Watch a Tesla Model S Annihilate a Kawasaki Ninja in a Race

An open road face-off, made better with a little help from a classic ’80s song.

byWill Sabel Courtney|
Racing photo
Share

0

Think nothing could make a video of a Tesla Model S racing a Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R better? Wrong. Like everything in life, a liberal application of the Swiss band Yello's 1985 hit "Oh Yeah" improves it quite a bit.

Sure, the song made famous by Ferris Bueller's Day Off may only play for the first few moments of the video, but that's the beauty of the tune: It only takes a few seconds for it to plant an earworm deep into your brain. Once you hear it, it'll stick with you through the rest of the video...and most likely, through the rest of your day.

The song certainly fits how the driver of that Model S must have been feeling after hosing the Ninja from a rolling start three separate times in the span of a few minutes. With the Tesla—which we're guessing was a P 85 or P 90 model, given how promptly it hauls ass out of there—putting down all its power from zero rpm, it's not too surprising to see how completely it devastates the high-revving motorcycle. Especially considering the duo of high-performance machines began each match from a rolling start, preventing the Kawasaki's rider from loading up the powertrain and dropping the clutch.

But even if both competitors started from a dead stop and gave it their best launches, odds are good the Tesla still would have left the Kawasaki in the dust until the two were well into triple-digit speeds. After all, the Model S has done so to everything from a Ferrari F12 to a Boeing 737; knocking off a 600cc Kawasaki wouldn't be much of an issue.

Video thumbnail
stripe
RacingWatch This