By Colby Buchanan
I don’t know how to feel about EV drag racing. Generally, when I see a Tesla P100d beat some Ferrari I’m not all that impressed. I guess it almost seems like cheating? But two high horsepower (should we switch to Gigawatts, Marty?) EVs, and I’m intrigued.
Ford has recently teased its own entry and it has 1,400 hp. And if you remember back in November 2018, Chevy came out with their electric Camaro drag car but that had a measly 800 hp. So now I’m secretly hoping this turns into a modern rivalry where Chevy comes out with something crazier to beat it. Am I grasping at nothing or do you think it could actually happen?
Ford Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 is an OEM EV for the drag strip: https://t.co/eakNTKQBzU pic.twitter.com/sQ9CZn0R9U
— Autoblog (@therealautoblog) April 24, 2020
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day. It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, but it’s also encouraged.
Jeff Glucker
The same shop did the electric drive work for both cars, and you might also remember that they tried to auction the eCOPO last year, so it’s more likely that Ford is picking up where Chevy has lost interest
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Drag racing developed symbiotically with the internal combustion engine, and even the external combustion engine which may be a better parallel for the EV dragster. The accessibility of car technology (and necessity of auto repair knowledge, early on) up until the end of the 20th century connected the fans with the machines. People knew what it was like to try to tune a carburettor, so they were impressed when someone ran 6 or 8 of them. Hell, anyone who floored it in their own car knew how impressive the dragsters were, by direct comparison.
After the malaise it wasn’t really necessary to get under the hood of your car once in a while, and cars began becoming ‘black boxes’ that only the devoted gearhead hobbyist really bothered to find out the inner workings of. Gearheads knew how impressive a big block dragster was, because they understood the complexity of the technology.
EVs are even more discreet in their packaging and discouraging to the budding gearhead than the modern dino-fuel family sedans are. There’s no real personal experience with EVs that will excite an interest in drag racing them, especially if you’ve never driven one. There’s a little subculture of EV experimenters just like there’s a subculture of amateur rocket builders, and they’ll get a kick out of it. I just don’t think there’s that backyard tinkering, inter-generational tradition that internal combustion cars have and it’s necessary to attract a fan base for drag racing.
Fair point, but, as you say, it will take time to develop cultures, too, and EVs are suited for drag racing. As I said when I send in that Leaf-article the other day, I am fully expecting, and very excited to see, what happens once EVs trickle down to 16 yo’s garages. There’s a lot of cool stuff to come up with, and getting as fast as possible from here to there has always, without fault, been a part of car culture. Remember, ludicrous mode is a factory setting somewhere.
On the “black box”, YouTube recommended this video for non-gearheads about the demise of the manual transmission in the US to me…horribly sad thing to watch. I wasn’t aware it was as bad as 2% market share.
Drag racing does seem like a natural fit for electric motors, given full torque at zero rpm and the short distance traveled per race (no range anxiety!). The comparatively lower noise levels are probably easier on spectator’s ears, too. It’s not a sport in which I have even the remotest interest, though, so where it goes from here is irrelevant to me.