While still in search of a worthy opponent from the internal combustion engine (ICE) car world, the Tesla Model S Plaid took on two of the world’s fastest sport bikes in a series of drag and roll-on races.
Suzuki Hayabusa is probably the most popular sportbike in the world, because of its looks and speed. The 2022 Hayabusa is driven by a professional sportbike drag racer that is powered by a 1.3-liter inline 4-cylinder engine that produces 188 hp of power.
The other bike is the 2021 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R, slightly better-looking specs with 208 horsepower and a 1.4-liter inline 4-cylinder engine. Some say this bike is even better than the Hayabusa. But in the races against the Model S Plaid, Hayabusa performed better, IMO.
Edmunds organized this set of races at the Willow Springs International Raceway, a race circuit located around 80 miles north of Los Angeles, California. Even though the headwind is blowing so hard, driving the most aerodynamic production car with a 0.23 Cd drag coefficient is never a bad idea.
Model S Plaid just pierces through the headwinds to teach these sportbikes a lesson on who’s the boss at the race track.
At about 10-12% of the weight of the Plaid, these bikes are super-fast in a straight line but still no match with the Plaid. Hayabusa has a 0-60 mph time of 2.47 seconds, and the Ninja ZX-14R does it in 2.85 seconds. But the Plaid Model S has an average of 1.99 to 2.3 seconds, depending on the state of charge (SoC) and the weather conditions.
Even after multiple drag races, the launch performance of the Model S Plaid did not degrade drastically. Previously, DragTimes tested the Plaid S can even perform 40+ 1/4-mile drag races in a single day, and even at 20% SoC, the car can pull a quarter-mile in under 10 seconds.
Not just the drag racing from a static start, the Plaid S also gave a very tough time to these performance bikes in roll-on races, beating them 2 times out of 4 total races.
Today’s drag race is a special one. First, we have the 2021 Tesla Model S Plaid. Sporting a 0-60 time of 2.3 seconds at our test track, the Model S Plaid is the fastest Tesla money can buy. And second, we have a special guest driver to join us on the track. Chris Moore is motorcycle drag racer and tuner, and he’s brought a 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa and 2021 Kawasaki ZX-14R to race against the Plaid.
It’s the first time we have had the privilege to race a motorcycle on our test track, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With the Plaid S outputting 1,020 horsepower, we needed something a little different to go up against it. Does the fastest Tesla have what it takes to keep up with Chris and his bike? We can’t wait to find out! This is our electric car vs. motorcycle drag race of the Tesla Model S Plaid and the Suzuki Hayabusa.
Edmunds / YouTube (full video below).
However, this is a refreshing take at the dragstrip, putting the best and fastest motorbikes against the fastest mass-production car in the world, the Tesla Model S Plaid. Let’s watch this interesting competition where even the pro bike rider was amazed at the Model S Plaid’s extreme performance at the race track.
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