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Photo: Wheels Plus / YouTube
The videographer behind the “Wheels Plus” channel on YouTube is always a big fan of The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and they recently caught a very nice and colorful ICE versus EV skirmish.
First, let’s meet the protagonists. Over there in the “entertainment capital of the world,” things that happen in Vegas stay in Vegas, unless you’re living in the 21st century and understand that around every corner there’s at least a dozen cameras pointed at you at any given moment. Sure, we’re exaggerating a little, but you get the point.
So, over at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, there’s always a chance that some videographer is looking at amateur races trying to make their skirmishes famous on the Internet. This is precisely what happened here, especially since the protagonists are interesting. In the right lane sits a now-defunct Tesla Model S Plaid finished in a very funky orange wrap or color, and it comes complete with contrasting black wheels and roof plus matching orange brake calipers.
Its adversary isn’t any lesser in the looks department – a bright yellow Audi RS 3 mixes that lemon hue with black bits and pieces, including some of the aerodynamic elements because it’s a brand-new 2026 Competition Limited special edition, plus there are gray wheels and red brake calipers. By the way, the 2026 Audi RS 3 Competition Limited is easily distinguishable by the additional aero goodies, and it was made by the Ingolstadt-based automaker to celebrate half a century of five-cylinder engines.
It’s a very aggressive setup – but the car alone can’t do the whole work without input from behind the wheel. This is an eloquent example of that, as the orange Tesla Model S expertly aligned at the start line and then disappeared like a phantom at the green light, while the Audi driver was probably taking a nap and only decided to accelerate after the EV almost crossed the finish line.
The result was painfully obvious: total annihilation in 9.93s at 136 mph while the RS 3 sounded grate but could only muster an 11.84s at 116 mph after being late at its own quarter-mile dragstrip party. The Audi driver was obviously wiser after that as they selected an easier foe for the second skirmish – a non-Competition Limited Audi RS 3 to help us observe the visual differences.
This time around, with the prior lesson learned, the yellow Audi RS 3 Competition Limited was first off the line at the green light while the grayish sibling was a little dumb-smacked by its feisty adversary. The situation was clear, nevertheless, since they have identical power: 11.82s at 116 mph for the yellow RS 3 and only 12.19s at 111 mph for the lazier sibling. Cool, or not?
