We are going to look at three race conditions to see if a top-of–the-line Tesla Model S Plaid electric sports car is really faster than a Formula One (F1) race car. The first is a pedal-to-the metal acceleration from zero to 100 km/h. The second will be an even faster acceleration for one of the cars, from 100 km/h to 200 km/h. The third will be the maximum speed.
We will see that which car wins comes down to the car weight, drive, powertrain, aerodynamics and downforce.
A F1 race car has an engine outputting over 1000 horsepower (760 kW), weighs 800 kg and is rear-wheel drive. A Tesla Model S Plaid sports car has two electric motors outputting over 1000 horsepower, is all-wheel drive with one motor at the front and one at the rear, and weights over 2,300 kg.
The green flag is waving. Let’s start!
First race: accelerating from zero to 100 km/h
The Tesla Model S Plaid can accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in an unbelievable 2.1 seconds. This is almost 0.3 seconds faster than the 2.4 s acceleration time for the F1 car.
We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From Car Wow, putting the Tesla Model S Plaid's acceleration to the test
But the Tesla is three times heavier than the race car and has the same power so how can this be? There are a few basic reasons. The maximum traction torque (or twisting force) from the motor that can be applied to the drive axle to move the car is directly related to (1) the weight of the car, (2) the relative weighting of the car on the drive axle, and (3) the grip or adhesion of the tires to the road surface.
A higher weight means you can apply more torque to the wheels without causing the tyres to 'spin-out’ and lose adhesion with the road surface. While the F1 car could be a winner due to the higher adhesion of the slick tires, the Tesla wins because it weighs three times more than the race car, which allows more traction torque to be applied without spinning out the wheels.
The Tesla gets instant acceleration from the electric motors
Additionally, the Tesla sports car is all-wheel drive and the traction torque can be applied through the motors on both the front and rear axles, significantly increasing the traction torque compared to the torque available from the rear motor alone. The F1 car is much lighter and can only be powered by the rear wheels, thus limiting the acceleration compared to the Tesla.
Additionally, the Tesla gets instant acceleration from the electric motors, while the Formula 1 driver has to skilfully engage the clutch and gearing to maximize the acceleration, whilst avoiding wheel spin.
Winner: Tesla
Second race: accelerating from 100 km/h to 200 km/h
This is the where F1 car totally out-accelerates the Tesla. The entire shaping of a F1 car, especially the front wing, rear wing and underbody, is designed to maximize the downforce. The physical impact of the downforce is that the weight of the car increases several fold at high speeds as the gravitational forces (g-forces) multiply on the car. Thus, at high speeds several times more traction torque can be applied to the race car by the engine, enabling it to sharply accelerate, and doing 100 km/h to 200 km/h in about 1.8 seconds, which is way faster than the Tesla in about 4 seconds.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ 2fm's Jennifer Zamparelli show, interview with Formula Trinity's Colm O'Brien, who built a Formula One-style car from scratch
The downforce is a result of the aerodynamics of the F1 car and significantly increases its cornering speeds. While the design of the Tesla car aims to minimize the aerodynamic drag, the F1 car is designed to increase the drag to create a vertical drag or downforce which acts to press the car to the road and increase the g-force. This comes at the expense of higher aerodynamic drag. This aerodynamics wonder is the same physical action we have in an aircraft, except that in the aircraft the drag creates lift which causes the aircraft to fly.
At 150 km/h, the F1 car’s aerodynamics generates enough g-force to double the weight of the car. Aerodynamic drag and downforce both increase with the square of the speed. Thus, at 300 km/h, the car creates a downforce that’s four times the weight of the car. While sharp acceleration is not possible for the F1 car at 300 km/h due to engine limitations, super-sharp decelerations, physically shocking to the driver, are possible as the brakes on the rear and front wheels and the sizeable drag at high speeds are all employed to rapidly decelerate the vehicle.
Winner: F1
Third race: maximum speed
The maximum speed for the production Tesla Model S Plaid is a not-so-sluggish 282 km/h (175.3 mph), but the F1 handily wins this one. The fastest speed in a F1 race was the 372.5 km/h (231.5 mph) achieved by Valtteri Bottas for Williams in the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix.
We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Valtteri Bottas's record breaking speed in the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix
The chequered flag is waving. The winner is the F1 car.
The F1 car was sluggish at the start but easily outperforms the Tesla at high speeds and cornering to win the race. Both cars are top performance vehicles and each car’s performance comes down to the design, the aerodynamics and downforce, the drive, the weight, and the powertrain (whether electric or mechanical).
UCC PhD student Conor Healy, a F1 enthusiast and powertrain expert, contributed to this article. The author acknowledges and thanks the F1 fans among friends, family and students for their knowledgeable support and input.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
