Lucid Air Sapphire Beats Tesla Plaid, Bugatti Chiron In Quarter-Mile Drag Race

The Sapphire completed the quarter in 9.1 seconds, making for a production car record.

Lucid Sapphire, Tesla Plaid, Bugatti Chiron Drag Race

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Dec 15, 2022 at 12:51pm ET

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Lucid only created the tri-motor 1,200-horsepower Air Sapphire to be quicker than a Tesla Model S Plaid, which it is. With more power on tap, the Lucid sedan has no problem out-accelerating the Tesla, as demonstrated in this Hagerty video, which also features a Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, the quickest gas-burning car ever put into production.

The Bugatti has the most outright power, over 1,500 horsepower, and it would certainly win in a longer race where top speed was also important. However, in this instance the three vehicles were tested over a quarter-mile and on such a short distance, the Lucid Air Sapphire was the unquestionable winner.

By the end of the run the Lucid was traveling at 156 mph (251 km/h), while the Tesla reached 152 mph (244.6 km/h). The Bugatti was clearly already quicker by the time they crossed the line, traveling at 156 mph.

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It managed to cross the finish line in 9.1 seconds, two tenths quicker than the Tesla and Bugatti, both of which completed the race in 9.3 seconds, essentially making it a tie for second place. Interestingly, the Lucid isn’t that much quicker than the Tesla to reach 60 mph (96 km/h) from standstill, as both get there in about 2.1 seconds, with a 0.03-second advantage to the former.

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And you can even see this in the video – the two EVs start the race side by side and the Lucid doesn’t start building a lead until the cars have picked up some speed. Both are still way quicker to sprint than the Bugatti, which launches extremely aggressively yet cannot match the other two cars’ ability to put their power down with their superior ability to control traction.

So the Lucid Air Sapphire was predictably quicker than both vehicles lined up against it, but they also decided to see how a 210-horsepower Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 would compare. It was definitely a close run between these two vehicles, but the Lucid still won, even though by the end of the run the motorbike had a achieved a higher sped of 157 mph (252.6 km/h), so it could have potentially caught up to the Air and passed it in a longer race.

Source: Hagerty / YouTube

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