CARLOS LAGO: Hey, Carlos
Lago with Edmunds here. And this is the
Tesla Model S Plaid-- that's right, the brand-new
EV with over 1,000 horsepower that is the quickest
new car you can buy. It's so quick, in
fact, that when we decided we wanted to drag
race it against something, we couldn't find a
worthy competitor from a four-wheeled vehicle that
was unmodified-- you know, just to keep things fair. So that's why, next to
me, is a man dressed in leather, on a vehicle
that has two wheels. That's Chris Moore. He's a motorcycle
drag racer and tuner. You can check out all
his stuff on his YouTube channel and his Instagram. He has great stuff,
he's a good guy, and he's going to give this
thing a really good run for its money. CHRIS MOORE: All right,
guys, here we are. I don't know if you can tell
how much the wind is blowing or not, but we have
got a crazy day here at Willow Springs in California. And we are going to be
drag racing a Tesla Plaid-- yeah, that's right, guys,
the fastest production car in the world. I'm on a 2022 bone-stock
Hayabusa, zero modifications whatsoever, straight
off the showroom floor. CARLOS LAGO: And that's one of
the quickest new motorcycles you can buy new. We're going to see which of
these two is quicker in a heads up drag race, a professional
motorcycle racer, drag racer on a quick--
super-quick motorcycle, or me-- you know, just
some guy who does, you know, YouTube car videos
in a four-wheel EV sedan. CHRIS MOORE: Keep in
mind, the Tesla Plaid set the record
with a 9.24 elapsed time in the quarter mile
at like, 150 miles an hour. So for those of you
who are watching, well, this is not a normal car, guys. This thing is unbelievable. CARLOS LAGO: It's
going to be a good one. Before we get to the
drag race though, like, comment, and subscribe. If you like videos,
like this one. I mean, how could you not? Visit edmunds.com/sellmycar
to get an instant cash offer on your vehicle. And check out Chris's stuff
too, on his YouTube channel. It's good stuff to watch. Unlike EVs, and in fact,
most cars in general, doing a drag race run or an
acceleration run in the Model S Plaid isn't as simple
as just showing up and hitting the accelerator. Once settled, you actually
have to activate drag race mode on the screen here. And there's a
little display that says it's going to condition the
vehicle for peak performance. And now, we wait. [MUSIC PLAYING] CHRIS MOORE: We wait. CARLOS LAGO: Let's get racing. [MUSIC PLAYING] CHRIS MOORE: Ah! The Tesla was gone! The wind is blowing super bad. Once the front end
started to raise, I was starting to wheelie. Once I started to wheelie,
I couldn't-- couldn't stay in the throttle because the
front end was trying to wash out in front of me. Due to the high winds
here at Willow Springs, we got to rerun that one. Let's see what happens. We'll try it one more time? CARLOS LAGO: Sure. CHRIS MOORE: We may not get any
better, you know what I mean? Because I kept
the front end down pretty damn good that time. And it was still wanting to
do it, you know what I mean? CARLOS LAGO: OK. CHRIS MOORE: All right,
let's try it one more time. CARLOS LAGO: OK. CHRIS MOORE: Oh,
here we go, baby! Come on, Busa! Let's go, Busa! Let's go! Let's go! CARLOS LAGO: This
thing is so fast. CHRIS MOORE: Ah! That thing is fast. Oh my god. CARLOS LAGO: How'd that feel? CHRIS MOORE: [INAUDIBLE] run. CARLOS LAGO: You
know, I never thought I'd say a nine-second
quarter mile would feel a little underwhelming. But this is like,
there's no drama. CHRIS MOORE: It was a
lot of drama for me. The bike was coming
up the whole time. I'm in and out of the throttle. The wind is blowing me. I'm going sideways. You're over there,
just on cruise control. CARLOS LAGO: Well, you
know, the thing is-- the yoke, whatever. But the steering's
kind of light, so that's not great for
high speed, straight. Like, it's a little-- it moves around more. I want more resistance. I want more steering resistance. CHRIS MOORE: Make me
feel a little better, and tell me you didn't have
it on autopilot the whole way. CARLOS LAGO: No
autopilot whatsoever. CHRIS MOORE: Oh my god! CARLOS LAGO: But
it's drama-free. CHRIS MOORE: That
thing is unbelievable. I just knew, when I
went to second gear, I was going to reel you back in. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, well,
