own Plaid alone. Now they’re taking on a modified Hayabusa and it ends up being one fantastic competition.
Before we just give away the results let’s review the match-up just a bit. The Model S Plaid features 1,000-horsepower from a combination of three electric motors. That power is, of course, sent to all four wheels and can rocket the car down the drag strip in just 9.2 seconds. That kind of performance isn’t just a fluke either. The 4,700-pound Tesla can do that over and over again with almost no drop in performance.
In this video, it’s going up against a 2012 Suzuki Hayabusa. When it was first released, the Busa, as it’s often called, was one of the world’s most powerful bikes. It should be too considering that it uses a 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine. Things get spicier in this video though because this is no stock Hayabusa, as it has an aftermarket swing arm and a tune that allows it to run E85 fuel.
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After the work, it makes 202-horsepower to the rear tire and weighs just 496 pounds. Add the rider and the bike would tip the scales at just over 700 pounds. For those not doing the math in their head, that means that the Tesla makes 0.21-horsepower per pound and the bike makes 0.28. Those numbers are pretty close and the races are even closer.
In the first drag race, the Tesla wins by less than one-tenth of a second, with a time of 9.36 to the bike’s 9.43. In the next race, the Hayabusa rips off of the line 0.012 seconds too early and triggers a red-light disqualification. That’s a shame because it actually gets to the big end of the track 0.04 seconds faster. These two are so close that we’re seriously hoping for a rematch in the future. It seems clear to us that this bike has proven that the Model S isn’t bulletproof on the drag strip, even if it didn’t come away with the win here.