Tesla has single-handedly changed the world of drag racing with its high-performance EVs. The Model S has introduced instant power, almost instant throttle modulation, and the 1020 horsepower Plaid configuration. But what if somebody wanted to go even faster? What if somebody wanted to make a Tesla Funny Car?
This was the design brief for a rendering by the renowned artist Adry53 Customs. It puts a completely new spin on the Tesla Model S, one where the only thing needed from the original car is the shape of the body.
Despite their name, funny cars are to be taken seriously. These are some of the most advanced performance vehicles America has developed, designed to reach the 1/4-mile or even the 1/8-mile marker as fast as possible.
To do this, everything form a stock vehicle is dumped. In place of the chassis, you have a lightweight tubular chassis, and the body on top is nothing more than a fiberglass decoration in the shape of a car.
The engines used in funny cars are monsters as well, making multiple thousands of horsepower. They use enormous displacements and dump gallons of racing fuel using massive injectors. No mufflers, just the raw sound of American V8s.
And all this is… the exact opposite of how Tesla does things. Even though it’s one of the fastest cars in the world, the Model S Plaid is still designed to be an efficient electric car that doesn’t use a drop of fuel. In addition, it’s all about fine calibration and precise of its available power. There’s very little sound, and none of it is coming from fuel exploding.
But the Tesla Funny Car created by Adry53is just the shape of a Model S. Underneath, we have the same tubular chassis we talked about, and it’s powered by not one, but two racing V8 engines. Specifically, these are supposed to be twin Hellcat motors.
Hellcats are probably the most famous modern V8 engines (by name), and they produce anywhere from 707 hp in the TRX to 1025 hp in the Demon 170, while burning ethanol. Obviously, you can modify them to make much more, and I feel like with a funny car, you’re shooting for 5000 hp.
Twin engines were used more in the age before modern fuel injection and engine management. And having two V8s in the Tesla gives it a vintage, 60s vibe to the rendering, something Adry53 is known for.
Those two massive V8s require a large bulge in the Tesla hood and dump out fire through 16 side-exit exhaust pipes. Massive drag radials can also be seen at the back, along with a wheelie bar and some parachutes. With it being a funny car, the Tesla’s whole body lifts off the chassis, but we’d imagine it’s made from advanced materials.