we could do a roll race. CHRIS MOORE: Let's try it. CARLOS LAGO: Let's
try a roll race. CHRIS MOORE: I think
that'll be fun. CARLOS LAGO: So the
acceleration is quick, it's incredibly quick. It's-- quickest accelerating car
you can buy from the factory. But there's-- there's no
drama to it, absolutely. Like, there's-- the drama
comes from the time. The sensation is
violent, it's aggressive. But if you've been on a roller
coaster that accelerates quickly, it feels very similar. And it pulls continually until
you cross the finish line. This is a rapid vehicle. What I don't like is how
light the steering is while you're moving at speed. This-- this steering could
use more resistance while you're going
straight, so you're-- so it's not wandering as much. And it's not wandering
aggressively. I don't have to put any
steering input into it. But I do have to do a little
more control than I'd care to. All right, so roll
race, 40 miles an hour? CHRIS MOORE: Yeah,
that sounds fine. CARLOS LAGO: All right, you
gonna go at the start line, or you going to jump
it a little bit? CHRIS MOORE: Nah-- CARLOS LAGO: So-- CHRIS MOORE: --only fair
starts with a Tesla. CARLOS LAGO: Never give
your secrets away, right? CHRIS MOORE: Ah! He's talking-- I
can't believe you're talking junk to a motorcycle
rider, in a battery mobile! CARLOS LAGO: Let's get racing. Let's get racing. CHRIS MOORE: If you spill
your coffee, I'll be mad. CARLOS LAGO: I'll be drinking
my Whole Foods water. [LAUGHS] Roll race, here
we go, 40 miles an hour. Oh, he jumped. He jumped. Oh, am I going to reel him in? CHRIS MOORE: It's
on this time, baby. CARLOS LAGO: Oh, I
was pulling on him. [LAUGHS] CHRIS MOORE: Bye-bye, Plaid! Uh-huh. [MUSIC PLAYING] Now that we took your all wheel
drive starting advantage away, it's not so easy, right? CARLOS LAGO: Well, when you take
away the all wheel drive start, you maybe jumped the
start a little bit. CHRIS MOORE: No! CARLOS LAGO: Well--
(SLOW-MO) oh, he jumped. He jumped. A little bit. CHRIS MOORE: No, you
chase, it's a race. CARLOS LAGO: Hey-- hey, you win. But what if we do it again? CHRIS MOORE: One more time. CARLOS LAGO: One more time. CHRIS MOORE: One more time. CARLOS LAGO: One more time. [LAUGHS] Oh, boy! CHRIS MOORE: Ah! He's gonna [INAUDIBLE] Oh my god, I cannot believe it! CARLOS LAGO: Oh, man! CHRIS MOORE: He drove
back around a Hayabusa-- CARLOS LAGO: Oh, man! CHRIS MOORE: --in a Tesla. CARLOS LAGO: My brake's
getting a little soft. CHRIS MOORE: Oh my god! That thing is unbelievable. CARLOS LAGO: That was so cool! So cool. CHRIS MOORE: Oh my
god, I cannot believe-- I had you there for a while. When I went to third, you just
started driving back around me. CARLOS LAGO: It's-- I think--
you know, the drag is just-- the drag starts to hit you. CHRIS MOORE: It's
definitely unbelievable. You have the drag,
especially with the wind. You have the supposedly most
aerodynamic car in the world. I can't believe it. It's unbelievable. CARLOS LAGO: Not the
most brakes in the world. CHRIS MOORE: Yeah? CARLOS LAGO: The pedal's
getting a little long. CHRIS MOORE: I'm
smelling a little-- it's a little stinky, yo. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, do
you see any smoke yet? CHRIS MOORE: Yeah,
you definitely got a little heat in 'em. You can tell. CARLOS LAGO: I came into
one a little higher than I-- CHRIS MOORE: I saw
you moving around. That was a good race. CARLOS LAGO: That was cool. That was really cool. CHRIS MOORE: I
cannot believe it. I'm very surprised. Suzuki, we got to
step our game up. CARLOS LAGO: You got
anything quicker? CHRIS MOORE: Yeah, let
me try the other bike. I want to do it and
see what it does. 2021 ZX-14R, give me a rematch. CARLOS LAGO: That sounds
like a prescription. CHRIS MOORE: I don't even
know what to say to you. [MUSIC PLAYING] CARLOS LAGO: Ooh, I think he got
the launch wrong on that one. CHRIS MOORE: Come on-- CARLOS LAGO: I see him
in my sideview mirror. And I see more of him
in my sideview mirror. CHRIS MOORE: --he got us again! I cannot believe this! That thing is unbelievable. CARLOS LAGO: Getting a
little windy out here. CHRIS MOORE: We got the gap
sauce from him that time. We got to do it again
to get a better start. CARLOS LAGO: So the-- the bike may have gotten faster,
but the wind's gotten worse. CHRIS MOORE: The wind
has gotten worse. I think I want to try
