Despite outgunning the Bimmer on horsepower and torque the Lucid Air's extra weight and efficient tires made this a tough race for the electric sedan.
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Edmunds is back with another of its U-Drag races, this time pitting their long-term Lucid Air Grand Touring against the biggest, baddest two-door BMW currently makes: the M8 Competition.
The there-and-back U-Drag format combines a standing start quarter-mile drag race with braking, a 180-degree turn and a rolling start race as the competitors speed back to the original start line. This time the results were not what you may think.
More Weight, Less Rubber
Despite outgunning the BMW on horsepower and torque (819 hp/885 lb.-ft. versus 617 hp/553 lb.-ft.) the Lucid weighs nearly 1000 lbs. more than the M8 and doesn't come with the advantages given by the slew of M performance parts fitted to the Comp.
Chief among those is the set of Pirelli P Zero tires that BMW spent "several years" collaborating with the Italian tire manufacturer to create while the Lucid has to make do with skinny efficiency focused tires that the hosts say "could be found on a Hyundai Sonata." The M8 Comp is also available with carbon-ceramic brakes, though its unclear if the test car had those fitted.
The results then were in favor of the BMW. In the first race the M8 jumps ahead off the line before being reeled in by the EV but once it comes time to brake and corner it's in a league of its own. Race one to the German and the second is much the same. The BMW positively explodes off the line this time around (possibly because there's now some heat in the tires) and despite all the electro-power and torque available to it the Lucid is incapable of catching up.
Related Story: Lucid Air Is The First EV To Surpass 500 Miles In Edmunds Testing
Score one for internal combustion then, though we'd bet the results would be different if the top dog 8 Series was taking on the performance-focused Lucid Air Sapphire with its wide, sticky tires, enormous brakes and even more power. We'll have to wait for that one, but in the mean time check out this BMW launch in the video below.
Related Story: The Lucid Touring Is All The Air You'll Ever Need
Images by Edmunds, Lucid Motors and BMW licensed by CC BY 4.0.
James Walker is an Automotive Journalist at Torque News focusing on Lucid Motors. If it's got wheels he's interested, and he's looking forward to seeing what kind of cars the EV revolution brings us. Whether it's fast, slow, new, or old, James wants to have a look around it and share it in print and on video, ideally with some twisty roads involved. You can connect with James on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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