A source from Drive Tesla Canada might have delivered some of the biggest Tesla news of the year. We can’t confirm the validity of these claims but they are impressive. 

According to the source who attended the event, a Tesla Model S Plaid set a quarter-mile time of 9.23 seconds with a trap speed of 152.16 mph. If those claims are accurate and official, then the Model S Plaid now holds the production car record for the fastest quarter-mile time. 

The quarter-mile run was done at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California on May 11. 

What’s interesting is that the time matches exactly what Tesla advertises on its website and just barely beats the Lucid Air prototype’s time of 9.245 seconds done last year. 

The source claims the Plaid did the quarter-mile run with a full interior, but we do not know what wheels and tires were used. We also don’t know if it was timed with a one-foot rollout or if it was a standing quarter-mile. Since it was on a drag strip, the run was likely timed with the rollout.

The one-foot rollout matters more if used in 0-60 times (as explained in this video) but not so much with quarter-mile times. Still, for reference, it takes a very fast car about 0.20 seconds to get to one foot. 

Drive Tesla Canada saw the footage but didn’t share it in order to protect the identity of its source. However, the source claims the footage will be shown on Jay Leno’s Garage because Leno and his crew were there to film the record run. 

Jay Leno supposedly also drove the Model S Plaid on the drag strip and put down a time of 9.50 seconds with two passengers in the car. If you remember, Leno checked out the Tesla Cybertruck with Elon Musk last year. 

A quarter-mile time of 9.23 seconds at 152.16 mph is quite mind-boggling and beats some of the fastest production cars ever made. This includes vehicles like the McLaren Senna, Porsche 911 GT2 RS, Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, and the very powerful Bugatti Chiron. 

Although, it doesn't beat the Rimac C_Two's unofficial quarter-mile run of 8.95 seconds at 156 mph. Check out the full story here

Below is a table for more reference. The majority of the numbers below were recorded by Motor Trend. The quarter-mile runs recorded by Motor Trend and Car and Driver are done with the one-foot rollout. The Rimac likely wasn't done with a rollout but the Model S Plaid, Lucid Air, and Dodge SRT Demon probably were.

Vehicle Quarter-mile time (sec) Quarter-mile trap speed (mph)
Rimac C_Two (unofficial) 8.95 156.0
Tesla Model S Plaid (currently unofficial) 9.23 152.16
Lucid Air Prototype (Lucid's claim) 9.245 157.26
2018 Bugatti Chiron Sport (Car and Driver) 9.4 158.0
2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon (Dodge's claim on a prepped surface) 9.65 140.0
2015 Ferrari LaFerrari (Motor Trend) 9.74 148.5
2014 McLaren P1 (Motor Trend) 9.75 148.9
2015 Porsche 918 Spyder (Motor Trend) 9.97 145.2
2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S (Motor Trend) 10.47 130.7
2017 Tesla Model S P100D (Motor Trend) 10.51 125.0
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