that one again, though. I got a bad start. The clutch is way different
on this one from the Hayabusa. It's way softer. I didn't get off the
clutch fast enough. I think I can put up a
better fight for you. CARLOS LAGO: You
know, it's funny, this thing's so quiet at
launch, I heard your clutch. CHRIS MOORE: Yeah, you
can hear it, right? CARLOS LAGO: Inside this, while
I'm doing a nine-second pass. CHRIS MOORE: That
thing's unbelievable. Give me a rematch. CARLOS LAGO: Let's do it. Woo-hoo-hoo, doggy! I saw his wheel come up. Oh, I don't see him
in my sideview mirror. He's hanging with me. CHRIS MOORE: Ah! CARLOS LAGO: Whew! Oh, there he is. CHRIS MOORE:
[INAUDIBLE] me again! That was pretty close to a
perfect launch on this thing. Oh my god, that car
is unbelievable. [MUSIC PLAYING] CARLOS LAGO: It's so nice. I saw your-- CHRIS MOORE: I'm
happy with that one. Man, that thing is unbelievable. I got a good launch
and everything. I feel like I rode it almost
as good as you could possibly ride it. CARLOS LAGO: I saw your
wheel come up a little bit, and then just went, whoosh-- CHRIS MOORE: As soon as
it came up a little bit, I had to wiggle the throttle. The wind is blowing me,
I'm fighting the wind. And I watch you driving away. CARLOS LAGO: You're-- CHRIS MOORE: Stop
drinking that latte. I see you over there. CARLOS LAGO: You're working
so much harder than I am. CHRIS MOORE: I'm sweating like
crazy, and it's not even hot. CARLOS LAGO: I'm just waiting
for the launch control to engage and do
its little graphic. There's all the display
here, that I'm just like, oh, that's cool. Oh yeah, let me check
on him in the sideview. CHRIS MOORE: Yeah. Make me feel better and
turn the heated seats on, so you sweat some. CARLOS LAGO: You know, it
doesn't have seat massage, unfortunately. CHRIS MOORE: Oh. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah. CHRIS MOORE: Wah, wah. CARLOS LAGO: He's
tucked-- oh, man! Oh, wow, that thing's quick. Oh, boy! CHRIS MOORE: The ZX-14
pulls hard up top. Definitely held him off
with style that time. The front end came
up just a little bit. I didn't have to crack
hardly [AUDIO OUT] Just short shifted just a
smidge on the 1-2 shift. I could feel the bike roll
over just a little bit, but it wasn't enough for me to
have to let off the throttle. Let's hear what
he's got to say now. [MUSIC PLAYING] What do you think? CARLOS LAGO: We might be seeing
some performance degradation here, because that was about
five or eight mile an hour slower than the first
couple of roll races. CHRIS MOORE: Oh, my-- so you mean you got to charge
that thing up in-between races? CARLOS LAGO: The
range looks fine. But hey, you know, couple
of runs, then it's done. But hey-- CHRIS MOORE: You
want to try it again? You gave me a fair redo
on the first roll-on. Let's try it again. CARLOS LAGO: Let's do it again. Let's do it again. CHRIS MOORE: All
right, one more time. CARLOS LAGO: All right. So the first roll race that
we did against the Busa, I saw about 150, 151
through the finish line. That race we just did
against the ZX-14, I saw somewhere in
the mid-140 range. So we might be seeing some
performance degradation. It could be because of the wind. Either way, ZX-14 gets
to claim the roll. CHRIS MOORE: Round two
roll-on, 40 miles per hour. Let's see-- ZX-14 [INAUDIBLE] CARLOS LAGO: [LAUGHS] Oh, man! Oh, man! Photo finish! Photo finish. CHRIS MOORE: That was close. Wow, wow, wow. CARLOS LAGO: I
love that so much. CHRIS MOORE: I cannot
believe how close that-- that car is unbelievable. I don't know who won. That was like, a photo finish. CARLOS LAGO: I was
saying photo finish over and over and over again. CHRIS MOORE: You might
have snuck it by me. I don't know. It was real close. CARLOS LAGO: I love that,
when it's just neck and neck. CHRIS MOORE: The top end charge
of that car is unbelievable. CARLOS LAGO: It's so cool
watching you shift, shift, shift, and I'm just
like, oh, that's neat. CHRIS MOORE: Oh! CARLOS LAGO: He's got work-- CHRIS MOORE: I feel good you're
at least keeping an eye on me over there. CARLOS LAGO: I'm
admiring your skill. CHRIS MOORE: As the
wind's blowing me around, I'm trying to fight the wheelie. CARLOS LAGO: And me, I'm just
like, yeah, sipping my latte. CHRIS MOORE: Thanks for
keeping an eye on me. CARLOS LAGO: You got it. Good stuff. So before we showed up, what did
