Has the 8 second quarter mile been confirmed to be done in stock trim (i.e., no special tires or other modifications)? The reason I ask is because that is EXTREMELY impressive. I tune EFI systems on race cars as a hobby, and any car in the 8 second range usually needs to run slicks or drag radials to have enough traction. Even all wheel drive cars (GTRs, DSMs, EVOs, etc.) usually run 4 slicks once they get to that sp…
Yes but in those cars traction control is usually off. In Tesla extremely precise traction control may work in your favour giving only as much power as tires can handle effectively allowing to near zero time loss on regaining tracktion. In quarter mile cars you don't have option, either tire will handle all that power or slip causing time loss.
The main issue I found is that street tires often just don't have the traction required, even under ideal conditions. The result is that traction control has to cut power so much that it ends up hurting the quarter mile times.
It does help tremendously on consistency and safety though. Things start to pucker when all four wheels start hazing in a 1000 HP AWD car.
You seem familiar, but for others, here's what a typical 8 second car looks like leaving the line:
http://www.speednik.com/files/2015/01/screen-shot-2015-01-26...
https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cobra-jet...
http://cdn.dragzine.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2011/11...
Notice how massive the rear tires are.
EDIT: Added picture of an 8 second all wheel drive car (GTR). The interesting thing here is the clear bias of traction towards the rear. When launching a car with that much power, the weight shifts towards the rear enough to render the front wheels almost useless (unless the suspension is extremely stiff).
