DIY electric Beetle beats Tesla Roadster in drag race

This is Black Current III, a VW Beetle that's officially the fastest electric dragster in Europe. It recorded an 11.24sec ¼-mile run at Santa Pod recently, beating a Tesla Roadster by more than 1.5secs in the process.

Black Current III is the work of brothers Olly and Sam Young and is a 1960s Beetle powered by two forklift truck motors and 60x 12-volt batteries. This combination is good for 1200lb ft/lb (1626 Nm) of torque, a 0-60 time of around 3.0secs and a terminal velocity at the end of quarter-mile of 114mph.

The project started six years ago when the brothers got hold of an abandoned milk float and mated its motor to an engine-less Beetle.

The next step in the project is to get hold of some hi-tech lithium ion batteries. Considering how the Black Current boys and their forklift-powered car wiped the floor with the cutting-edge Tesla - we'd love to see what they can do with Black Current IV...

Current Racing