"There's something strange about Tom Short's little yellow Datsun 1200. It might be that it can clear a quarter mile in a lightning-fast 14 seconds.
It also might be that you won't hear it when it does.
The Taupo mechanic's battery-powered 1972 coupe has just caused shock among horrified V8 petrolheads by winning the street car class in the New Zealand Drag Racing Association's latest season.".
There are no surprises here. An electric motor will always kick the pants off an IC engine. Its the inability to conveniently store large amounts of electricity that holds them back.
mrfxit,
May 13, 4:13am
Plus the short life span & high cost of batterys etc
westwyn,
May 13, 4:22am
"Lightning fast 14 seconds". isn't that a bit of an oxymoron in a street class? I started out my drag racing career running 14's in the Night Street Drag Wars, that was adequate in 2001, but in 2015?
loose.unit8,
May 13, 4:24am
Agree.
I'm pretty sure a stock standard Batman does high 13s. Supras, all sorts would beat that straight from factory
westwyn,
May 13, 5:55am
14.6 or 14.7 was my first pass at Meremere in a relatively stock Supra automatic- that was quick-ish for the day, but in 2014-2015 in a street class, I'd be at the back of the field now with that ET!
sw20,
May 13, 6:39am
It's probably DYO. The class for slow cars.
travis47,
May 13, 2:39pm
Drag racing may be an ideal place to use electric because it is a fast burst. I doubt that you will see EV's in any endurance events for a long time though. Possibly it they can come up with a battery pack that can be swapped out quickly.
mm12345,
May 14, 12:11am
Tesla S P84D isn't too shabby on the 1/4 mile - 11.7 seconds. That's about the same as an Audi RS7. If you search youtube, there are quite a few clips of that model Tesla S against various exotic and muscle cars. Of course it doesn't always win - but jeesh - it's a 4 door "luxury sedan". Where it does win is that from zero to the speed where you'd lose your license and have the car impounded, it eats almost everything it's put up against, and does it with no fuss, no smoke, no noise.
The current DYO class winner from this seasons Nightspeed Dragwars consistently runs high 12's to low 13's depending on track conditions
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