The Electric Slide: Drifting The Tesla Model S
Topical moment incoming – maybe electric drift cars aren't such a bad idea after all?
Drifting is as much about the spectacle as any motorsport, arguably more so – the smoke, the noise, the explosions and crackles as high power engines bang against rev limiters. With the UK's recent announcement that new petrol and diesel cars are to be phased out it made me think – is there a future in electric drift cars?
On paper, there's no reason why they're not actually ideal for the sport – bags of instant torque, immediate throttle response, less moving parts, lower risk of fluid leaks, highly tuneable and used in a sport in which each competition run lasts only around 30 seconds on average. Perfect!
The biggest downside I can think of is the lack of noise. A big part of the excitement of a drift event is hearing turbochargers, superchargers, rotaries and V8s battle for your ears – without that all you have is tyre noise, which sounds a bit odd on its own.
Check out the video above in which drift legend Nobuteru Taniguchi takes a Tesla Model S for a spin during a break at a D1GP event. Aside from what looks like fighting against that car's clever electronics, and lack of steering angle, the powerplant delivers tons of instant tyre smoke. Coupled with the right setup and some fine-tuning, there's absolutely zero reason why we couldn't be seeing electric drift cars in the future.
Food for thought?
Tags: #drifting #drift #tesla #models #electric #ev #evs #electricvehicles #electriccars
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