Classic US Muscle Car Goes Electric and Smokes World Record, Pro Driver Challenges Elon Musk to a Race
Driver Bob Tasca III is making a lot of noise after setting a very quiet record.
Tasca on Saturday drove Ford’s Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 to an electric vehicle drag racing record at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, according to the National Hot Rod Association.
First, he covered a quarter-mile in 8.26 seconds, hitting 167 mph — and all without the sound of a roaring engine.
Then, on his second try, Tasca lowered that to 8.12 seconds as he hit 171.97 mph.
The previous record had been 8.27 seconds at 168 mph, which had been set in September, according to The Drive.
Tasca took to Twitter to celebrate — and call out Tesla’s Elon Musk.
“One for record books! The Ford Electric Cobra Jet team just did it again! We just reset the record – 8.12 at 171.97 MPH! What a ride…” he tweeted.
One for record books! The Ford Electric Cobra Jet team just did it again! We just reset the record – 8.12 at 171.97 MPH! @FordPerformance ⚡️⚡️What a ride… pic.twitter.com/FpW6htT0iN
— Bob Tasca III (@Tasca3) June 26, 2021
[firefly_poll]
Then came the challenge.
“All Ford – All Electric! What a ride. Go Ford!! #Worldrecord @elonmusk let’s race!” he tweeted.
All Ford – All Electric! What a ride. Go Ford!! #Worldrecord @elonmusk let’s race! pic.twitter.com/08D191Q9qM
— Bob Tasca III (@Tasca3) June 27, 2021
Musk had not made a public reply to the challenge as of Monday morning.
Ford introduced its first electric-powered dragster last year.
“Ford has always used motorsport to demonstrate innovation,” Ford Global Icons chief Dave Pericak said, according to the Detroit News.
“Electric powertrains give us a completely new kind of performance and the all-electric Cobra Jet 1400 is one example of pushing new technology to the absolute limit.”
“This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into,” said Mark Rushbrook, Ford Performance Motorsports director.
“We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 project as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race car package that we already had a lot of experience with, so we had performance benchmarks we wanted to match and beat right now,” he said.
The all-electric #FordMustang Cobra Jet 1400 just went 8.128 @ 171.97 mph, a new @NHRA world record for the car ⚡️⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/4hgo1JAu84
— Ford Performance (@FordPerformance) June 26, 2021
The Cobra Jet 1400 is only produced for exhibitions.
However, the company is making thousands of Mustang Mach E SUVs — so many, in fact, that more electric Mustangs have rolled off Ford assembly lines this year than gasoline-powered ones, according to Motor1.
Through May, 27,816 of the electric cars had been produced at the Ford plant in Mexico where they are made, compared with 26,089 gasoline-powered ones made in the United States.
In sales, however, the gas-powered Mustang has outsold its electric version by a nearly 3-1 ratio.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
