Electric Ferrari Drag Race: Tesla Power vs. 12 Mighty Cylinders

2 years ago Jo Borras
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

For those of you too young to remember the fact for yourselves, I’m about to drop a truth-bomb: the 1980s were an absolutely magical time to love cars. There was a strange mix of things happening to help fuel that fact, too — a bit of hand-built craftsmanship here, some vague understanding of aerodynamics evolving over there (there was some science behind it, but it was a far cry from the computer-aided cruise missiles of today). Stir in a heaping helping of “War on Drugs” cocaine cowboy-ism and more than a dash of Magnum PI and Miami Vice, and you might soon understand why we children of the ’80s love Ferrari so. Pity Ferraris are objectively terrible by today’s standards … if only there was some way to make a classic Ferrari somehow relevant again.

I am, of course, leading you down a certain path — and longtime Gas2 and CleanTechnica readers will no doubt remember another electrically converted Ferrari 308 GT we covered a while back. That car has the look and the style of the Pininfarina-penned classic, but it’s packed with copper coils and windings instead of the original 3.0 liter V8 (3.0, 8 — get it?). That one was quick, but one featured here is packing even more power thanks to a 450 HP Tesla drive unit.

As that first ElectricGT 308 was more than a match for the ’80s spec 220 HP with “just” 330 HP, this new Tesla-powered find would have to be lined up against something a little more stout as a baseline. At least, that seems to be what the guys at CarWow thought, and they found another iconic 1980s Ferrari that fit the bill nicely thanks to its 390 HP flat-12 cylinder engine (red heads and all!).

So, 450 HP Ferrari 308 GTB vs. 390 HP Testarossa — is it fair? Not really. Is it awesome? Undoubtedly. Enough talk then — hit the play button on the video below and then let us know what you thought of this electric Ferrari drag race in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

CarWow Electric Ferrari Drag Race

Source | Images: CarWow, via Motor1.

Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book

Holiday Wish Book Cover

Click to download.

Our Latest EVObsession Video

I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it!! So, we've decided to completely nix paywalls here at CleanTechnica. But...
 
Like other media companies, we need reader support! If you support us, please chip in a bit monthly to help our team write, edit, and publish 15 cleantech stories a day!
 
Thank you!
Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.