you think was going to happen? CHRIS MOORE: So I knew the
Hayabusa was just redesigned. I knew it was supposed
to be a better bike. But honestly, I thought
it was going to do a little better than it did. The ZX-14 turned to
be the standout today. I'm-- honestly, I'm
really surprised. Both bikes put up a close race. The ZX-14 was a little stronger. CARLOS LAGO: Thank
you for riding up two motorcycles simultaneously. I know you're an
experienced rider. That must be really tricky. CHRIS MOORE: It definitely
was a lot of challenge, to be honest with you. These bikes, stock
height, no lowering help, no nothing on these things, it's
a challenge to ride, especially with the wind blowing. CARLOS LAGO: Oh, I meant
driving them here to the track simultaneously. CHRIS MOORE: Yeah,
that was a trick. You got me on that one. CARLOS LAGO: He's a pro. He's a pro. No, but we've got to
thank the people who brought the bikes out. CHRIS MOORE: For sure. Armand and Ron,
thank you so much. Moore Mafia Maniacs,
we like to call 'em. I put a post on the internet. These guys supplied me with
two brand-spanking-new bikes. I can't thank those guys enough. CARLOS LAGO: And just to
lose to a Tesla, too-- what a-- what a-- CHRIS MOORE: I think
you made the wind blow. You had to have--
dude, you knew I was going to beat you
off the starting line. We was goin'-- I'm not going to lie,
I did the best I could. That thing is just fast. CARLOS LAGO: It's
fast, but the wind is much more of an issue on
the bike than it is in the car, obviously. Because your wheel-- the whole
bike is moving left and right. CHRIS MOORE: I saw you over
there, just cruising along-- CARLOS LAGO: One-handed. CHRIS MOORE: --going,
man, come on! I was over there
fighting for my life. CARLOS LAGO: You were
working a lot harder. What was the hardest
part, managing the wind, managing the wheel spin? CHRIS MOORE: The
wind was definitely-- I'm not going to say
the deciding factor. But any time the
front end came up, the front-- it started to roll. And as it starts to roll,
of course, no matter how good of a rider you
are, you can't control that. You're just kind of
at the wind's mercy. And I had to back
out of the throttle to keep the bike down-- to keep the bike going
straight, in other words. CARLOS LAGO: That
must be frustrating, especially when the
Model S is just-- CHRIS MOORE: Yeah, and
the fact that I'm not scared to ride a wheelie. If I have to hang it knee-high
the whole way right beside you, I can do that. But I can't do that if the
bike is starting to twist. I'm not going to put
myself in danger, or those guys' bikes in danger. CARLOS LAGO: That's
totally responsible. I'd be totally
willing to do that to a Tesla that is
not owned by us. The cool part though,
was not the drag race, but I thought the
roll races, when we were kind of just
dead-nuts even, when we take the launch
out of the equation, you can just see the power to
weight of both these vehicles. That was so cool. CHRIS MOORE:
Absolutely incredible. I was able to just
roll the throttle on. And as I rolled it on, we could
literally stay neck and neck. I was able to keep the
front end down just enough. I could feel it on
the ZX-14, especially. It was just barely
hovering the tire. And I was able to keep
that front end planted to make it a side by side race. I still think I
might have beat you. We're gonna-- CARLOS LAGO: [COUGHS] CHRIS MOORE: --have to
roll the footage back. I gotta see it. CARLOS LAGO: It's
pretty evenly matched. But that's what's so
awesome about this pairing, because you have the
quickest two completely stock vehicles that you can get. CHRIS MOORE: Absolutely. Win, lose, or draw, I'm
not ashamed, I'm amazed. I cannot believe how
fast the Tesla is. CARLOS LAGO: That's--
it's been a great day. Been a great day,
great drag races. Thank you guys for
watching this video. Like, comment, and subscribe. If you enjoyed this, check
out Chris's YouTube channel as well. Lot of good stuff. See you next time. Maybe with more drag
races against bikes. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Barring the Rimac Nevera which will beat the brakes off a plaid, but then again it’s a coupe vs sedan and you could buy nearly 20 plaids for the cost of one Nevera.
Title taken from article regarding the same ( title + last line ).