Hellcat Driver Who Lost Drag Race To Tesla P85D Ready For RematchHellcat Driver Who Lost Drag Race To Tesla P85D Ready For Rematch

Last month, a Tesla Model S P85D electric car stormed silently to a drag-race victory over a 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, and became the talk of the Internet.
The 691-horsepower all-wheel drive luxury sedan easily outpaced the Hellcat and its 707-hp supercharged V-8 through the quarter mile–proving the potency of the Tesla’s electric powertrain.
MORE: Tesla P85D Destroys Dodge Challenger Hellcat On Dragstrip: Electric Car Thrashes 707-HP Hemi (Video)
The Hellcat driver apparently took that defeat to heart.
He’s been practicing his drag-race launches–he muffed it in the race captured on video–and fitted his Challenger with better tires, according to Road & Track.
The new Nitto NT555R rear tires are reportedly among the most aggressive street-legal drag radials available. At 305 millimeters wide, they’re also 30 mm wider than the stock rear tires of a Challenger Hellcat.
Tesla Model S drag-races 2015 Dodge Challenger Palm Beach Intl Raceway, Hellcat, Jan 2014 [YouTube]In his race with  the Tesla, the Hellcat driver badly botched his start.
With practice, his Challenger has since recorded a 10.8-second quarter-mile time at 127 mph–matching Dodge’s own estimate for the car when equipped with drag radials.
That’s quite an advantage over the 11.6 seconds and 114-mph trap speed of the Model S P85D in the original race.
RELATED: 2014 Tesla Model S P85D: First Drive Of All-Electric AWD Performance Sedan
Then again, Dodge also claims the Challenger Hellcat will run an 11.2-second quarter mile on its stock tires–so the muscle car should have had an advantage in the first place.
Yet while the Hellcat may be the faster car on paper, the Model S will likely always be easier to drive fast.
Tesla Model S P85D, 2015 Detroit Auto Show
The instantaneous torque of electric motors, plus all-wheel drive and more sophisticated computer controls make launching the Tesla a relatively straightforward operation.
On the other hand, the Hellcat’s power needs to be carefully managed to avoid overpowering the rear tires.
DON’T MISS: Why I Had To Trade My Tesla Model S For A Brand-New P85D
The Hellcat driver clearly didn’t do that properly in the first race–delivering the Model S a major victory.
One thing that wasn’t specified: Was the P85D driver using the “Insane” mode, or just regular acceleration?
Now that the Hellcat driver has more practice, we bet that rematch is coming.
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