Throughout the summer at Atlanta Motor Speedway, just about any vehicle can show up and race competitively at O'Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags.
Take it from Ben Horst of Atlanta, who brought a one-of-a-kind track toy to drag race.
"This is an Exocet platform - it's a kit car built in Atlanta by a company called Exomotive - and this is a Miata based kit," Horst explained. "So the idea is you take a Miata, pop in this chassis and you end up with a cool exoskeletal vehicle that's a lot lighter.
"We worked with them to put a Tesla powertrain in this one. So it has a custom frame, the Tesla battery and the Tesla motor. The result is about 400 horsepower, all-electric."
Though originally intended to be used for a track day on a road course, the car's lightweight design and instant electric power are also good ingredients for drag racing.
"Zero to 20 m.p.h. is where the car legitimately makes the most distance on somebody," Horst said. "It puts a gap on somebody off the line because it has 100 percent torque at zero rpm."
With that in mind, it should come as no shock that his electric car charged into the final round of the Metro by T-Mobile Tuner Division on its first night. For Horst, that's just the cherry on top of an already gratifying experience at Friday Night Drags: talking cars with other racers, and sharing what makes his unique piece tick.
"Everyone here can name the parts of a regular car and they know how they work," Horst said. "No one knows anything about electric. It's not any harder, it's just new, and it's fun to learn so I enjoy talking to people about how they work and teaching people."
The high-speed family fun on Atlanta Motor Speedway's pit lane dragstrip continues this Friday, June 28. Grandstand gates for Atlanta Motor Speedway's O'Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags & Show-N-Shine open at 6:30 p.m. and nightly drag race eliminations start just after 9:00 p.m.
Entry to drag race or for the Show-N-Shine is just $20 or competitors can purchase a combo ticket for $30. Spectator tickets are just $10, and children 5 and under are free. More information can be found at www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/drags or by calling the Atlanta Motor Speedway Ticket Office at 770-946-4211.
