Watch the Tesla Model S Plaid race one of the the world’s fastest production cars and leave it in the dust

• Drag Times raced the Tesla Model S Plaid against the Porsche Taycan Turbo S.
• The $130,000 Tesla soundly beat the $218,000 Porsche even without Drag Strip Model enabled.
• In its first attempt, the Model S Plaid won by about 0.8 seconds.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

The Tesla Model S Plaid went head-to-head with the Porsche Taycan Turbo S and there was no competition between the two cars.

The host of DragTimes, Brooks Weisblat, has been testing out the Tesla Model S Plaid in a series of videos on his YouTube channel. On Thursday, Weisblat posted a video comparing the speed of the Model S Plaid on the quarter-mile track at Palm Beach International Raceway to a Taycan Turbo S – a Porsche that MotorTrend named one of the fastest production cars in the world earlier this year.

In its first attempt, the Tesla beat the Porsche right out of the gate even though the driver, one of Weisblat’s associates, said he had not been able to engage Drag Strip Mode on the Tesla. Drag Strip Mode allows the Tesla to tap into its maximum speed. It requires a set-up process that takes about eight to 15 minutes and allows the battery and electric motors to reach an optimum temperature.

Weisblat also noted the Tesla was only at 90% battery capacity, while the Taycan was fully-charged. In the first race, the Model S Plaid was about 0.8 seconds faster.

The two cars raced two more times around the track and the $130,000 Tesla beat the $218,000 Porsche each time by about four to five car lengths, according to Weisblat’s associate, who said it was his first time driving the new Tesla on a race track.

“I’ve driven fast cars before, but this one I could really feel,” the Tesla driver said. “Not everybody can handle this.”

Several sports-car enthusiasts have taken the new Tesla out to race. In June, Jay Leno took the Tesla out for a spin to test its acceleration speed. MotorTrend also tested the electric car and said the Tesla hit the fastest 0-to-60 acceleration speed its ever seen in a production car – 1.98 seconds.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on the DragTimes’ race on Twitter.

“Only thing beyond ludicrous is Plaid,” he said, appearing to reference Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode.

-Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021