How can one both win and lose a drag race at the same time? Well, in this case it seems that the internet takes a drab driving experience as a big fat L. The video in question shows a Tesla Model S Plaid baiting a Ford Mustang into a drag race with somewhat predictable results but it’s sparked debate.
Featured on the YouTube channel Supercar_Shar, the film is short but shows a pair of gentlemen rolling up behind a Ford Mustang and then goading the driver into a roll race.
After the Mustang spots the Tesla we hear the driver of the pony car rev his motor a couple of times and then the Tesla driver says to himself “Oh you have no idea buddy, you have no idea what’s going to happen to you.” The video immediately cuts to later down the road when the two cars are lined up and the Tesla driver tells the Ford driver to “Go ahead, hit it, hit it, hit it.”
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After just a rev or two the Mustang seems to just barely begin actually accelerating before the Tesla blows its doors off. The video then cuts to an interior shot showing the car as it goes down the road with Full Self Driving engaged and we hear the front passenger say “And it drives itself, unbelievable.”
Commenters have not been coy with regard to how the Tesla driver makes them feel. “I like how the Mustang driver was smiling and having fun with it. The Tesla dude was cringe,” said one. Another said ” Looks like the Mustang is having more fun than you sitting there doing nothing lol.” And that seems to be the key to the online hate to some degree.
Rally legend Colin McRae is widely credited with this quote: “Straight roads are for fast cars, turns are for fast drivers.” Today, that thought could be extended to the dramatic difference between how electric cars drive or accelerate and the way that a car like the Mustang does.
Sure, modern cars have been nerfed in a bunch of different ways, and typically technology that can keep drivers safe in most situations. At the same time, if someone doesn’t pay enough attention or show enough respect they can end up in a wall, a ditch, or worse.
The Tesla Model S Plaid models offer a dramatically different experience when it’s time to drive fast in a straight line. You push the pedal down and the car will do the rest. That’s incredibly impressive but it begs the question, can automakers make EVs that are as engaging to drive as modern sports cars? Some of them already handle exceptionally well in the bends but it’s tough to imagine one that can emulate the visceral feeling that Ford driver likely had even as he watched the Tesla speed away.