DragTimes brings receipts!
Just like a certain movie franchise featuring Jedi knights, the controversy surrounding a recent Top Gear video continues. Now, DragTimes has again waded into the muddy waters of dubious acceleration times with a new video in an attempt to clarify the capabilities of the Model S Performance.
For those new to the hullabaloo, a bit of back story. The BBC’s Top Gear published a video comparing the new and fabulous Porsche Taycan Turbo S with the fastest Tesla Model S trim. In the drag race portion of the clip, however, the numbers for the California car seemed inordinately slow, leading some – DragTimes among them – to question the veracity of the test.
With Tesla CEO Elon Musk weighing in, Top Gear came partially clean, at least, admitting that it used acceleration figures from a previous Model S matchup in its footage. It claimed it did so because the numbers it recorded with this latest Model S were actually slower. If you’re familiar with the electric automaker, this excuse seems somewhat nonsensical. Besides the fact this decision seems to lie outside the bounds of normal journalism, vehicles produced by Tesla are steadily and constantly improved through continuous hardware and software upgrades. Newer ones are quicker than older ones.
In the video above, Brooks Weisblat of DragTimes offers up arguments to that effect. He also brings receipts in the form of some compelling footage, including some sprints performed with a recent Tesla Model S. Importantly, they were not carried out on a drag strip, so tractive conditions may have been more similar the runway on which the Top Gear tests were performed.
So, if you haven’t clicked play on the video above, what are you waiting for? Learn, among other things, why the Top Gear crew should have seen much better performance from their Model S.
Oh, and if you haven’t seen the original Top Gear video, we’ve embedded it below for your convenience.
