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Well here it is Tesla Plaid versus Lucid Air Sapphire on the same day in the same place~ no excuses!

I think the Plaid is a very impressive vehicle, but one drag strip video in atypical drag conditions does not make it a better car than the Sapphire. Although the comments section of the video seem to think it does.
 
Bunnylebowski said:
I think the Plaid is a very impressive vehicle, but one drag strip video in atypical drag conditions does not make it a better car than the Sapphire. Although the comments section of the video seem to think it does.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Most of the tesla fandom would have reached the same conclusion regardless of the outcome.
 
momo3605 said:
I think if the plaid won, the comments would’ve been more along the lines of “well it costs 3x as much, it better be faster!”
Click to expand...
Assume you meant sapphire but true. I hate those types of Tesla fans.. ones that I’ve met have also sometimes been understanding and curious about other Evs! No need to be a fanboy.
 
Bunnylebowski said:
I think the Plaid is a very impressive vehicle, but one drag strip video in atypical drag conditions does not make it a better car than the Sapphire. Although the comments section of the video seem to think it does.
Click to expand...
People keep forgetting the Tesla was modded.
We don't know exactly what the specs on that car is, BUT we do know that Sapphire vs Plaid stock who the winner would be.

The modding war will never stop
 
Some key takeaways from the video imo… the Sapphire managed a high trap speed of 153mph which is quite decent (and only slightly off from the 155mph from the promo video where it ran the 8 second pass). Though there was quite a bit of variance in the Lucid trap speed (low of 148 to a high of 153 - disregard the 146 mph pass obviously where he almost put it into the wall …) The Tesla is trapping 148-149 which makes sense since a stock Plaid will trap about 145 iirc and this one has a couple of hundred pounds of weight reduction which will improve power to weight ratio and hence trap speed (100 pounds of weight saved could be good for up to a tenth and a mph is the old ballpark)

What 100% made the difference was obviously the launch… 1.67-1.79 60 foot times (as the youtuber points out in the video) is straight 🗑️ for a AWD car with 3 electric motors and 1500 ft lb torque 🙄.. my old RWD camaro stock with 275hp on drag radials would pull 1.80’s. Again the old saying a tenth at the 60' mark is worth .15 by the end of the track so do the math..
On the Lucids "first test pass" where it hit 153mph it ran 9.33 with a 1.62 60 foot time.. knock 2 tenths off the sixty foot and there’s your 8 second pass. The car also seemed to get slower in subsequent passes.

Track conditions were obviously garbage but the Tesla did manage to hook up decently hitting 1.4’s… so if the Tesla could do it the Lucid should definitely be able to also but why didn’t it? My best guess would be poor track prep and 21" wheels and tires with little to no sidewall actually hurting the 60 foot times.

All this just imo …
 
momo3605 said:
I think if the plaid sapphire won, the comments would’ve been more along the lines of “well it costs 3x as much, it better be faster!”
Click to expand...
Actually the video did prove that it’s faster.. it hit 153 mph.. Teslas best trap speed was 149 mph and it’s not stock (weight reduction) (which helps the trap speed)
 
Just finally saw this thread. My two cents. I was lured into buying a Dream Performance by the HP. Best car I had owned. Further lured into the Sapphire by the third motor and even more cool stuff. Now it's the best car I have owned. Sapphire is not going to be my track car. I have old Nascars for that and they now just sit as I am over track days. Lucid just does everything so well. I think the difference between Lucid and Tesla is Lucid was developed by car engineers to build the best they could build. Tesla more by Musk with a marketing idea. Spent a couple days with David L and the others at the delivery event. It was clear that these are car guys and smart car guys. If you want a track car just buy a purpose built track car and enjoy it. Track days are very hard on cars. I still have my Dream as well as the Sapphire and I'm still very happy with my decisions to buy them. Never in my life did I imagine a car this nice was possible. So smooth and fast. Nothing wrong with buying a Plaid but from what I have been told from Tesla owners it is nowhere near as nice as Lucid. Hard to not giggle when rolling on the throttle at 80 mph.
 
