Electric motor vs V8 combustion engine muscle. Guess which wins?
Drag races are really only good for testing acceleration and top speeds, which means they can be quite dull to watch. But when two unlikely competitors line up side by side, such as the all-electric Tesla Model S and the V8 Corvette Stingray, things get much more interesting.
In the red corner you have a saloon built using the latest and greatest in electric motors and fancy electronics. In the blue corner we have the evolution of the much-loved V8 engine in a modern-day version of a legendary V8 car. There’s more at stake than driver pride, it seems.
The Tesla Model S and its 600Nm of instant torque allow an impressive start (if a little premature on the lights), and somehow the all-electric machine manages to hold its own as the Stingray’s mighty 6.2-litre V8’s 450bhp kicks in. Only when the quarter-mile is in sight does the Model S seem to lose ground.
The fight is actually fairer than you might think in terms of price. The Stingray will retail in the UK for £67,000 when it goes on sale in the autumn. Although the entry-level Model S 60kWh starts at £49,900, the top-spec 416bhp 85kWh Performance model starts at £68,700.
Really it comes down to practicality if you had to choose. A Model S can house a family in comfort, while the Stingray would struggle with a family of badgers. But wheras the former looks classy, the inner-child in us could hardly say no to quad exhausts and a roaring V8.
So which car wins? We’ll let you see for yourself in the YouTube video kindly provided by DragTimes. Either way, we would happily drive either of them to and from the Recombu Cars towers.
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