Electric cars are starting to make waves in the world of track-driving enthusiasts, as events like TeslaCorsa start to proliferate. It’s clear that electric propulsion has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to motorsport, but as Formula E continues to prove, the racing can be great, and as Volkswagen proved with its ID.R Pikes Peak record, they can be righteously fast. Even if you aren’t aiming for track records, and you just want to have a little fun at the track, maybe an electric sports car is in your future.
I enjoy driving quickly as much as anyone else, and electric cars have certainly caught my eye in a big way recently, but if we’re going to have an all-electric future, we need to make sure we don’t lose our fun driving experiences. As Porsche has proven with its Taycan, electric doesn’t have to be boring. But even beyond that, the southern California hot rodding scene is taking the no-boring-EVs ethos to the next level.
One EV-enthusiast has already had its fun with electric off-roading, creating the Tesla Sand Truck. The truck is still around and competing in off-road events, but have set their sights on some paved-track performance. Enter the Tesla Cobra. It’s a 1965 Cobra replica packed with Tesla Model 3 motors and batteries for a rip roaring good time. Even without traction control, the thing manages to knock down a 2.7-second 0-60 time, so you know it’s quick. Hell, that’s significantly quicker than a real Cobra ran in its day.
The build is a little short on details, but the car’s wheelbase has been extended by a foot, and the current setup features eight Enerdel battery arrays for up to 2000 amps of current. Apparently that means about 1,000 pounds of battery mounted down low and in the middle of the car. The dual Model 3 motors have a max output of around 670 horsepower combined, so I think the car has enough power to pull that weight around.
Now, I have never run at Buttonwillow, and don’t really know what a fast lap time is there, but apparently it’s running sub-2 minute laps on the course with a back straight chicane in place. Maybe that means something to you? Looking at the onboard video, you can see peaks of 1.75 lateral G, so it’s also got hellacious grip, and it sure accelerates like a bat out of hell. I’d really love an opportunity to rip this thing around a track. So fast, so cool, so fun.
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