Charley said:
Just finally saw this thread. My two cents. I was lured into buying a Dream Performance by the HP. Best car I had owned. Further lured into the Sapphire by the third motor and even more cool stuff. Now it's the best car I have owned. Sapphire is not going to be my track car. I have old Nascars for that and they now just sit as I am over track days. Lucid just does everything so well. I think the difference between Lucid and Tesla is Lucid was developed by car engineers to build the best they could build. Tesla more by Musk with a marketing idea. Spent a couple days with David L and the others at the delivery event. It was clear that these are car guys and smart car guys. If you want a track car just buy a purpose built track car and enjoy it. Track days are very hard on cars. I still have my Dream as well as the Sapphire and I'm still very happy with my decisions to buy them. Never in my life did I imagine a car this nice was possible. So smooth and fast. Nothing wrong with buying a Plaid but from what I have been told from Tesla owners it is nowhere near as nice as Lucid. Hard to not giggle when rolling on the throttle at 80 mph.
Click to expand...
How do you decide which Lucid you'll drive per day? Nice days -- Sapphire. Cloudy days -- DE-P? Dark colored clothes -- Sapphire? Light colored clothes -- DE-P? 😂
 
I watched this, the Plaid is clearly modded -170 pounds, overall 700 pounds lighter than the Sapphire. The Sapphire looks stock, no mods.
The plaid driver also seems very dialed into his car driving and always had a better reaction time. Lot of variables here, cool video to see though.
 
Air_GT said:
Some key takeaways from the video imo… the Sapphire managed a high trap speed of 153mph which is quite decent (and only slightly off from the 155mph from the promo video where it ran the 8 second pass). Though there was quite a bit of variance in the Lucid trap speed (low of 148 to a high of 153 - disregard the 146 mph pass obviously where he almost put it into the wall …) The Tesla is trapping 148-149 which makes sense since a stock Plaid will trap about 145 iirc and this one has a couple of hundred pounds of weight reduction which will improve power to weight ratio and hence trap speed (100 pounds of weight saved could be good for up to a tenth and a mph is the old ballpark)

What 100% made the difference was obviously the launch… 1.67-1.79 60 foot times (as the youtuber points out in the video) is straight 🗑️ for a AWD car with 3 electric motors and 1500 ft lb torque 🙄.. my old RWD camaro stock with 275hp on drag radials would pull 1.80’s. Again the old saying a tenth at the 60' mark is worth .15 by the end of the track so do the math..
On the Lucids "first test pass" where it hit 153mph it ran 9.33 with a 1.62 60 foot time.. knock 2 tenths off the sixty foot and there’s your 8 second pass. The car also seemed to get slower in subsequent passes.

Track conditions were obviously garbage but the Tesla did manage to hook up decently hitting 1.4’s… so if the Tesla could do it the Lucid should definitely be able to also but why didn’t it? My best guess would be poor track prep and 21" wheels and tires with little to no sidewall actually hurting the 60 foot times.

All this just imo …
Click to expand...
Damn, great thoughtful analysis.
 
Also is the 19" Tesla tires all weather tires? Versus the tires on the Sapphire being summer tires?
Wouldn't grip in crappy conditions make a big difference because I don't think the Sapphire has an all weather tire option right?
 
Late to the party here.

If you are comparing cars, drop reaction time that's comparing drivers.

Stock to Stock, once you start the mods there is no end point.

Buying the Sapphire to be a track car, you would be very disappointed in the number of laps your going to get at a track day, especially if only a 14-50 is available for charging.

Dry and 50 degrees, without emptying the car, maybe 50 pounds of stuff. I ran 5.8677 1/8th @ 123.38

I will track the car from time to time on OEM tires, I did not buy it as a track car.

I don't plan any mods, I'm daily driving the Sapphire.

I don't dislike Tesla, I just find they are not for me.

The Air is the only EV I'm interested in at this time. If not for the Lucid Air I would be driving the V12 BMW.
I have no plans to track the BMW. Not because it's not up to the task, It's just not that fun.
 
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