One of the many ways that Tesla has revolutionized the electric car world was by creating sporty and powerful electric cars. Car owners have tested their Teslas against many other sporty cars, and the Teslas usually did quite well. In one of these tests, a Tesla even beat a 731-hp Ferrari.

The cars

Matteo Valenza, the YouTuber who conducted the test, used several different Teslas for this test. The most notable Tesla that Valenza used was the Model S P100D, which is one of the highest performance Teslas available. The P100D can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 2.4 seconds.

The Model S P90D was also tested by Valenza, and it’s a less powerful but still pretty fast electric car. Both of those Teslas are quite expensive, as the P100D costs over $130,000 to buy.

While those Teslas are on the high-end in terms of price, Valenza also tested some regular Teslas that many people can afford. Namely, Valenza tested two different trims of the Model 3 sedan. They were the Performance trim and the Standard Range trim.

These Teslas are very affordable and the Standard Range trim starts at about $36,000. The Performance trim starts at about $55,000 according to InsideEVs.

Valenza only used one Ferrari for this test, but it was a powerful Ferrari. Valenza used an F12 Berlinetta and it came with a 731-hp V12 engine. According to InsideEVs, the F12 Berlinetta could go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 3.1 seconds. The F12 Berlinetta has a price tag of about $400,000.

The test

Valenza, like many other car owners who’ve done speed tests of their Teslas, conducted a drag race between the cars. Given that fact, as well as the fact that the P100D is known to have a faster acceleration time than the F12 Berlinetta, unsurprisingly, the P100D smoked the Ferrari in the 218-yard drag race.

What was surprising though, was that the other Teslas smoked the F12 Berlinetta too. According to Valenza, the Ferrari’s time was about 7.21 seconds. The Performance trim of the Model 3 had a time of 6.77 seconds and the P100D had a time of 6.38 seconds.

On the longer drag race, which was a 437 yard one, the standings were similar. However, shockingly, the Model 3 Performance trim overtook the P100D. That said, the Ferrari was only milliseconds behind the Teslas in this race rather than an almost full second behind.

The Ferrari logged a time of 10.97 seconds, the P100D got a time of 10.91 seconds, and the Model 3 Performance got a time of 10.58 seconds.

Some caveats

Drag races tend to favor electric cars since the basic physics of these engines gives them an acceleration advantage over regular combustion engines. However, in terms of top speed, the Ferrari will win, hands down. The P100D is software limited to a top speed of 155 miles per hour, whereas the F12 Berlinetta can hit 211 miles per hour.

This difference in top speed can be seen in the second drag race over the longer track. The Ferrari wasn’t really far behind the Teslas and indeed, the Teslas won by mere milliseconds. 

Drag races also don’t measure how a car handles, especially around corners. Neither electric cars nor regular cars have a natural advantage when it comes to handling, so how the car handles will depend on how those cars were designed and made. Thus, a drag race isn’t a great test of how a car performs, as the entire handling aspect of creating a vehicle is ignored.

Despite those issues with this test, it does prove its point. Teslas, and by extension, electric cars, can be pretty fast vehicles.