I just took delivery of my 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport in Seattle on Thursday July 23rd. It was at the track in Portland and racing within 21 hours of arriving at my house. We set the NEDRA (Natl Electric Drag Racing Assoc) record in the SP/A3 category, where Tesla Roadsters are classified. Here are the two videos of the record setting runs. Tesla Roadster Sport NEDRA record 12.643 at 1/4 mile Peak Oil Garage Here is another video of a Tesla vs Tesla race. Tesla Roadster Sport 553 versus another Tesla Roadster Peak Oil Garage
That's pretty darn quick. For those who don't have a relative idea of fast/slow 1/4 miles and haven't drag raced a track, my personal best w/my 5-speed automatic (don't shoot me) 287 hp 04 350Z was ~14.5. A one second difference in the 1/4 is actually huge, two is really big. Powerful cars and fairly expensive sports cars do mid 11s to high 12s, stock. IIRC, manual stock 350Z of the same vintage as mine can manage mid to high 13s, at best. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q2/road_test_digest-feature has a table. Car and Driver achieved 17.6 in the 1/4 in a 2010 Prius (http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezf...lication/c25f91204b3af2dd071f848fa067bde7.pdf).
The Tesla Roadster Sport definitely has the potential to reach 12.4 to 12.5 seconds. We just need to get it with a 100% charge, warmed up in performance mode and a lightweight driver that knows how to launch. We had everything except a full charge. We were only running at about 75% charge when we took that video and set the record.
But the added weight of all the electrons to get you to 100% will remove all the benefit of the extra charge won't it! ;-) I love EVs!! At the Tesla Motors Club site I posted a list of the very few stock vehicles that I could find that actually beat the 12.6 sec. 1/4 time of the Tesla...it's a small and very respectable group! Tesla Motors Club Forum - View Single Post - Tesla Roadster Sport NEDRA record 12.643 at 1/4 mile
