Tesla Crushes Ferrari 458 Italia For “Ultimate Street Car” Win (Videos)
Afeez Damilola Alade-Kolawole, founder of Tesla Rentals and ecarTestDrives, recently took a Tesla Model S P100D to the famous Santa Pod Raceway’s Ultimate Street Car competition. It will surprise no one here to learn that the Tesla was a winner.
“The Tesla Model S P100D, owned and driven by David Broadway was the fastest unmodified, road legal car at Santa Pod, winning the Class C Category,” ecarTestDrives wrote in an email sent our way.
Not familiar with the Ultimate Street Car event? Well, the USC is apparently “the largest and loudest modified car festival in Europe,” so you can be sure a lot of conventional gearheads know all about it. Afeez and his colleagues weren’t sure how these modified street car enthusiasts would respond, but they were certainly focused on bringing more electric car awareness and enthusiasm through this event, and I can say from time I’ve spent with him that I think Afeez is an ideal person to educate and “EVangelize” both normal people and gearheads. Check out our webinar about the BMW i3 for a taster (he’s an i3 owner):
The email he and his team sent over added: “The Tesla Rentals and ecarTestDrives crew were joined by e-CarsTrading and EO Charging to answer questions from the public. All the team were overwhelmed by the incredibly positive reaction of the show-goers stopping to admire the BMW i3, Tesla Model X, Model S and a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. The exhibition stand proudly displaying the range of electric cars was packed full of people all weekend inspecting the vehicles and chatting to the experts.”
Not a bad pack of cars to take to the track and show off.
Regarding those racing results, here are the details the eCarTestDrives team sent over:
“Far from settling with a static display, Tesla Rentals and ecarTestDrives were ready to take to the famous drag strip in their star of the show, the Tesla Model S P100D, capable of 0-60mph in just 2.4 seconds. The first two runs of the day were against the Ferrari 458 Italia of James Cannon, founder of The Cannon Run. The e-car doubters were as silent as the Tesla’s electric motor when it sped off the line but the silence turned to roars and cheers all round as the Tesla left the Ferrari standing both times, completing the runs half a second faster than its gas-fuelled counterpart.
“For the third and final run of the day, the P100D was racing a modified Honda Civic head to head. The Tesla was again victorious, the Civic never standing a chance over the quarter-mile.”
Afeez is fully onboard with what we try to highlight daily here on CleanTechnica: that electric cars are fun! And that’s why he brought some electric cars to the Ultimate Street Car event, of course. Here are some of his own words on that matter:
“I believe that if we are to make electric vehicles more mainstream, we need to focus on the fun aspect, especially the instantaneous power that allows the rapid acceleration that is only possible with an electric drivetrain. We need to connect and appeal to car lovers everywhere, not just the environmentally aware. And what better place to showcase the fun aspects of electric cars than at the world famous Santa Pod Raceway during the Ultimate Street Car event.”
Here are videos and several more pics Afeez and his team shared from the Santa Pod Raceway:
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